The NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs are underway as Chase Briscoe grabbed his second win at Darlington Raceway, and his fourth career victory overall. In his first season with Joe Gibbs Racing, he’s logged a pair of wins and he is locked into the Round of 12. It was a brutal race for the likes of Josh Berry and Alex Bowman. Berry wrecked very early in last week’s race and Bowman registered a poor result after spending most of the race off the lead lap.

World Wide Technology Raceway is the host track this weekend for the second race of the playoffs. We’ve seen three races at this track although none were more exciting than last year’s Enjoy Illinois 300 where Ryan Blaney ran out of gas and Austin Cindric got the win. But this will be the first time we see Gateway as part of the playoffs. Let’s take a look at how this race shapes up for our NASCAR DFS Picks for the 2025 Enjoy Illinois 300!

 

 

 

World Wide Technology Raceway

World Wide Technology Raceway is a track just outside St. Louis (technically in Illinois) and it measures in at 1.25 miles. Funny enough, the race following Darlington in the playoffs carries a similar egg shape to it, but it’s much flatter. Turns 1 and 2 are banked at just 11 degrees while turns 3 and 4 are at 9 degrees. This technically qualifies as a shorter, flat track. It’s not a direct comparison to Phoenix, New Hampshire, Iowa, or Richmond but our hands are a bit tied in finding a strong comparison.

As mentioned at the top of this article, this race was previously run the first Sunday of June from 2022-2024. So the conditions might be a bit cooler, but nothing significant. The average temperature drop off in Madison, Illinois from June to September is only about six degrees. So for a Sunday afternoon, the track will still be warmer and slick. If this race was moved to October, then there might be more concern.

This race is scheduled for 240 laps which means we have 24 “dominator” points on FanDuel while we have about 150-160 dominator points on DraftKings. In the first three versions of this race we saw at least three drivers lead 20+ laps. And as is the case with short tracks, the clean air translates to fastest laps. Kyle Busch won this race in 2023 with 121 laps led and 67 fastest laps. In that same race, Ryan Blaney had 83 laps led with 32 fastest laps. Last year, Christopher Bell led 80 laps which correlated to 74 fastest laps. Austin Cindric got the win with 53 laps led and 16 fastest laps.

So for a traditional short track race we will take the usual approach of two-to-three dominators and balancing the builds with value drivers that can score well.

 

 

 

NASCAR DFS Picks & Strategy: Enjoy Illinois 300

 

Enjoy Illinois 300 Top Tier DFS Picks

Ryan Blaney – DraftKings: $11,000 | FanDuel: $14,000

Blaney suffered a devastating loss at Gateway in 2024 after he ran out of fuel as he was approaching the start/finish line to take the white flag. His teammate, Austin Cindric, passed him on the final lap and won the race. The race was Blaney’s to lose and the fuel strategy cost him dearly as he finished 24th after having an average running position of sixth for the whole race.

Team Penske tends to get hot at this time of year so going to a track where they’ve won the last two years bodes well for the team. Blaney also comes in with the best average finish (6.7) over the last seven races dating back to Dover. In that span he has six finishes of eighth or better and he’s led double-digit laps in five of those races. Perhaps he can avenge his disappointing loss at this track from a year ago and lock himself into the Round of 12.

Christopher Bell – DraftKings: $10,500 | FanDuel: $13,500

Bell’s never finished worse than 11th in the previous three races at Gateway. Last year he easily had the best car after he won the first two stages but finished seventh. But he did lead 80 laps with 74 fastest laps.

Bell looked good in practice and teammate Chase Briscoe even mentioned how fast the 20-car is for this race. He works very well as a secondary dominator off someone like Blaney or Hamlin. He won’t generate as much ownership as the drivers starting closer to the front and he did win at Phoenix earlier this year so we know the flat track pedigree is there.

Kyle Larson – DraftKings: $9,500 | FanDuel: $12,500

The field will likely flock to Hamlin who starts alongside Larson on the front row for this race. Hamlin’s due to draw more ownership especially with Larson’s struggles of late.

