March 16, 2025
Hendrick Motorsports driver William Byron will start eighth for this week's Cup race at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, the Pennzoil 400. It will be the sixth consecutive race at Las Vegas where Byron will start inside the top 10. In 14 races at Vegas in his Cup career, Byron has seven top-10 finishes, including each of the last four races at the site, and one win. The No. 24 Chevrolet driver currently leads the regular season standings with one win and three top-10 finishes after four races this year. In practice, Byron ranked first in overall lap averages while ranking among the top three fastest in all other categories. Byron is one of the top favorites to compete for the win this week and should be heavily considered for all formats by DFS players.
--Sean Engel - RotoBallerSource: DriverAverages.com
March 16, 2025
23XI Racing's Tyler Reddick will start 14th for the Pennzoil 400 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. This is Reddick's highest starting position in a March race at Las Vegas since he joined 23XI for the 2023 Cup Series season. In 10 races at Vegas in his Cup career, Reddick has five top-10 finishes, including a best finish of second in last year's March race at the site. With four races completed so far this season, Reddick has four top-20 finishes, including two inside the top five. In practice, Reddick was fifth in overall lap averages, best of the Toyota drivers, and displayed top-5 speeds in all other categories. Based on his practice speeds and recent Vegas history, Reddick will be one of the best DFS picks of the week, especially with solid upside coming from his starting position.
--Sean Engel - RotoBallerSource: DriverAverages.com
March 16, 2025
Joe Gibbs Racing's Denny Hamlin will start 15th for Sunday's race at Las Vegas, the Pennzoil 400. Hamlin's starting position for this week's race matches his starting position from the October 2023 Cup event at the Nevada track. In 26 races at Las Vegas, Hamlin has one win and 14 top-10 finishes, including each of the last three Cup events at the site. Through four races this season, Hamlin has two top-10 finishes, highlighted by a runner-up finish during last week's race at Phoenix to his teammate, Christopher Bell. In practice for this week's race, Hamlin was 24th in overall lap averages but only displayed speed on the longer runs as he ranked 12th in 25 consecutive lap averages and fifth in 30 consecutive lap averages. Although Hamlin's practice speeds may not be the best compared to other top-priced DFS options, he is still worth consideration as an alternative pivot play due to his favorable Las Vegas history and his equipment, which will compete for a top-10 finish.
--Sean Engel - RotoBallerSource: DriverAverages.com
March 16, 2025
23XI Racing's Bubba Wallace will start 20th for the Pennzoil 400 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. Wallace continues his streak of starting races inside the top 20 at Las Vegas since 2022 with his qualifying result this week. In 14 previous races at Vegas, Wallace has five top-20 finishes, including three finishes of 13th or better in the last four Cup events at the Nevada track. After four races this season, Wallace has two DNFs but also two top-20 finishes while sitting 12th in regular season points. In practice, Wallace ranked 11th in overall lap averages and showcased top-10 speeds in all other categories. Expect Wallace to compete for a top-10 finish this week, indicating that he is worth rostering in all DFS formats.
--Sean Engel - RotoBallerSource: DriverAverages.com
March 16, 2025
RFK Racing's Brad Keselowski will start 27th for the Pennzoil 400 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. Keselowski was the worst qualifier of the three RFK entries for this week's race. In 23 starts at Las Vegas, Keselowski has three wins and 17 top-20 finishes, including four since joining RFK for the 2022 Cup Series season. With four races completed so far in the 2025 season, Keselowski has one top-20 finish and two DNFs. In practice for this week's race at Vegas, Keselowski ranked 10th in overall lap averages but displayed speeds outside of the top 20 in all other categories. Keselowski's track history at Vegas makes him worth consideration for cash game lineups, especially with a high DFS ceiling, but his practice speeds and 2025 performance to date make him difficult to recommend for tournaments.
