June 22, 2025
As usual, Ross Chastain qualified poorly but unlike most weeks, he isn't one of the absolute best DFS options like he usually is because he has never posted a top ten finish at Pocono before. He has had speed at times, particularly in 2022 when Denny Hamlin wrecked him out of the lead during their feud, but he hasn't run very well in most other races there s his best average running position outside of that race was 18th. Trackhouse Racing does struggle for speed periodically although Chastain's teammate Daniel Suárez did finish third in the same race where Chastain crashed. Chastain's racecraft has significantly improved compared to previous years, so he does stand a good shot at driving through the field and collecting a decent finish as he had most of this year, but there are several better options who qualified worse.
--Sean Wrona - RotoBallerSource: Racing Reference
June 22, 2025
Chase Briscoe earned his best starting position at Pocono Raceway when he qualified sixth for today's race. He has not had much success at Pocono in the past as although he has finished on the lead lap in all five of his races, he has never finished better than 15th but he did that with a Stewart-Haas Racing team that struggled for speed on unrestricted superspeedways after 2020. Now he is with a Joe Gibbs Racing team that is consistently much faster here, so he'll likely run better than he did in previous years. If you think he is likely to dominate the race or run up front all day like his predecessor Martin Truex, Jr. sometimes did, he's worthy of DFS consideration. However, more likely, he will have a mediocre finish slightly worse than his starting position and he won't be one of the top DFS points scorers.
--Sean Wrona - RotoBallerSource: Racing Reference
June 22, 2025
After Carson Hocevar wrecked Ricky Stenhouse, Jr. twice in the last three weeks, that effectively eliminated Stenhouse from the playoff picture. He didn't deserve it anyway since he has been extremely mediocre and had merely been lucky not to have a DNF prior to that, but it was still not cool of Hocevar to do that. Stenhouse was yesterday's slowest qualifier among the drivers who had no issues, starting 30th at a track where he has only posted a single top ten finish. That did come recently in 2023 with the Next Gen chassis when he finished seventh, but he didn't run nearly as well as that implies because his average running position was only 19th. Considering how poor his overall Pocono record is, there are plenty of better options for DFS teams than Stenhouse who are also starting in the back half of the field.
--Sean Wrona - RotoBallerSource: Racing Reference
June 22, 2025
Although Daniel Suárez disappointed last weekend in his home race, he's coming to a track where he has had a fair amount of success. In addition to winning the pole in 2018, Suárez has four top tens at Pocono including a second and a third, but most of that success came in his years when he was driving for the championship-caliber Joe Gibbs Racing and Stewart-Haas Racing organizations in the Gen 6 era, as opposed to his current Trackhouse Racing team that sometimes has intermittent speed. Suárez did qualify tenth well ahead of both of his Trackhouse teammates and he has had a good knack of finishing in the top ten when he starts there. However, the facts that he might be having his worst season ever and he usually finishes worse than tenth lately suggest that he qualified too well to be a strong DFS option despite his previously strong record here.
--Sean Wrona - RotoBallerSource: Racing Reference
June 22, 2025
Shane van Gisbergen's win at Mexico City was a sharp blow to Ryan Preece's chances of making the NASCAR playoffs but he remains alive in the playoff hunt and trails his teammate Chris Buescher by a mere 19 points. When considering Preece seems to be faster than Buescher as often as not, it's definitely still possible for him. Unfortunately for him, Preece qualified exactly one half-second slower than Buescher, resulting in a 13th-place starting position to Buescher's 2nd-place start, meaning Buescher is vastly more likely to earn stage points. Preece has been utterly forgettable at Pocono in previous races with only a single top ten in 2021. Although he technically started on the pole in 2020, he drew that spot and didn't qualify there. Preece has tended to run much better everywhere than he has in previous years, so he certainly has a shot at a top ten, but it's probably too big of a risk to start him for DFS.
--Sean Wrona - RotoBallerSource: Racing Reference
June 22, 2025
Everyone knew Shane van Gisbergen's season entirely hinged on whether or not he won a road course race in the regular season. After his win at Mexico City last weekend placed him in the playoffs, he's back to his regular schedule of struggling to learn NASCAR's numerous oval circuits. SVG has driven at Pocono once in last year's Xfinity Series race, where he badly struggled, starting 26th and finishing 31st. He qualified a little better this time (23rd), only two spots slower than Trackhouse Racing team leader Ross Chastain. Although he did earn two of his best unrestricted oval results in his last three starts at Charlotte and Michigan, it's hard to expect much better than a top twenty from him and he qualified much too well for that to net him many points for DFS players.