This is also a nice pricing discount on DraftKings for Larson. We usually see him priced under $10,000 for tracks like Daytona and Talladega. You have to go way back to COTA in March to find a non-drafting race where Larson was priced this low.

The Hendrick cars do look to have some long run speed. Byron and Elliott put forth solid efforts in practice and Larson ranked fourth in 15-and-20 lap averages. Larson’s inability to get to the lead of late is concerning but he starts with track position and works very well as a pivot off Hamlin and we’re getting an outstanding price for this race.

Joey Logano – DraftKings: $9,000 | FanDuel: $12,000

We’re leaning into track history with Joey Logano and this is the time of year that Logano tends to come through in the clutch. Logano has won two of the last three NASCAR Cup Series championships so he must have been very pleased to see Gateway moved to the playoff portion of the schedule.

We’ve only seen three races at Gateway but Logano won the inaugural race back in 2022 and he’s never finished outside the top five at this track. Does it help that he tends to qualify well? Sure. But there’s some win equity and Penske has shown more progress on the shorter tracks. Earlier this year we saw Logano finish 13th at Phoenix, but he led 81 laps, then he finished 8th at Martinsville, and he was top five at Nashville and Dover. Now Gateway is unique because it’s shaped like an egg, it’s flat, and only measures in at 1.25 miles. There aren’t many great comparisons to this track so we’re grasping at straws a bit. But Logano currently finds himself three points below the cut line so he could certainly use another elite run at Gateway to improve his Round of 12 chances.

I do have some interest in Austin Cindric, who won this race last year. But he is priced up a bit likely due to last year’s performance. He led over 50 laps but also started on the front row. Cindric won’t draw much ownership so he’s good for tournaments only. Logano is a bit safer based on qualifying.

 

 

 

NASCAR DFS Picks: Mid-Tier Drivers

Chase Elliott – DraftKings: $8,800 | FanDuel: $9,500

Elliott didn’t have the greatest qualifying effort on Sunday and he’ll start P19. The NASCAR DFS Projections like him a good amount to move up and finish well as a PD option. His track history here isn’t overwhelmingly impressive. In the previous two races here, he’s finished 13th and 21st.

Short tracks aren’t typically where we get a ton of exposure to Elliott but he was consistently second-fastest in Group B’s practice session as William Byron and Kyle Larson also had strong showings.

He isn’t so expensive that I’d prefer to just pay up for dominator points. At $8,800 on DraftKings and $9,500 on FanDuel we can look strictly at Elliott as a PD play with top 10 upside.

Bubba Wallace – DraftKings: $8,300 | FanDuel: $8,500

Track history certainly isn’t on Bubba’s side heading into Gateway. In the last three races here he hasn’t logged a single top 20 finish. However, Bubba has shown pretty solid speed at the shorter, flat tracks which is expected of Toyota drivers.

Bubba finished 29th at Phoenix back in the spring but that was due to a wreck. At Iowa he started P15 and finished 6th. He followed that up a few weeks later by leading over 100 laps at Richmond after losing a wheel on pit road thus leading to a poor finish. But overall, he ranked in the top 10 in total speed at both Iowa and Richmond.

Assuming the short track momentum holds up we could be looking at some optimism for Bubba at a track where the track history may scare people off rostering him.

Josh Berry – DraftKings: $8,100 | FanDuel: $7,800

Josh Berry desperately needs a good run if he wants to keep his playoff hopes alive. Berry’s early departure from Darlington last week has him in a deep hole with two races to go until the Round of 12. Fortunately for Berry, this is a track where he can make up some ground.

Berry is in the 21-car for Wood Brothers Racing and they have an affiliation with Team Penske, and we’ve already touched on Penske’s success on short, flat tracks of late and they’ve won two races at Gateway. Berry has a short, flat track background and that’s been on display this year.

He finished 4th at Phoenix (started P4), 13th at Iowa (started P12), and 8th at Richmond (started P17). He ranked in the top 11 of total speed at all three of those races. I expect him to be aggressive and potentially finish very well so if there’s a track for him to gain some ground in the standings, it might be this one.