--Sean Engel - RotoBallerSource: DriverAverages.com
March 16, 2025
Erik Jones of Legacy Motor Club acquired a starting position of fifth for this week's Cup race at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, the Pennzoil 400. This is the first time that Jones will start inside the top 10 at Las Vegas since he earned his last pole at the site in 2018. In 15 races at Vegas, Jones has four top-10 finishes, with only one of them being scored since 2022. After four races so far this year, Jones has two top-20 finishes and a best finish of 12th at Daytona. In practice, Jones ranked 13th in overall lap averages and displayed top-10 speeds in the 10, 15, and 20 consecutive lap average categories. Although Jones has a cheap salary ($6,300 on DraftKings) and relatively solid practice speeds, his Vegas track history and low upside make him difficult to recommend for DFS outside of the occasional tournament lineup.
--Sean Engel - RotoBallerSource: DriverAverages.com
March 16, 2025
Trackhouse Racing's Daniel Suarez will start 23rd for the Pennzoil 400 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. This will be the second consecutive Las Vegas race where Suarez will start from the 23rd position. In 15 races at Vegas, Suarez has 10 top-20 finishes, including four straight top-15 results in the last four Cup events at the site. The No. 99 Chevrolet driver does not have the strongest start to the year with only one top-20 finish in the first four races of the 2025 Cup season. In practice, Suarez ranked 21st in overall lap averages while displaying top-20 speeds in all other categories. Considering his relatively inexpensive salary ($7,100 on DraftKings), recent Vegas history, and his practice speeds, Suarez is worth rostering in all formats.
--Sean Engel - RotoBallerSource: DriverAverages.com
March 16, 2025
Spire Motorsports driver Carson Hocevar will start 25th after qualifying for this week's Pennzoil 400 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. Hocevar's starting position for this week matches the lowest of his Cup career at Las Vegas. In three previous races at the site, Hocevar has just one top-15 finish and never collected positive Place Differential in his Cup career at the site. With four races completed so far this season, Hocevar has two top-20 finishes and two DNFs. In practice, Hocevar ranked third in overall lap averages while displaying top-10 speeds in all other categories. Hocevar's upside, practice speeds, and 2025 performance so far all make him worth rostering in all formats this week at Las Vegas.
--Sean Engel - RotoBallerSource: DriverAverages.com
March 16, 2025
RFK Racing's Ryan Preece obtained a starting position of 12th for this week's race at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, the Pennzoil 400. Preece's starting position will be the highest ever of his Cup career at Las Vegas. In 10 Cup starts in his career at Vegas, Preece has two top-20 finishes. The No. 60 Ford driver also nabbed positive Place Differential in all four of his appearances in the Next-Gen car since 2022. Through four races this year, Preece has two top-20 finishes, with his 15th-place finish in last week's race at Phoenix being his best of the season yet. In practice, Preece ranked 28th in overall lap averages while displaying top-20 speeds in the 20 and 25 consecutive lap average categories. Compared to most in his salary range ($6,200 on DraftKings), Preece offers little upside based on his starting position. Preece can only be worth recommending for tournament games, but his practice speeds suggest that he may not be worth the gamble. Fantasy players are recommended to fade Preece this week.
--Sean Engel - RotoBallerSource: DriverAverages.com
March 16, 2025
Even though Joey Logano is very expensive at $9,500, last fall's Las Vegas winner seems potentially poised to lead early and often since he qualified second directly outside Michael McDowell. Considering he is a vastly better intermediate driver and one of Las Vegas' foremost masters, he stands a good chance of earning a lot of points for leading and fastest laps, but he's still had a significant downturn in speed as his speed percentiles of 59.42 and 60.62 the last two years were his slowest ever as a Penske driver, and Ryan Blaney is routinely faster of late. However, he definitely seems faster than he was last year, and despite no top-10 finishes, he already has half of last year's laps-led total after four races. If you think Logano is going to dominate the race, he's a very valuable DFS option. But if you don't, he becomes avoidable.
