March 16, 2025
Keep an eye on Kyle Busch in this weekend's Pennzoil 400 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. Richard Childress Racing has had better-than-expected speed to start out the 2025 season, and "Rowdy" has an excellent track record at his home venue. In six of the last nine races at this track, Busch has finished sixth or better, so the talent is definitely there if his equipment is up to par. The No. 8 Chevrolet wasn't overly competitive in the two Las Vegas races last year--Busch finished 26th and 13th--but, as mentioned before, the RCR Chevrolets could have more speed this time around. Busch also finished eighth at Kansas last season, which is the sister track to Las Vegas. This weekend, the No. 8 Chevrolet was 11th-fastest in practice. Kyle will roll off the starting grid from fourth-place when the Pennzoil 400 goes green on Sunday. He could end up leading some laps early and makes for an interesting tournament play in DFS contests on DraftKings.
--Jordan McAbeeSource: ifantasyrace
March 16, 2025
Don't sleep on Alex Bowman this weekend at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. Statistically, this has been one of the best tracks on the schedule for Bowman since the Next Gen car was introduced, as he has an average finish of 12.4 here over the last five races and an average driver rating of 98.5. Including his win here in Sin City back in 2022, Bowman finished third here in 2023 and ended up finishing fifth in the fall Playoff race last October. Additionally, the Hendrick Motorsports driver has been strong at Kansas Speedway as well, which is the sister track to Las Vegas. Over at Kansas, Bowman has five straight top-10 finishes. This weekend, the No. 48 Chevrolet was among the fastest in practice when it came to long-run lap averages, and Bowman qualified sixth for Sunday's Pennzoil 400. He's a risky tournament/pivot option in DFS contests at $8,000 on DraftKings.
--Jordan McAbeeSource: ifantasyrace
March 16, 2025
Although he's more known for his road course prowess, don't overlook AJ Allmendinger in the Pennzoil 400 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway this weekend. Allmendinger has a knack for pulling out respectable finishes in the desert, as he has posted a top-15 result in four of his 13 career starts at the track. Allmendinger last raced in the Cup Series here back in 2023 and walked away with 18th- and 21st-place results in the two races with Kaulig Racing. This weekend, the No. 16 Chevrolet was 17th-fastest in practice and ended up qualifying in 18th-place for Sunday's race. On DraftKings, Allmendinger is priced at $6,600, and that relatively high salary combined with AJ's high starting position should keep his ownership pretty low on this slate. With decent overall upside, Allmendinger could be a viable option for tournament builds in DFS on Sunday.
--Jordan McAbeeSource: Jayski
March 16, 2025
Todd Gilliland is always one of the most popular lower-tier drivers, but does he have the upside at Las Vegas Motor Speedway this weekend to roll the dice with the No. 34 Ford again? You may have to temper your expectations. Gilliland has historically struggled at the 1.5-mile tracks, and Las Vegas is no exception. In six career starts at this track, Gilliland has yet to finish better than 23rd, and his driver rating at this track in the Next Gen era (39.7) is down with the likes of bottom feeders such as Cody Ware and BJ McLeod. Todd did wind up with a 14th-place finish at Kansas last season, which is the sister track of Las Vegas, but that was more of an anomaly than anything else. As far as DFS lineups go, though, you still need to have some Gilliland exposure this weekend. He qualified back in 32nd and is only priced at $5,900, so it won't take much for Todd to hit value on Sunday.
--Jordan McAbeeSource: ifantasyrace
March 16, 2025
Fresh off of his top-10 finish at Phoenix last weekend, Zane Smith may be able to make it back-to-back at Las Vegas Motor Speedway on Sunday. Smith walked away with a 16th-place here at Las Vegas ast fall, and he was able to grab top-10 results at both Kansas and Michigan last season. Kansas is the sister track to Las Vegas, and Michigan is often added into the comparisons for Vegas and Kansas, for what that's worth. As always, rolling the dice with Zane Smith is always a pretty big gamble due to his major inconsistencies. However, he has shown promise early this season, and if he can keep his fenders clean on Sunday, we could see another strong performance from the No. 38 Front Row Motorsports team. With that being said, because of his high starting position this weekend at Las Vegas (ninth), you should probably look elsewhere when building your DFS lineups, even with Zane's low salary ($5,800). The potential for negative Place Differential is too high.
--Jordan McAbeeSource: BVM Sports
March 16, 2025
John Hunter Nemechek has gotten off to a fast start through the first four races of the 2025 Cup Series season, as the Legacy Motor Club driver currently sits 13th in the points standings and has just one finish worse than 14th this year: a 22nd-place result at COTA. Now the series heads to Las Vegas Motor Speedway and iconic boyband Backstreet Boys is on the hood for Nemechek's No. 42 Toyota. And honestly, this track hasn't been awful for John Hunter--relatively speaking. In addition to his ninth-place finish here last fall, Nemechek has three other results between 20th and 24th in his other Cup Series starts at this track. That makes Las Vegas his third-best track on the schedule when it comes to average finish. This weekend, the No. 42 Toyota was just 30th-fastest in both practice and qualifying, but Nemechek's Legacy Motor Club teammate, Erik Jones, showed good speed. As a low-dollar ($5,500) Place Differential play, John Hunter is a decent option at Las Vegas this weekend.
