The NASCAR Cup Series delivered one hell of a race last weekend at Michigan. There was passing, strategy, some wrecks, and it graded out as the best race of the 2025 season per Jeff Gluck’s weekly poll on social media. Denny Hamlin collected his third win of the season as he outlasted the likes of Carson Hocevar, William Byron, Ty Gibbs, Kyle Larson, and others. In some form or fashion, a majority of the field raced while conserving fuel following the last restart. Hamlin and his team knew they were good on fuel and were able to race hard for the win.

For William Byron, it marks the third race of the season where he flat out dominated the most laps in a race but failed to get the win. Previously he led over 200 laps at Darlington and Charlotte but didn’t go to victory lane. This past Sunday he led 49% of the laps but ran out of fuel in the closing laps and had to pit. Despite having a phenomenal day, he finished 28th while having an average running position of 3rd.

But this week, NASCAR heads South of the border to race at Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez which is where Formula One runs the Mexico City Grand Prix. The NASCAR Xfinity Series previously raced here in the early 2000’s but NASCAR’s going international for the first time in a while and we’ve got your NASCAR DFS Viva Mexico 250 picks for DraftKings and FanDuel!

 

 

 

Viva Mexico 250 - Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez

I gave some thought to writing up Daniel Suarez for the driver pool below. Ultimately I did leave him out because I personally haven't landed on as much exposure to him as other drivers. But we should at least acknowledge this awesome moment where he won Saturday's Xfinity Series race in Mexico City.

This is shaping up to be a bit of an odd weekend. Since this is the first time NASCAR is running at this particular track, they received additional practice sessions on Friday. But they didn’t qualify until Saturday afternoon. The schedule had to shift around a bit simply because a handful of Xfinity Series drivers had travel issues and the Xfinity Series cars only saw track time on Saturday.

We haven’t seen too many street or road courses on the schedule yet in 2025. They did race at Circuit of the Americas over three months ago, but while F1 races here and at COTA, I don’t really think the tracks draw a ton of comparisons.

This layout features 15 total turns per lap for 2.429 miles. Just looking at the map, we’re getting some long straights especially right after the start/finish line. Turns five through nine are a bit reminiscent of the esses at a track like Sonoma. I haven’t watched a ton of F1 recently so I won’t sit here and try to act like I know every detail of the track. For DFS purposes, we kind of know what to expect for road course lineup construction.

This race only has 100 laps with the stages broken into 20-25-55 laps segments. So at the very most we have 70 dominator points on the table, but we should probably expect closer to 65-68 points. For the most part, we’re focusing on position differential and drivers that can finish well. I’m not opposed to playing the polesitter or drivers starting closer to the front if I believe they have legitimate win equity. Dominator points should be considered a luxury if your driver(s) just so happen to earn them.

We also need to make ourselves aware that pit strategy can shake up track position for a race like this. This race is an opportunity for the road course specialists to win their way into the playoffs. Nine drivers have won a race this year. That leaves seven playoff spots open based on points and with more winners, the fewer playoff spots are available based on points standings.

I will link the NASCAR standings right here to give you an idea of who really needs to win and I’ll touch on other drivers below as well. To put it simply, drivers that are likely racing for the win may pit before the stage break(s) to improve their track position ahead of the next restart. They’ll leave the stage points on the table for the sake of giving themselves a shot to run up front and compete for victory lane.

 

 

 

Viva Mexico 250 - Practice Notes

First Session

Second Session

 

 

 

NASCAR DFS Picks & Strategy: Viva Mexico 250

No practice-to-qualifying table this week for two reasons. For road course practices, we don’t see a significant portion of the field get a long run in. The fuel run may go for 35-40 laps but that likely only comes into play during the third stage. And we have weather to take into consideration. If they switch to rain tires then these practice notes are useless.

Additionally, Saturday’s qualifying session was cut short. Yes, everyone in the field was able to log at least one qualifying lap but rain cut the session short with about 18 minutes to go so nobody was really given a good shot at improving their starting spot. Sure enough, there are some drivers carrying name recognition starting deep in the field while there are value options starting closer to the front.