--Sean Wrona - RotoBallerSource: Racing Reference
March 16, 2025
Michael McDowell pulled a big surprise by delivering Spire Motorsports' first pole position for Sunday's Pennzoil 400, while his teammates Carson Hocevar and Justin Haley only qualified 25th and 33rd, respectively. Although McDowell won the most poles last year, that came for a Front Row Motorsports team that was dominating on drafting tracks, and one does not normally expect him to do much on intermediates. Since he only costs $6,100, he might be a tempting DFS selection if you think he's going to hold the lead and score a lot of lap-leader points, but it seems far more likely that outside pole-sitter Joey Logano will pass him immediately, so he will likely lose more points based on place differential than he gains from leading.
--Sean Wrona - RotoBallerSource: Racing Reference
March 16, 2025
Austin Cindric tends to qualify well on flat intermediates, and Las Vegas is no exception, as he has now qualified third here for the third time, including three of the last four winter Las Vegas races. However, he also has a history of sliding back through the pack when he qualifies well on an intermediate and he has lost positions in every Las Vegas start, except for the 2023 winter race, when he started ninth and finished sixth, but he ran significantly worse in that race since his average running position was 18th. Despite having four top-10 qualifying runs at Las Vegas, he has never had an ARP better than 13th in six previous starts, so starting from third, he is almost certain to lose positions. While he could lead a few laps in the beginning, there's not enough value to start him, even at $7,200.
--Sean Wrona - RotoBallerSource: Racing Reference
March 16, 2025
Chase Briscoe was typically very slow in his previous races at Las Vegas, with a fourth place in the 2022 fall event serving as his sole highlight, but even in that race he only had an average running position of 17th. Admittedly, a large part of that was the fact that the Stewart-Haas Racing cars tended to badly struggle on intermediates after 2020. Now Briscoe is driving for a Joe Gibbs Racing team that is traditionally much faster on them, but it didn't seem to help much as he still qualified only 24th and perhaps surprisingly, none of the JGR cars placed in the top ten. Briscoe is one of the biggest question marks for this race since he'll likely run better for JGR than SHR in theory but James Small isn't a great crew chief and bad luck continues to follow the No. 19 car whever it goes. Briscoe is likely too overpriced at $8,500 to be very valuable.
--Sean Wrona - RotoBallerSource: Racing Reference
March 16, 2025
After looking like he would inevitably win his first NASCAR Cup Series race soon in the first half of last year, Ty Gibbs has had an inexplicable falloff. He has only posted a single top ten in the last 15 races despite having theoretically championship-caliber Joe Gibbs Racing equipment and it's not like he's even been running well and is merely unlucky. In the last seven races, his best average running position is 21st and he qualified 29th yesterday. His weekend went from bad to worse when he flipped his High Limit sprint car last night. Considering how dominant Gibbs's teammate Christopher Bell was in last fall's race here, Gibbs should be good for Place Differential in theory, but since he seems to be running badly on a regular basis now and somewhat unlucky, he's probably not a top-tier option.
--Sean Wrona - RotoBallerSource: Racing Reference
March 16, 2025
Even though Shane van Gisbergen's teammate Ross Chastain was the fastest driver in Saturday's practice at Las Vegas, don't expect SVG to utilize his Trackhouse Racing cars to the same extent. Although it might be tempting to draft him because he is starting 28th and because of Chastain's speed, he is still a rookie who has only raced at this track once before in the Cup Series, finishing 29th in last fall's event. He didn't have much experience there in the Xfinity Series, either, as he had mechanical DNFs in both Las Vegas races last year before they were half over. It takes a while for even the world's best drivers to figure out the Next Gen car, and even though he is one of the world's best drivers, he isn't yet on ovals. It is probably advisable to stay away for DFS lineups.
--Sean Wrona - RotoBallerSource: Racing Reference
Page 15 of 30...131415161718...
RADIO
