NASCAR By the Numbers - Cook Out Clash
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NASCAR DFS Picks: Cook Out Clash
The 2025 NASCAR Season is officially here! This weekend, we head to Bowman Gray Stadium for the Cook Out Clash. With this being a preseason event and given the format, we won’t be offering any NASCAR Premium content. I could not do nothing, so I wanted to give some thoughts on what I’m expecting and some drivers I like for Sunday night. We have 20 of the 23 drivers set, but we will get two more from the LCQ race and one driver who scored the most points in 2024 that misses the LCQ top-2 spots. The favorites to get in on points are Blaney, Larson, or Gibbs.
The Clash format is unique, and the race is different, but we still have 200 laps. With 200 laps, we’re looking at 90 fastest lap points and 50 laps led points. With only green flag laps counting, we’re going to have a full 140 dominator points for this race. After watching the heat races, I think the fastest lap points will come from the front- not necessarily from the leader, but from a top-5 running car. We saw two different types of heats, and I’m sure we’re going to see a wild LCQ race Sunday night. We’re going from 10 cars on the track to 23. I think we’re going to see a lot of beating and banging. With that said, I think we still want 1-2 dominators. I will build with variance in mind and use some of the cars starting 15th or worse for some place differential floor.
Starting Lineup
1. Chase Elliott
2. Chris Buescher
3. Denny Hamlin
4. Tyler Reddick
5. Brad Keselowski
6. Chase Briscoe
7. Joey Logano
8. Christopher Bell
9. Noah Gragson
10. Shane Van Gisbergen
11. William Byron
12. Ryan Preece
13. Kyle Busch
14. Bubba Wallace
15. Carson Hocevar
16. Austin Cindric
17. Ross Chastain
18. Daniel Suarez
19. Alex Bowman
20. Todd Gilliland
21.LCQ 1st
22.LCQ 2nd
23. Points Provisional
Core Plays
Chase Elliott, Todd Gilliland, Ryan Blaney
After watching the heat races, I think it’s going to be tough to pass Chase Elliott. The bottom is the preferred line, and with him controlling the restart, he should have an advantage every time. I don’t think he leads the whole race, but I think he’s in the best position at the start for being a potential dominator. Gilliland had speed in the heat race and has always been strong on short flat tracks. With his 20th starting position and price, he’s one of my favorite potential place differential plays. Using Gilliland opens a lot with your lineup. As I said in Discord, Gilliland is going to be a make-or-break driver for me on Sunday. Blaney is in a unique position. He doesn’t even need to race in the last chance qualifier race if he doesn’t want to damage the car. Due to being the highest-scoring points driver, he will make the race. We’re getting a strong car starting toward the rear, and he will have a lot of place differential upside.
Tournament Targets
Denny Hamlin, Carson Hocevar, LCQ1
Denny Hamlin has always been great on short flat tracks, and watching lap times during the heat races, I think he has one of the best cars. He has the advantage of starting behind Elliott on the bottom at the start of the race. If he can get a good launch and close the door on Buescher, he has the upside to run with Elliott. Hamlin is not afraid to use his bumper, and I like his potential dominator upside. Carson Hocevar was built for this type of race. He’s an aggressive driver who is willing to take chances. He doesn’t have the best floor, but in tournaments, I think he has a lot of upside. Whoever wins the last chance qualifier is going to be a main target for me. They get extra laps and they’re going to have a good starting position for place differential. Both last chance qualifier drivers are going to be targets for me. I’m hoping Ty Gibbs is one of them because that car looked good in practice on Saturday. He needs to be more aggressive with his bumper, which is something I never thought I’d have to say.
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