--Sean Wrona - RotoBallerSource: Racing Reference
June 22, 2025
Michael McDowell qualified slowest of the three Spire Motorsports cars at Pocono as he qualified 28th while Justin Haley was 22nd and Carson Hocevar was 3rd. This suggests he might have some value for DFS Place Differential points given Hocevar's speed. However, it is more likely given his recent form that Hocevar is fast due to his own speed than his team's, so you can't count on McDowell necessarily fighting for a top ten because Hocevar was fast in qualifying. McDowell has been decent here with consistent top 20 running positions in six of his last seven races and a career-best sixth-place finish in the first Next Gen race here in 2022, but he finished eighth on track and only inherited that position after Denny Hamlin and Kyle Busch's disqualification. It's unlikely McDowell will gain enough positions to be worthwhile, but he's a better DFS choice than Justin Haley.
--Sean Wrona - RotoBallerSource: Racing Reference
June 22, 2025
Ty Dillon has consistently kept it clean at Pocono but he's never quite been relevant. Dillon, who starts 27th today, has finished all 12 of his Pocono races and has completed all but nine laps at the triangle. Earlier in his career, he was even better than that with three top twenties in his first four starts and even a 21st place finish for Leavine Family Racing in that span. However, since then he has been extremely consistent in a subpar way finishing between 22nd and 29th in his eight races since. His qualifying position is consistent with that and while his Kaulig Racing cars this year may be faster than the Spire Motorsports cars he had two years ago in his last Pocono start, he has been so consistent that it's hard to envision him even backing into an outlier result due to attrition or strategy, which is what he'd likely need to be a valid DFS option.
--Sean Wrona - RotoBallerSource: Racing Reference
June 22, 2025
Justin Haley is having a low-key disastrous NASCAR Cup Series season this year, possibly due to his crew chief Ryan Sparks, who also helped make Corey LaJoie look worse than he was in previous years. While Haley doesn't crash as much as LaJoie, he has almost never been relevant this season even though his teammate Carson Hocevar is now showing periodic bursts of top five speed. Haley, who qualified 22nd, did outqualify his other teammate Michael McDowell (who starts 28th), but neither of them were even close to Hocevar, who starts the race from the third position. While Haley did gain positions in all three of the Pocono races he finished, he never finished in the top half of the field and his best finish is only 21st. Since this isn't one of his better tracks and he's now running worse than he did previously, he should likely be avoided for DFS play.
--Sean Wrona - RotoBallerSource: Racing Reference
June 22, 2025
Cody Ware was one of four drivers who failed to post a time in qualifying for today's race at Pocono. As a result, he will be starting 36th for the race. Because Pocono is one of the longest tracks on the schedule, NASCAR's mandatory stage cautions make it extremely difficult for drivers to be lapped. In the three Pocono races Ware has finished, he has twice finished on the lead lap and has finished no worse than 28th, so it's quite possible he'll gain some positions in the race. However, he is extremely unlikely to gain enough positions to be a worthy starter for DFS, even as a punt option.
--Sean Wrona - RotoBallerSource: Racing Reference
June
16,
2025
Chase
Elliott
of
Hendrick
Motorsports
put
together
a
quality
race
on
Sunday's
Viva
Mexico
250
at
Autodromo
Hermanos
Rodriguez
as
he
finished
in
the
third
position.
Elliott
began
the
race
from
12th
and
was
quiet
during
the
first
stage,
making
a
read more...
June
16,
2025
Christopher
Bell
of
Joe
Gibbs
Racing
had
a
strong
performance
during
Sunday's
Viva
Mexico
250
at
Autodromo
Hermanos
Rodriguez
as
he
finished
as
the
runner-up
in
the
event.
Bell
started
the
race
from
the
31st
position
and
quickly
made
up
ground
read more...
June
16,
2025
Joe
Gibbs
Racing
driver
Chase
Briscoe
ended
Sunday's
Viva
Mexico
250
at
Autodromo
Hermanos
Rodriguez
in
the
seventh
position
after
a
wild
topsy-turvy
day.
Briscoe
began
Sunday's
race
from
the
19th
position
and
although
he
made
up
a
few
positions
into
read more...
June 16, 2025
Michael McDowell of Spire Motorsports finished fifth during Sunday's Viva Mexico 250 at Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez. Beginning the race from the same position, Michael McDowell remained steady throughout most of the race inside the top five or 10. In the first stage, he placed fourth and earned stage points, and despite his switching between wet and dry tires based on track conditions, he ended the second stage in the fifth position and earned more. In the final stage, McDowell got off-sequence with some of the other drivers on pit and fuel strategy, which shuffled him back outside of the top 10. This led to the No. 71 Chevrolet driver spending the rest of the stage moving through the field. McDowell recovered back into the fifth position for his first top-5 finish of the 2025 season in a points-paying race.
--Sean Engel - RotoBallerSource: NASCAR.com
June
16,
2025
Alex
Bowman
delivered
one
of
the
grittiest
performances
of
his
career
on
Sunday
at
Autódromo
Hermanos
Rodríguez
in
Mexico
City,
finishing
fourth
despite
being
very
sore
from
his
crash
a
week
ago
at
Michigan.
Bowman
said
he
felt
more
pain
entering
read more...
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