 

Viva Mexico 250 DFS Picks

Shane Van Gisbergen – DraftKings: $10,500 | FanDuel: $14,000

Obviously SVG is in play for this race. He’s actually been making some steady improvements on the ovals this year, but this race is right in his wheelhouse. The bad news is that Trackhouse Racing was one of the teams hit hardest by the travel issues. By the looks of it, on Friday, they had maybe three or four employees available to assist and work on the cars between practices. SVG’s crew chief, Stephen Doran, called them the skeleton crew.

But we’ll operate as if all will be fine. And he absolutely needs a win to make the playoffs. We know he is capable of winning as that was the case when he made his NASCAR debut. Earlier this year he led 23 laps at COTA while finishing 6th. The price is tough to swallow for a road course but we’re looking to get six drivers on DraftKings that can put up 45
 points each and SVG can certainly do that on Sunday.

He won the pole during the shortened qualifying session on Saturday. So we add the caveat that we gave Connor Zilisch for yesterday’s race. He’s clearly the favorite in this field for a reason and the Trackhouse cars all look great for this race. But any error, penalty, wreck is going to cost him a lot of track position. And if he finishes poorly, he’s going to ruin your lineup.

 

Viva Mexico 250 NASCAR DFS Cash Game Core

Christopher Bell – DraftKings: $10,200 | FanDuel: $12,500

William Byron – DraftKings: $9,900 | FanDuel: $13,000

Tyler Reddick – DraftKings: $9,700 | FanDuel: $13,500

Let’s save ourselves some time and group these three drivers together. This core will represent the first three pieces of several lineups on DraftKings and FanDuel. These three drivers are pricy but you can easily play all three together on either site and round out your GPP or cash game lineups with options in the next two tiers.

Bell flashed top 13 speed in both practice sessions but qualified poorly because the session was called off early. He’s a previous winner at the Charlotte Roval and he won COTA earlier this year. Byron is also a previous COTA winner (2024) and he was the runner-up this year. He also won at Watkins Glen in 2023. And as we all know with Tyler Reddick, in the NextGen era he has three road course victories. My one concern with Reddick is that he was very vocal about how bad the car was in practice on Friday. But at a road course where pit strategy and chaos play a big role, I won’t dwell too much on the setup or practice speeds from two days ago.

Again, these three drivers round out the top tier of drivers that I’m writing up if you’re avoiding SVG. It’s a road course so we value PD and win equity. All three of those drivers give that to us but there is not ownership discount on either of them.

 

 

 

NASCAR DFS Picks: Mid-Tier Drivers

Chris Buescher – DraftKings: $8,400 | FanDuel: $10,000

It’s not really a secret that Chris Buescher is a very good road ringer. In 16 road/street course races in the NextGen era, Buescher has the best average finish of 7.9 with 13 top 10 finishes in those 16 races. Now that numbers does come from Driver Averages and I don’t believe they incorporate the Chicago Street Course in that sample size.

Moreover, we saw him go toe-to-toe with SVG at Watkins Glen in the playoffs last year and he got the win. But I also don’t believe Buescher is necessarily racing for a win this weekend. Could he win? Absolutely! But he’s actually in decent shape in the points standings. So while other drivers pit before the stage break, I imagine he stays out for the stage points. In his case I don’t think that’s a bad thing and for good reason.

For as good as Buescher is at finishing on road courses, he’s pretty bad at qualifying on them although he does start P16 for this race. But last year when he won at Watkins Glen, he started P24. Earlier this year at COTA he again qualified P24. His best start last year on road courses was the Chicago Street Course where he started P16. Now I only mention this because we’re getting a pretty nice price tag on him and I imagine he won’t have any issues working his way through the field and scoring well on both DraftKings and FanDuel.

Michael McDowell – DraftKings: $8,200 | FanDuel: $9,000

McDowell isn’t completely buried in the points standings. At the same time, both he and the organization have to know that this is probably one of his better shots at making the playoffs. I’m not ruling out the possibility that he could be racing for stage points. But my gut tells me he knows he needs to go for the win.

He wasn’t awful for DFS at COTA. He started P16 and finished 11th but be mindful his average running position was 20th. McDowell has finished top 10 in half the NextGen races at road courses, including a win at the Indianapolis Road Course back in 2023. But that was also a road course race where they didn’t have stage breaks and McDowell ran away with a (mostly) caution-free race.