Brad Keselowski – DraftKings: $7,700 | FanDuel: $8,200

Keselowski didn’t go out for a longer run in Group A’s qualifying session. His longest run was 10 laps but he at least ranked first in that metric. Keselowski starts P23 for this race so there’s plenty of room to move up and score well.

We also can’t forget that how good he was at Iowa a little over a month ago. He arguably should’ve won the race as he was the best car all day. He finished third but led 68 laps with 59 fastest laps. It’s possible that Kez was satisfied enough with the car in practice that they didn’t need a longer run. While they missed on qualifying it’s possible the car is good for race trim.

 

 

 

NASCAR DFS Picks: Value Drivers

Austin Dillon – DraftKings: $7,100 | FanDuel: $6,500

Superspeedways and short tracks. That seems to be where Austin Dillon is good although he also has wins at Charlotte and Texas on his resume. But weirdly enough, Dillon’s become quite good at the short, flat tracks the last two years. Sure, his 2024 win at Richmond carries an asterisk but he doubled down and won this year’s race rather clean.

Specifically at Gateway, Dillon has a pair of top 15 finishes including a top six finish last year. And in addition to his win at Richmond in August, he finished 12th at Phoenix in the spring and he was top 10 at Iowa about a month ago.

He’s also a playoff driver and he’s eight points below the cut line for the next round. He’s in a similar spot to Berry, but not as bad. Dillon could use a good performance after an underwhelming race last Sunday night. But the bigger concerns with Dillon may lie in the fact that we don’t know how good the car is in the long run for this race so we’re a bit blind in that regard.

Carson Hocevar – DraftKings: $7,000 | FanDuel: $7,200

Hocevar is always a risky driver to build around but alas, here we are. He’s made more enemies than friends this season. But if he can manage to run a clean race and not piss anybody off then it’s entirely possible, he can score a top 10 finish at a friendly price tag.

In terms of total speed, Hocevar ranked 18th at Phoenix, 11th at Iowa, and 15th at Richmond. Now he did wreck at Phoenix, but he finished 8th at Iowa and 15th at Richmond. Even last year he finished 8th at this very track. He’s not a playoff driver but that doesn’t mean he can’t still get us a strong result for our DFS lineups.

Ty Gibbs – DraftKings: $6,700 | FanDuel: $6,800

I know Gibbs has appeared in the Playbook quite a bit recently to minimal fanfare aside from Daytona a couple weeks back. But once again he does offer position differential for this race as he qualified outside the top 20 and this is the kind of track where Joe Gibbs Racing should do very well even though it’s been more up Penske’s alley of late.

Gibbs was in a similar position at Richmond about three weeks ago and he finished 18th but with 13 fastest laps. Gibbs finished 11th here last year and 20th the year before. I do believe he has potential to run well at a track like Phoenix, but he’s wrecked the past two years.

If there’s some fatigue with Gibbs, then I totally understand. But his practice speeds in Group A looked pretty strong. Ryan Preece makes for a safer pivot as he’s a little more expensive and starts further back.

Todd Gilliland – DraftKings: $5,500 | FanDuel: $3,500

I’ve spent a good portion of this Playbook touching on drivers that impressed in practice and qualifying or have good track history that pairs well with good speed on the short, flat tracks this year. Gilliland has solid track history but rather poor short track speed so he’s a bit of an outlier.

But again, he’s priced down for a reason but he’s been a popular punt option given his propensity for qualifying poorly. In the very first race at Gateway back in 2022, Gilliland started and finished 22nd. Then in 2023 he started P28 and finished 15th while teammate Michael McDowell grabbed a top 10 finish. In last year’s race Gilly started P35 and finished 16th(!). Michael McDowell won the pole for the race and led 40 laps but finished 25th. So maybe Front Row Motorsports just knows a thing or two about setting the cars up at this track or nailing the strategy.

 

 

 

NASCAR DFS Optimizer & Lineups Picks This Week

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