Daily Fantasy NASCAR DraftKings Forecast: Iowa Corn 350

The NASCAR Cup Series schedule shifts from the most famous yard of bricks in the world to a place where corn definitely does grow.

A newcomer to the Cup Series, Iowa Speedway is a Midwest bullring with a rich history in the NASCAR Xfinity Series, but this is only the second ever Cup race there. Therefore, there are a good amount of drivers in the field who’ve won here in the lower series, and that’s who you need to have in your lineups this weekend.

Data from last year will also be crucial to your success, as it’s the only real notebook we have to study. I suppose you could go back and look at statistics from the other banked short track events in 2025, but Iowa doesn’t have much in common with any of them, other than maybe North Wilkesboro Speedway. The spring race at Phoenix Raceway could also be a good starting point, but beware, that is not a true banked short track.

I think you’d be better off taking a look at the 2024 races at New Hampshire Motor Speedway, Richmond Raceway, and Worldwide Technology Raceway, as they share characteristics with this place, and we haven’t been to any of those tracks this season as of yet.

Stick to these keys, and you could be counting money and stacking fantasy points like kernels on a corn cob.

Fantasy/Betting Breakdown: 2025 Brickyard 400

Right On The Money	Lick Your Wounds
Kyle Larson: 64.1 points scored	Ty Gibbs: 6.4 points scored
Brad Keselowski: 53.4 points scored	Chase Briscoe +1100 to win: finished 18th
Todd Gilliland: 51.5 points scored	Larson-Ryan Blaney parlay: Larson finished top Chevrolet, Blaney did not finish top Ford

2025 DraftKings Rules of the Road

Drivers will be awarded points based on their finishing position, position differential, fastest laps and laps led. The driver who wins the race scores 45 fantasy points, while second place gets 42 points, third gets 41 points and so on, at least through the top 10. The 11th-place finisher scores 32 points, 21st gets 21 and 31st gets 10.

However, any spots drivers lose or gain on the track are added or subtracted from their score. If the driver leads a lap, they will earn 0.25 points for each lap led and 0.45 points for each fastest lap.

Fantasy Forecast

Ryan Blaney $10,700

While it may seem lazy to pick the defending winner of this race, there is a lot of logic here.

For starters, Blaney has an Xfinity Series win here back in 2015, and he’s usually good at places with similar characteristics like Phoenix. It is concerning though, that he’s had a hard time closing out races this season, much like William Byron.

I don’t have enough faith to say that he’s going to be your winner this weekend, but I think he’s a lock for top three to five points.

Christopher Bell $10,200

It seems like a lifetime ago that Bell rattled off three straight wins earlier this year. While he’s not exactly struggled, he’s just not been a top contender every week like that.

Now, he did win at Phoenix and North Wilkesboro, which is another place that’s similar but not so much that it’s a huge factor. He also has two Xfinity Series wins here.

I think Bell stands out among the crowd, and he gets his name back into the championship conversation in the heartland this weekend.

Chase Elliott $9,800

Yeah, I know guys. It seems like I am constantly signing Elliott, and I think it’d be foolish not to as often as you can.

Say what you want, but he’s always been able to get pretty decent points each week this year, even when he doesn’t finish in the top 10. His mediocre run at Indianapolis Motor Speedway was expected and an aberration.

Plus, he was on the podium in this race last year, and while he doesn’t have an Xfinity Series win at Iowa, he averaged a respectable 5.8 career average finish here in that series.

Ryan Preece $7,000

Guys, I swear if it’s going to happen, this is where it’s going to happen. Preece has been kicking at the door of his first NASCAR Cup Series victory.

Preece is consistently towards the top half of the field week after week. Roush Fenway Keselowski Racing has been quietly improving week after week. It all seems to be building towards the crescendo that would be Preece finally having his blue collar hard work pay off.

Oh, and by the way, his first Xfinity Series win came right here in Iowa. It would only be fitting.

Austin Cindric $6,900

For awhile at Indy, it looked like the son of an IndyCar guy was going to victory lane at that series’ most famous track in a stock car.

The No. 2 Team Penske Ford looked better than it has all season, leading a ton of laps and having a leg up when it came to fuel.

In typical fashion, it all came crashing down as Cindric’s right rear tire finally gave in and essentially took him out of contention entirely. While that was certainly bad and I wouldn’t blame you for overlooking him this week, consider the momentum factor.

It had been a long time since Cindric’s car was good enough to win at a non-superspeedway track. In fact, you have to go all the way back to Worldwide Technology Raceway in 2024 to find that.

There are some things you could find there at Gateway that Iowa has, so at this price, Cindric is a fine play.

Justin Haley $5,300

If you thought that last pick was a reach, well then you’ll love this one. The Haley experience at Spire Motorsports has been, well, underwhelming to say the least.

Going into this season with Rodney Childers as his crew chief, there were some that probably expected him to take the next step, but it hasn’t materialized and Childers has long since been let go from the team.

Bear with me though, because Haley had a career run in Rick Ware Racing equipment last year in Iowa. He hung around the top ten for much of the race before settling into 13th for his troubles. I don’t know if we’ll get a repeat of that, but this lineup is top heavy, so you’ll have to take some swings if you go this route.

Prop Bets and Locks

1. Preece +5000 to win: Guys I’m telling you, I think this is the sexy pick here. He’s a short track ace, he’s won here in the Xfinity Series and he’s in the midst of a career year. Take this bet because if it’s going to hit, it’s going to be this week.
   
2. Parlay— Elliott, Larson and Byron to all finish in the top five +725: This is almost too easy. Byron and Elliott already did this a season ago, and Larson was pretty darn good before his race went sour after stage two. Guys, a little bit of a money on this highly likely outcome could really get you some serious pocket change.
   
3. Bubba Wallace +100 over Ross Chastain -140: It was truly heartwarming to see the reaction to Wallace’s Brickyard 400 win on Sunday. As with most drivers, when it comes to driver No. 23, confidence is a huge boost to their likelihood of success. On the flip side, Chastain has DNF’ed for two straight races now. Take Wallace and get a huge victory of your own.