McDowell also finished as the runner-up at Sonoma last year, was 5th at Chicago, and 7th at Watkins Glen. 2025 hasn’t been an electric year for McDowell and the new team, but I do expect him to be competitive on Sunday and he’s another driver who, like Buescher, carries some win equity in the mid-range.

Now I’ve touched on plenty of cash game locks and popular PD plays. McDowell definitely is not one of them. He starts P5 so he’s too risky for cash games. But that may just keep ownership down on a driver who has excelled on road courses in the past.

Austin Cindric – DraftKings: $8,000 | FanDuel: $7,200

Cindric is easily playable on both sites but he’s very discounted on FanDuel for whatever reason. He might be one of the best GPP options on the board because if most of the field is locking in the Cash Core mentioned above, then they may struggle to fit a guy like Cindric into their builds.

Cindric does come from an open wheel background and during his tenure in the NASCAR Xfinity Series, he was one of the best road course racers at that level. Sure, the Cup Series is different but he’s finished 15th and 6th in the two Chicago Street Course races. He has an average finish of 13.0 in three races at Watkins Glen. And he also finished 4th at the Roval last fall.

He’s definitely a driver who was screwed by the shorter qualifying session. His practice speeds were top seven in both sessions on Friday but he rolls off P20 so this is a guy I want to be slightly over exposed to.

Chase Briscoe – DraftKings: $7,900 | FanDuel: $7,800

I really like some of the betting markets for Briscoe especially if you can get a nice price on him to finish as the top Toyota or perhaps there are those “Group” bets on DraftKings Sportsbook he could potentially win as well. Briscoe’s been a bit of a dud lately for DFS because he qualified on the pole for three straight races and didn’t really capitalize on the opportunity.

Fortunately, he starts P19 for this race and he’s a driver I’m aiming to be overweight on. And I won’t sugar coat it, he’s not exactly a road course specialist but I do think he comes in as a great contrarian option especially if there is chaos. Briscoe had a good showing at Watkins Glen last year and gained a few spots at COTA earlier this year by finishing 14th. That’s not an earth shattering performance but this is a track that provided some chaos for Saturday’s race.

I’m also fairly intrigued by the practice speeds posted above. I’m assuming in the second practice session most teams made improvements and adjustments which is why Briscoe fell out of the top 10. But even in the first practice he had a very strong lap so I’m getting the sense the car is better than where he qualified. And again, this is strictly a GPP only play.

Carson Hocevar – DraftKings: $7,500 | FanDuel: $8,000

I desperately wanted to avoid him. But I anticipate Alex Bowman will generate more ownership just above him so I do prefer Hocevar who starts P23. The practice speeds don’t really stand out but I do like the fact he has Michael McDowell as a teammate and we can lean into the possibility of McDowell feeding the younger driver some notes.

But Hocevar’s actually done well on road course over the last calendar year. Over the last three road course races, dating back to the 2024 NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs, Hocevar finished 13th or better in all three races including a top three finish at Watkins Glen.

Finishing has been a struggle for this kid. Even last week he managed to get to the front at Michigan but clearly didn’t have enough fuel to finish as the winner. But the upside is still there and he offers PD at the end of the day.

 

 

 

NASCAR DFS Picks: Value Drivers

Ryan Blaney – DraftKings: $7,200 | FanDuel: $6,800

Blaney kicks off the value tier as someone who probably goes overlooked because he’s deemed “bad” on road courses. And I don’t really think that’s the case. He does have a win on the Roval but he definitely needed chaos for that victory.

Last year he was pretty damn consistent on road courses. If you take away the Watkins Glen result where he wrecked, he finished 12th or better at the other four road/street course races so while he’s discounted this week there’s plenty of reason to believe he could come home with a top 10 result.

Todd Gilliland – DraftKings: $6,700 | FanDuel: $5,800

We may not like the price tag but he’s priced up because, among the value options, he’s one of the better road course drivers. In the NextGen era, he has an average finish right around 20th which isn’t terrible for a driver in this price range. But we should note that a finish like that would be bad for his DFS outlook because of where he qualified.

