As the dust settles on another crown jewel race from Darlington Raceway, the NASCAR Cup Series playoffs continue from a fairly new stop: Worldwide Technology Raceway, or as it’s better known, Gateway.
Gateway is a track with many distinct characteristics, but it shares those characteristics with tracks like Pocono Raceway, Richmond Raceway and Phoenix Raceway.
With that being said, this is going to give us a little taste of who will be competitive for the Championship 4 race that is eight weeks away. And guys, I hate to tell you, but its going to be Team Penske that will be the brigade to beat. The three drivers of that organization have the three of the five highest career average finish there in the series, and I recommend you budget for all of them.
I’d stay away from Hendrick Motorsports this week, though. Those drivers, with the exception of Kyle Larson, have been mediocre to just plain bad at this place for the last three years, and last week at Darlington, they were just not anywhere near contending.
I’d mix in a 23XI or Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota or two and a couple of outliers, and you should be just fine. Quickly, let’s take a look at last week’s results from Darlington.
| Right on the Money | Lick Your Wounds |
| Chase Briscoe: 153.4 points | William Byron: 11.5 points scored |
| Chris Buescher: 39.4 points scored | Ty Gibbs: 15.4 points scored |
| Ross Chastain: 29.1 points scored | Ty Dillon: 13.4 points scored |
2025 DarftKings 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 $11,000
YRB doesn’t have the best average finish here, but he does have the fourth-best.
Honestly, he would probably have the second-best if it wasn’t for his fuel mileage snafu last season that handed that win away. I think Blaney will be looking to avenge that loss, but he and this team have to close the deal.
They’ve struggled in that department all season long, the most recent example being when Austin Dillon hustled by him late at Richmond last month. I don’t think this is the winner Sunday, but I do think he’ll qualify well, lead laps and bring home a solid run.
Tyler Reddick $9,200
How impressive was Reddick last week? I mean seriously, that looked like the driver who secured 23XI’s first Championship 4 berth last year.
I have to believe it’s leading somewhere, all this momentum, but I don’t think it’s leading to victory lane quite yet. I think outside of Denny Hamlin, he’s the best chance Toyota has this week at beating the Penske Fords.
I look for him to bring home some podium points just like he did in this race last year and last week.
Joey Logano $9,000
This right here, I believe is your winner.
Logano has been characteristically quiet in this run up to the playoffs and was unusually so at Darlington last weekend. I think he’s definitely due and set up to win this thing, the way he always does.
Paul Wolfe will draw up the strategy play and the three-time champion will execute. It’s as simple as that. He’s already done it before and I firmly think he’ll do it again.
Austin Cindric $8,500
Last but not least, here’s the most recent winner at this track. There is no doubt that this is one of, if not the best track on the schedule for the driver of the deuce.
Prior to last year’s win, Cindric didn’t have a top 10 here, but he got close both times, with an 11th and 13th, respectively. Still, I think that was truly a different time and a different driver.
What’s more, his most recent top-five finish came at Richmond. I don’t think he’ll repeat. But I was wrong when I said that about Chase Briscoe at Darlington. I do know for a fact, though, that he is a must-have driver this week.
Carson Hocevar $7,000
Hocevar once again took the fight to the bigger Cup series teams last week at Darlington, outpacing all four Hendrick Motorsports drivers, which is not an easy feat there.
That, coupled with his eighth-place run here last season? I think he’s Chevrolet’s best chance at a win with all that Penske dominance.
That is, assuming he doesn’t beat himself by making a mistake late.
Ricky Stenhouse Jr. $5,300
It’s been a pretty rough year at times for No. 47 Hyak Motorsports group, and that was compounded with some recent rumors that Stenhouse may be leaving the team for Spire Motorsports at year’s end.
While those rumors are unfounded so far, what isn’t is the fact that Stenhouse has busted out a random good run every now and again this season.
Last year in this race, he came home with a 20th-place run, and with how top heavy this lineup is, that’d be a fine result to pad the points for you to win your groups.
Prop Bets and Locks
- Ryan’s Redemption: Blaney +500 to win. This is a special that DraftKings is running this week, and while I picked Logano to win, I think this is a cool bet. Remember, he was a lap away from a win last year, and Team Penske has got the goods. A cool $10 bet gets you pretty handsomely paid here.
- Chase Elliott +225 for a top-five finish: Listen, I said stay away from Hendrick this week, and I meant it. I might’ve even been specifically talking about a certain driver from Dawsonville. However, throughout his career, Elliott has made lemons out of lemonade. So, if he can somehow have his setup hit this weekend at Gateway, you could cash in too with this low-risk, high-reward wager.
- Four Leg Parlay: Hamlin, Briscoe, Reddick and Bubba Wallace to finish in the top 10. This is a very likely outcome and I do love a good parlay. The question mark is, well, I guess Wallace. But he’s in the middle of an absolute career year, and he’s won here before in the Craftsman Truck Series.
Garrett joined Frontstretch as a news writer in 2023, and became a fantasy racing and betting writer in 2024. Hailing from the heart of coal country in southern West Virginia, he's a married father of three and currently enrolled in the Physical Therapy Assistant Program at New River Community Technical College in Beaver, WV.
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