After a short-track showdown in the All-Star Race at North Wilkesboro, the NASCAR Cup Series shifts gears for one of its crown jewels — the grueling, 600-mile marathon at Charlotte Motor Speedway. The track is a quad-oval, mile and a half intermediate track that consists of 400 total laps making it a key track for evaluating long-run speed in practice. From a DFS perspective, the Coca-Cola 600 is all about dominator points — with 400 laps scheduled, there’s a huge pool of bonus points available for laps led and fastest laps, making it critical to identify drivers who can control long stretches of the race.
Let’s dive in and look at some trends leading up to race weekend.
Coca-Cola 600: Track History
Brad Keselowski leads all active drivers with two career wins here at Charlotte on the intermediate setup. He latest win came in the Coca-Cola 600 in 2020 and he also picked up a runner-up finish last season. Looking at the results here during the NextGen era, Tyler Reddick is the only driver to finish Top 10 in all three races(4th, 5th, 6th) and has five total Top 10’s in his six races here in a Cup car. Kyle Busch is the only other driver with an average finish(7.7) under 10 during the NextGen era’s three races here and overall, Busch has Top 10’s in seven of his last 10 trips to Charlotte with a win and six Top 5’s.
Looking at a larger sample size(10 races), Denny Hamlin is right behind Reddick and Busch with a 10.9 average finish as he has collected a win(2022) and seven Top 10’s during that stretch. The value range of pricing also gives us some track history consistency with Alex Bowman and Ricky Stenhouse Jr. who share a 12.9 average finish and both have five Top 10 finishes in that 10-race stretch. Josh Berry is another driver to watch as he finished 10th in his first race here in a Cup car last season.
Coca-Cola 600: Track Type History
While Kyle Larson sits 4th in average finish on intermediate tracks since the start of last season, he leads all driver in wins(4), laps led(992), and DraftKings average(56.5). From a consistency standpoint, Christopher Bell leads all drivers with a 9.5 average finish and has one win, six Top 5’s, and nine Top 10’s in that 14-race sample size. Despite no wins during that stretch, William Byron is second behind Bell in average finish(10.7) and also leads all drivers in average run position(9.4). Joey Logano is the only other driver with multiple wins(2) on intermediate tracks since the start of last season but crazy enough, those are his only two Top 5 finishes during those 14 races. Denny Hamlin is 4th in average finish(12.8) and has also been consistent leading all drivers with 10 Top 10 finishes.
Coca-Cola 600: Form
Kyle Larson continues to dominate in 2025 not only leading the series in average finish for the season(9.9) but has been especially dominate recently. Over the last five races, he has two wins, four straight Top 5’s, has led a eye-popping 725 laps, and has a 9.2 average finish. Despite just two Top 5’s in the last five races, William Byron has been very consistent with a 9.8 average finish during that stretch and is also second to Larson when looking at average finish over the course of the 2025 season. After starting the season with just one Top 10 in the first nine races, Joey Logano has picked up a win and three Top 10’s in his last three races. The three-time champ is back! His teammate, Ryan Blaney, is also coming in hot with four Top 5’s in his last five races.
Coca-Cola 600: Top Targets
Kyle Larson (DK $11,500 / FD $14,000)
Provided the #5 car looks as dominant as it has been in practice recently, Larson will be a top candidate for dominator points and a win this weekend.
William Byron (DK $10,500 / FD $11,500)
Byron is still in search of his first win since the Daytona 500 but has been very consistent all season and returns to Charlotte with a 4th place finish or better in three of his last four here. He is also a nice second tier value priced as the 4th and 6th most expensive driver on DraftKings and FanDuel.
Tyler Reddick (DK $ 10,000/ FD $12,500)
Reddick’s best value comes on DraftKings where he is 6th in pricing. He is the only driver with a Top 10 in all three races here in the NextGen era and has five Top 10’s in six races in a Cup car at Charlotte.
Alex Bowman (DK $8,000 / FD $8,500)
My favourite mid-tier value heading into the weekend is Alex Bowman who has finished 12th or better at Charlotte in six of eight races with five Top 10’s. He has also been consistent on intermediate tracks with nine Top 10’s in 14 races since the start of last season.
Austin Dillon (DK $6,400 / FD $4,800)
In the lower tier value range, Austin Dillon stands out as a good value this week. He returns to Charlotte with Top 10’s in three of his last five at the track and won the Coca-Cola 600 back in 2017. He has also been fairly consistent lately finish Top 20 in five of his last seven with no finish outside of 23rd in that time.