Over the last five road/street races in the Cup Series, Gilliland has finished 18th or better in all of them. And you are rolling the dice a bit as this isn’t a lock, but we also saw him win at COTA in the Truck Series back in 2021 so he may just be more comfortable in this type of race.

The starting spot will keep a majority of the field off Gilliland because he rolls off P7 and there are clearly other drivers with an easier path to being in the optimal lineup. So perhaps just 12-15% exposure in tournaments is enough to gain leverage on a car that looked to carry top 10 speed in practice.

Brad Keselowski – DraftKings: $6,600 | FanDuel: $6,000

It feels like my hand is being forced to put Keselowski in the Playbook. There are some guys cheaper than Brad that also offer PD. I do like Noah Gragson but he wrecked early in Friday’s practice and didn’t run nearly as many laps as the rest of the field. And the next driver in our Playbook isn’t even in the driver pool for FanDuel.

So yeah, my hand is almost forced to put Brad in the Playbook as a value option. But at least he offers position differential, right? Brad started P26 and finished 15th at COTA earlier this year. He even managed to finished 13th at Sonoma last year and then 18th at Chicago. And by no means do I think he’s guaranteed to finish in the top 20. But the car seemingly got better between the two practice sessions on Friday and he was likely a victim of qualifying being rained out with a lot of time still available. So I’ll mix in some exposure because he at least starts pretty far back while several value plays qualified pretty well.

Ryan Truex – DraftKings: $6,400

Truex might be a bit of a trendy play on Sunday simply because of the equipment he’ll be driving. With Denny Hamlin sitting this race out due to the birth of his son, Truex steps into the 11-car which is a nice little audition for the forgotten Truex brother. People will likely overreact to the result regardless. It’s reminiscent of when Corey LaJoie got to drive the 9-car a couple years ago and all of Hendrick Motorsports showed up with awful setups.

But I digress. Truex has been in the simulator and he’s been doing the “elevation training” with the rest of the JGR drivers. I have a feeling Denny notified the team earlier in the week he wouldn’t be going to Mexico for this race and everyone at JGR knew Truex would be behind the wheel. His brother is also a former road course specialist so maybe he’s feeding his brother some info. But this car has won three times this year and is priced at $6,400. It should have speed but maybe Truex can do just enough to pay off. There likely won’t be an ownership discount so if you wanted to fade value chalk, well who am I to stop you?

To speak to the practice speed we should remind ourselves he doesn’t have a ton of experience in this car. While he has plenty of simulator time in the bank, he’s adjusting to being at the track physically and the NextGen car is a big departure from the Xfinity Series cars. So while we do love the equipment, I understand if this is a spot you wish to avoid.

 

 

 

NASCAR DFS Optimizer & Lineups Picks This Week

Shane Van Gisbergen does not appear in the table below for some technical issues with his profile in our database but he is 100% in play for this race as a dominator with win equity.

Player Pool

$ Tier D
High Logo Tyler Reddick
Viva Mexico 250Logo $13,500
Logo Christopher Bell
Viva Mexico 250Logo $12,500
Logo William Byron
Viva Mexico 250Logo $13,000
Logo Chase Elliott
Viva Mexico 250Logo $11,500
Logo AJ Allmendinger
Viva Mexico 250Logo $11,000
Medium Logo Chris Buescher
Viva Mexico 250Logo $10,000
Logo Alex Bowman
Viva Mexico 250Logo $8,200
Logo Carson Hocevar
Viva Mexico 250Logo $8,000
Logo Chase Briscoe
Viva Mexico 250Logo $7,800
Logo Austin Cindric
Viva Mexico 250Logo $7,200
Low Logo Ryan Blaney
Viva Mexico 250Logo $6,800
Logo Bubba Wallace
Viva Mexico 250Logo $6,200
Logo Brad Keselowski
Viva Mexico 250Logo $6,000
Logo Noah Gragson
Viva Mexico 250Logo $5,500
Logo Zane Smith
Viva Mexico 250Logo $3,800
Logo Ricky Stenhouse
Viva Mexico 250Logo $3,500
Logo John H. Nemechek
Viva Mexico 250Logo $3,200