Gateway punishes cars that only handle one end well — Turns 1-2 bank at 11 degrees, Turns 3-4 flatten to 9, and this year’s short-track rules package only sharpens that gap. Every Cup winner here has started inside the top 10. Here’s who’s built for both ends on Sunday.
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Top DraftKings Picks for the Enjoy Illinois 300
- Christopher Bell ($11,000) — Finally! Bell cashed in Sunday, snapping a 33-race winless streak and seven straight runner-ups with the Southern 500 win. Gateway has been kind before it wasn’t: an 8.5 average finish across four starts, a top-11 result every single time. The one blemish came in 2024, when a broken valve spring cost him the win while he was dicing with Blaney for the lead. He still salvaged seventh.
- Ryan Blaney ($10,700) — Three wins this year, including Phoenix and a repeat at New Hampshire. Gateway’s been a near-miss track for him: a 9.5 average finish, two top fives in four tries, and a gut-punch 2024 where he ran out of fuel with the win in hand and settled for 24th.
- Denny Hamlin ($10,500) — He’s the defending Gateway winner. Over his last three trips here he’s finished first, second and second — a 1.7 average. Four wins this year have him leading the reset Chase standings. Darlington was ugly (18th, late contact, a lap down for a stretch), but nothing about that changes what he does at this track.
- Joey Logano ($10,200) — Four starts at Gateway, four top fives, including the win in the inaugural 2022 race. That’s the whole resume. Two wins already this season at North Wilkesboro and Richmond back it up. He was quiet at Darlington (9th), but this is a different track entirely.
- Kyle Larson ($10,000) — Yung Money led a race-high 99 laps at Darlington before older tires cost him the lead in the final ten, fading to fifth. The winless streak is at 51 races. His Gateway number matches Blaney’s exactly — 9.5 average finish across four starts. He’s due somewhere. Whether it’s here is the question.
- Chase Briscoe ($9,700) — The No. 19 Toyota is a slightly discounted JGR car. Gateway hasn’t loved Briscoe: a 13.0 average start and a 19.3 average finish, his softest numbers of any short-flat track. It’s best to pay full price for an elite JGR Toyota at World Wide Technology Raceway.
- Tyler Reddick ($9,500) — His five wins this year are the most in the field. He won Stage 1 last week at Darlington from the pole before finishing third. The catch: Gateway is his weakest track by history, a 17.8 average finish. Bet on the season, not the track record.
- Ty Gibbs ($9,200) — Darlington’s runner-up started 28th. The No. 54 JGR Toyota has real speed when it counts. Gateway hasn’t cooperated yet — exactly one top 10 in three starts, a 13.7 average. Two wins this year say the ceiling is real; the track history says be patient.
- William Byron ($9,000) — An engine let go at Darlington. The 37th-place finish leaves him last in the Chase standings. Gateway hasn’t offered much cover either — a 13.3 average finish, zero top fives in four tries. Byron is a stretch in DFS and so is a real-life Cup Series Championship.
- Chase Elliott ($8,500) — The 2020 Cup Series Champion is quietly trending in the right direction at this track: a top five and a top 10 in his last two Gateway starts. Elliott has two wins this season. He was 14th at Darlington. That performance keeps him affordable this week.
- Austin Cindric ($8,200) — Team Penske has more wins at this track than any other organization. Cindric owns one of those Gateway Cup Series wins. Darlington was forgettable (13th), but his own history here is the best reason to still play him.
- Josh Berry ($7,900) — The real story here, not the one floating around: Berry missed the Chase field entirely and already knows he’s out at Wood Brothers after this season. No elimination stakes, no must-win. What he does have is form — top 10s since Indianapolis, a third at New Hampshire, a seventh at Darlington. A driver with nothing to lose and recent speed at this price is exactly the GPP profile to target.
- Bubba Wallace ($7,700) — His Gateway history is thin, a 21.3 average finish, but he’s a reasonable GPP differentiator against the chalk up top. Wallace is never a lock, but he’s a leverage play when starting close to the front lowers his ownership.
- Chris Buescher ($7,600) — The quiet one. Three top-20 finishes in three Gateway starts since 2023, an 11.7 average, no disasters. Buescher goes underowned everywhere, and a track where he simply doesn’t blow up is leverage.
- Ryan Preece ($7,000) — He’s Buescher 2.0, but more boring. Less charisma means lower ownership . Gateway hasn’t given him a top 10 yet in three tries, a 19.7 average finish. But that’s the old Ryan Preece. His personality hasn’t changed, but his RFK Ford has become a lot faster.
