This article is part of our NASCAR DFS series.
Pennzoil 400 Presented by Jiffy Lube
Location: Las Vegas, Nev.
Course: Las Vegas Motor Speedway
Format: 1.5-mile oval
Laps: 267
NASCAR Pennzoil 400 Preview
Christopher Bell upended the trends by scoring his third consecutive victory a week ago at Phoenix, keeping himself and William Byron as the only two winners from the first four races of the season. The rest of the garage is clamoring to catch those two atop the championship standings with a breakthrough of their own. That could happen at a place like Las Vegas Motor Speedway, too. The track's progressive banking, coupled with the current car and rules package, has produced some great races recently. Last year's series champion, Joey Logano, won one of those last fall in a stunning fuel-mileage upset in a race that was dominated by Bell. This track encourages passing throughout the field with space in the turns to try different lines and as Logano proved last fall, gambles on pit road can pay off. However, like other traditional 1.5-mile ovals NASCAR visits, track position is a key ingredient to success. Just one Las Vegas race since 2020 has been won by someone starting outside of the top 10. Qualifying should be an important consideration when making choices for this week's Pennzoil 400 Presented by Jiffy Lube.
Key Stats at Las Vegas Motor Speedway
- Number of races: 34
- Winners from pole: 1
- Winners from top-5 starters: 14
- Winners from top-10 starters: 21
- Winners from 21st or lower starters: 5
- Fastest race: 154.849 mph
Previous 10 Las Vegas Winners
2024 fall - Joey Logano
2024 spring - Kyle Larson
2023 fall - Kyle Larson
2023 spring - William Byron
2022 fall - Joey Logano
2022 spring - Alex Bowman
2021 fall - Denny Hamlin
2021 spring - Kyle Larson
2020 fall - Kurt Busch
2020 spring - Joey Logano
Despite the close racing the Las Vegas track produces, it still pays to start up front. Nine of the last 10 races at the track were won by a driver starting inside the top 10, and no one since 2020 has won starting lower than 13th. Therefore, everyone will be giving it all to start up front by qualifying well on Saturday. The teams will only have one practice before qualifying immediately afterward, which means they will have to get their fastest setups finalized quickly, too. Despite the ability to improve a car throughout Sunday's race, if a driver starts too far behind, it can become too difficult to catch the leader for the victory. This track often features long green-flag runs, which compound that difficulty by limiting chances for teams to make chassis improvements by coming down pit lane. All drivers will have to improve their handling for the finish, though. As the race wears on, tires wear out, and fuel burns down, handling changes can turn a good car bad. Staying on top of that evolution and maintaining track position are likely to be the two most important things teams try to stay on top of throughout Sunday's 400 miles.
RotoWire NASCAR DFS Tools
DraftKings Value Picks for the Pennzoil 400 (Based on Standard $50K Salary Cap)
DraftKings Tier 1 Values
Christopher Bell - $10,700
Kyle Larson - $10,500
Tyler Reddick - $10,200
William Byron - $10,000
DraftKings Tier 2 Values
Denny Hamlin - $9,700
Joey Logano - $9,500
Ryan Blaney - $9,300
Chase Elliott - $9,000
DraftKings Tier 3 Values
Kyle Busch - $8,800
Ross Chastain - $8,300
Alex Bowman - $8,000
Ty Gibbs - $7,700
DraftKings Long-Shot Values
Chris Buescher - $7,400
Austin Cindric - $7,200
Daniel Suarez - $7,100
Noah Gragson - $6,900
NASCAR DFS Picks for the Pennzoil 400
William Byron - $10,000
Ryan Blaney - $9,300
Ross Chastain - $8,300
Alex Bowman - $8,000
Chris Buescher - $7,400
Noah Gragson - $6,900
Like Phoenix, the competition is expected to be quite close at Las Vegas. While Christopher Bell has been very successful with three victories, William Byron (DK $10,000, FD $12,500) has been keeping pace. Byron finished sixth or better in three of the first four races with a win. He is also a former Las Vegas winner. The reason I am giving Byron the edge this week is the fact that Hendrick Motorsports has won four of the last six races at this track and Byron is the teammate with the most momentum right now. Joey Logano and Team Penske won the other two of those Las Vegas races. Teammate Ryan Blaney (DK $9,300, FD $11,000) suffered a rare engine failure last week, but he still ranks fourth in the standings and is poised to turn around his recent two-race skid of finishes outside of the top 15. Blaney has never won at Las Vegas, but his 10 top-10 finishes from 17 series starts make him a confident choice this week. He also finished third in this race last season. Ross Chastain (DK $8,300, FD $9,500) has also never won at this track, but he finished 12th or better in the last six visits. Five of those six finishes were top-10s and four were top-fives. His best Las Vegas finish was second in the fall race of 2022, and fantasy players should expect him to contend at the front of the field again this week.
With Hendrick's Las Vegas success, fantasy players should also not overlook Alex Bowman (DK $8,000, FD $9,000). Bowman won this race in 2022 and finished fifth in the fall race last season. He enters the weekend sixth in the standings with three top-10 finishes from the first four races, too. Chris Buescher (DK $7,400, FD $8,000) isn't far behind in 10th position in the points. The RFK Racing driver also has three top-10s from the first four races, and he scored his second Las Vegas top-10 last fall. Buescher started ninth and led two laps before crashing out early of this race last season. Finally, Noah Gragson (DK $6,900, FD $6,000) is a Las Vegas native with an excellent record at this track from his Xfinity days. In eight circuit starts in that series, he never finished lower than sixth and landed in the top three five of those times. In the Cup Series, he has two finishes of 11th or better from from Las Vegas starts, too.
NASCAR Betting Picks for the Pennzoil
Odds via DraftKings Sportsbook as of 5:30 PM ET Friday
Race Winner - Kyle Larson +500, Alex Bowman +2200
Top 10 - Noah Gragson +360
Group Winner - Joey Logano +230, Denny Hamlin +230, Ryan Blaney +300, Kyle Busch +320
It isn't often that Kyle Larson's odds at a track he is good at are greater than two- or three-to-one. However, due to Christopher Bell's recent run of form, Larson has some better odds than usual. Larson does have a pair of third-place finishes from the first four races, and he is a three-time winner at Las Vegas who dominated this race last year from the front row. He led 181 of 267 laps that day. Compared with the typical Larson odds, this week's could be a bargain. Those looking for a higher payout should consider Alex Bowman, though. Bowman is also in a Hendrick Chevrolet, and he won this race in 2022 and finished fifth last fall.
As mentioned above, Noah Gragson is another driver with a record of Las Vegas success. This is his home race and he was impressive at the track in his Xfinity days. A top-10 for Gragson, which he has one already this season, seems within his reach this week. He has one prior series top-10 at Las Vegas and another 11th-place result from four tries. He seems to get a homefield advantage at this track, and that may be something fans want to take advantage of.
Within the group wagers, one of the more attractive options is Ryan Blaney over Joey Logano, Denny Hamlin, and Kyle Busch. While all of the group options seem very close among the drivers, Blaney's odds in this group could be a potential value. Blaney is coming off of two poor races, including a failed engine at Phoenix but has 10 Las Vegas top-10s from 17 starts including a third-place result last fall. Teammate Logano won that fall race, but is more inconsistent at the track than Blaney. Denny Hamlin is a consistent top-10 finisher, while Kyle Busch only finished in the top 10 once at the track in the last two seasons. Blaney's consistent top finishes at this track make him a more confident choice than the others in this grouping.
