The Cup Series playoffs are back in action today for race two of the first round at World Wide Technology Raceway (WWTR). WWTR is a 1.25 mile oval located in Madison, Illinois, just to the east of St. Louis. Today marks the 4th consecutive year the Cup Series is racing here, with the previous 3 races being won by Joey Logano, Kyle Busch and Austin Cindric. With WWTR being a flatter track, passing will be extremely tough, and track position will be king. With the bottom four drivers in the playoffs getting eliminated after next week’s race, everyone will be trying to position themselves as far above the cutline as possible today. Currently, the four drivers below the cutline are Joey Logano 3 points below, Austin Dillon -8, Alex Bowman -19 and Josh Berry -19.
Shane van Gisbergen enters today 12th in points, the last driver above the cutline. While SVG is the clear favorite on all road courses, unfortunately for him, today is on an oval. He has been slowly improving on ovals throughout the year but not enough to make a gain on the cutline today. Starting 18th today, but struggling in practice, we predict SVG will struggle today and fall below the cutline with a finish outside the top 20.
2025 has been a struggle for Front Row Motorsports. Their best driver, Zane Smith, sits 28th in points. Smith enters today with one pole, no wins or top 5s and three top 10s on the season. While the season has been a struggle, they showed up with decent speed today, qualifying 10th. We predict Zane Smith will have one of his better runs of the season and finish inside the top 15 today.
William Byron comes into today’s race 6th in points, 25 points above the cutline. Starting 6th today and showing good pace in practice, we predict William Byron will maintain his top 10 starting spot and finish in the top 10 as well, further boosting his advantage over the cutline.
Ryan Blaney was in position to win this race last year before running out of fuel on the last lap. The 12 team showed up with speed once again this year, especially on the long run. Rolling off from the 5th position, we predict Ryan Blaney will have enough fuel this year and will win today’s race, locking himself into the Round of 12.
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