--Jordan McAbeeSource: ifantasyrace
March 16, 2025
Ricky Stenhouse Jr. earned a starting position of 31st for this week's Pennzoil 400 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. This will mark the third time this season that Stenhouse will start lower than 30th in the Cup Series. In 19 starts at Las Vegas in his Cup career, Stenhouse has eight top-20 finishes, including last year's March race at the site. After four races so far this season, Stenhouse has four finishes of 21st or better and gained positive Place Differential every time. In practice, Stenhouse ranked 22nd in overall lap averages and displayed top-20 speeds in comparison to the field in the 15 and 20-consecutive-lap average categories. Considering his extremely high upside and practice speeds, Stenhouse is one of the top value options of the week and will compete for a top-20 finish.
--Sean Engel - RotoBallerSource: DriverAverages.com
March 16, 2025
23XI Racing's Riley Herbst will start 34th after qualifying for this week's Pennzoil 400 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. It will be his first time racing at the site in the Cup Series. In 11 previous Xfinity Series starts at Las Vegas, Herbst has one win and six top-10 finishes while scoring positive Place Differential seven times. Through four races so far this season, Herbst has three top-20 finishes with positive PD earned. In practice, Herbst ranked 27th in 10 consecutive lap averages and 25th in overall lap averages. Based on his enormous upside, Xfinity history, and equipment, Herbst can be a sneaky DFS value play, especially as one of the cheapest drivers to add to lineups this week.
--Sean Engel - RotoBallerSource: DriverAverages.com
March 16, 2025
One of the surprises during qualifying for this weekend's Pennzoil 400 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway was Ty Dillon, who will roll off the starting grid from 17th place when the fifth Cup Series race of the season goes green on Sunday. It was especially surprising because Dillon's No. 10 Chevrolet was one of the slowest cars in practice, ranking 35th-fastest out of 36 cars and over a second off the pace of the fastest driver, Ross Chastain. Now DFS managers have to ask themselves, is Ty Dillon worth the risk on Sunday due to his good track position to start the race? At just $5,100 on DraftKings, he may seem like a compelling dirt-cheap option, but considering he's never finished better than 20th in the Next Gen car at Las Vegas makes it hard to think that Dillon won't have a negative place differential on Sunday. You should use Dillon sparingly in your DFS lineups, if at all this weekend.
--Jordan McAbeeSource: Jayski
March 10, 2025
Tyler Reddick never led at Phoenix on Sunday but he had strong speed as he moved into the top five on the 10th lap and remained there for most of the race, spending long portions of it running second to either William Byron or eventual winner Christopher Bell. However, in the third stage, his power steering began to go out and only functioned intermittently. Amazingly, he managed to continue to hold onto a top-three position until he sped in the pits under caution. However, by the time he restarted, his power steering was completely lost and he was well off the pace. The cautions came fast and frequent enough at the tail end of the race that Reddick still managed to salvage a lead-lap finish in 20th.
--Sean Wrona - RotoBallerSource: Racing Reference
March 10, 2025
After winning the pole for Sunday's race at Phoenix, William Byron led 83 of the race's 94 laps. Although it looked like Joey Logano was faster in the early stages of the race and they exchanged the lead four times, Byron began to dominate after Logano was penalized for jumping the second restart. However, Byron got passed by Austin Cindric when he had the advantage of the optional tires and then got beaten out of the pits by Christopher Bell on a caution-flag pit stop and he never led again. He made a bid for victory by taking his final set of optional tires sooner than most of the other contenders, but got caught a lap down when a caution came out for debris from Bubba Wallace's crash. Nonetheless, he made the best of a bad situation and recovered to eventually finish sixth, allowing him to expand his points lead from two points to 13.
--Sean Wrona - RotoBallerSource: Racing Reference
March 10, 2025
Josh Berry had one of the best runs for a Wood Brothers driver in years in Sunday's Phoenix race. After starting fourth, Berry ran in the top five for almost the entire first stage but fell to 29th after a loose lug nut during the race's fourth caution. Luckily, he managed to evade the multi-car pileup on the ensuing restart, which elevated him to 19th. After working his way back up to 10th at the end of Stage 2, he eventually worked his way up to a fourth-place finish, exactly where he started. This made him the first No. 21 driver since Matt DiBenedetto in 2021 to score a driver rating over 100, start and finish in the top five in the same race, and earn a top-five finish on a non-drafting oval. If Berry can stop crashing so much, he might be a playoff contender.
--Sean Wrona - RotoBallerSource: Racing Reference
March
10,
2025
Christopher
Bell
was
the
driver
to
beat
at
Phoenix
Raceway
during
the
Shriners
Children's
500.
Beginning
the
race
from
the
11th
position,
Bell
quickly
showed
that
he
had
one
of
the
top
cars
in
the
field
as
he
made
it
all
read more...
March
10,
2025
Hendrick
Motorsports
driver
Kyle
Larson
had
a
strong
performance
and
nearly
stole
the
victory
during
Sunday's
race
at
Phoenix
Raceway.
Beginning
the
race
from
the
17th
position,
Larson
kept
his
car
clean
and
quietly
ascended
through
the
field
during
the
first
read more...
March 10, 2025
RFK Racing's Chris Buescher placed fifth after a quiet yet productive performance at Phoenix Raceway on Sunday. Starting from the 13th position, Buescher did not make many moves during the first stage but kept his car clean and out of trouble. He would end the first stage in the 12th position, falling short of earning stage points. In the second stage, Buescher continued to quietly ride along with the rest of the field, keeping his car in one piece and avoiding further issues. The No. 17 Ford driver placed 12th at the end of stage two, failing to earn stage points once again. In the final stage, it was much of the same for Buescher, who finally utilized the option tires in the latter parts of stage three to make moves. Buescher then climbed up and competed for a top-5 finish on the race's final restart. Buescher accomplished just that and placed fifth overall, earning his third career top-5 finish at Phoenix.
--Sean Engel - RotoBallerSource: NASCAR.com
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