2025 Enjoy Illinois 300 Race Picks

Date/Time: Sunday September 7th, 2025. 3:00PM (EST)
Where: World Wide Technology Raceway
TV: USA

Last week, Chase Briscoe kicked off the Cup Series playoffs by earning his 2nd victory of the season with a dominating win in the Southern 500 at Darlington Raceway. As a result, Briscoe is the only playoff driver that has already advanced to the Round of 12. Meanwhile, some of the top names in the sport including Christopher Bell, Chase Elliott, and Joey Logano are among the drivers that are already hovering around the cutoff line. On Sunday, the Cup Series returns for more playoff action with the running of the Enjoy Illinois 300 at World Wide Technology Raceway (WWTR) as the battle for a championship heats up!

Formerly known as Gateway Motorsports Park, World Wide Technology Raceway is relatively new to the Cup Series schedule. In fact, Sunday’s Enjoy Illinois 300 will be just the 4th Cup Series event in the history of Gateway. Joey Logano (2022) and Kyle Busch (2023) won the opening two Cup Series races at Gateway. Last year, Austin Cindric delivered one of the biggest upsets of the season by capturing the first non-superspeedway victory of his career. Needless to say, WWTR is not immune to producing surprise winners and surprise contenders at the front of the field. Therefore, bettors will need to ensure that we are truly evaluating all drivers to identify the betting targets that could emerge as unlikely contenders.

For anyone that is unfamiliar with WWTR, the track is a unique 1.25 mile oval that resides just east of St. Louis, close to the Gateway Arch hence the reason the track was originally named Gateway Motorsports Park. More importantly, WWTR is a very flat 1.25 mile oval. The banking reaches a peak of just 11 degrees and can be compared stylistically to venues like New Hampshire Motor Speedway and the Milwaukee Mile. The unique characteristic for WWTR is both ends of the raceway are very different. Turns 1-2 is narrow with a tight apex while turns 3-4 produce a longer sweeping turn. The difference in these ends of the raceway can make it difficult for teams to have the correct balance in the setup and will likely mean that drivers will be fighting different things on each lap. From a handicapping perspective, we typically see the top drivers who excel on flat surfaces also excel at WWTR.

Cup Notes – WWTR

Joey Logano (2022), Kyle Busch (2023), and Austin Cindric (2024) are the former winners at WWTR.
Joey Logano is the only driver to finish in the Top 5 in all 3 races at WWTR.
Kyle Busch and Denny Hamlin are the only other drivers with multiple (2) Top 5 finishes at WWTR.
Kyle Busch has the highest average driver rating (118.3) among all drivers at WWTR.
Ryan Blaney (110.9), Joey Logano (105.9), Denny Hamlin (100.9), and Christopher Bell (100.5) have all produced 100+ average driver ratings at WWTR.
Kyle Busch (116), Ryan Blaney (90), and Christopher Bell (74) are the only drivers with at least 50 fastest laps through 3 races at WWTR.
Chase Elliott, Alex Bowman, and Chase Briscoe have failed to record a single Top 10 finish in the 3 prior races at WWTR.
Bubba Wallace, Cole Custer, and John Hunter Nemechek have failed to record a single Top 20 finish in the 3 prior races at WWTR.
Christopher Bell (114.7), Josh Berry (112.3), Joey Logano (99.6), Chase Elliott (99.5), and Kyle Larson (97.0) have produced the Top 5 average driver ratings at New Hampshire in the Next Gen Car. *New Hampshire closest track in comparison to WWTR.
Ford drivers have won 2 of 3 races at WWTR.
There have been at least 10 cautions in 2 of 3 races at WWTR.
The eventual race winner has started in the Top 7 positions in all 3 races at WWTR.

Practice Observations

We got our first early indicators of how Sunday’s race could unfold during Cup Series practice for the Enjoy Illinois 300 on Saturday. At the end of practice, Ty Gibbs was the driver at the top of the speed charts. Gibbs posted a fast lap of 136.786mph during the early moments of practice in the first group and that speed held up throughout the both sessions. Along with Gibbs, almost all drivers recorded their fastest lap in the opening moments of practice while track temps were the coolest, especially those in the opening group.

Once the track warmed and took rubber, I thought it became pretty clear that Ryan Blaney was the fastest car in race conditions. Blaney paced the field with the best 15 and 20 lap consecutive averages and showed minimal fall off in lap times. Behind Blaney, I thought the Hendrick Motorsports cars of Chase Elliott, William Byron, and Kyle Larson were all pretty strong on speed. The Hendrick Motorsports cars have been struggling in recent weeks but they appeared to be really solid especially on the long-run. In a second-tier group, I thought Denny Hamlin (pole winner), Joey Logano, and Christopher Bell were among the guys that also appeared pretty sporty. Those drivers did not fire off well (whether intentionally or not) but showed good pace towards the later stages of the 2nd session.

Betting Targets

Unfortunately, bettors are going to be facing an uphill challenge on Sunday against odds makers. Based on qualifying and the fact this track has historically favored the top names in the sport, current odds have 6 different drivers listed at 8-1 odds or less. Needless to say, there is not much betting value in the most likely contenders. If I had to pick among the favorites, I would take Ryan Blaney, Christopher Bell, and William Byron as my top 3 contenders in that exact order. We could make a legitimate argument for Denny Hamlin but I personally don’t like how the #11 team has been performing recently to feel confident in backing the #11. Meanwhile, I feel like Kyle Larson and Chase Briscoe are among the heavy favorites that are overvalued based on current betting odds.

Behind the heavy favorites, I would consider the likes of Joey Logano and Chase Elliott as the best dark horses. Both Logano and Elliott are receiving nearly 20-1 betting odds and are both very capable of winning on Sunday. Meanwhile, Kyle Busch and Alex Bowman are fliers that are considerable in fantasy and prop bet formats. Both Rowdy and Bowman have Top 5 upside and are getting plus value in Top 10 formats. Based on the starting position of both drivers, I believe both are also solid fantasy targets as well. Lastly, I normally don’t list drivers that I believe are very over-valued but I think this week is the exception. Chase Briscoe is currently listed at 7-1 odds and I don’t think he should be receiving nearly double those odds. Meanwhile, Kyle Larson and Tyler Reddick are additional names that I believe are completely overvalued from an odds perspective. As a result, those drivers are candidates to fade in H2H formats.

2025 Draftkings Enjoy Illinois 300 Optimal Lineup

2025 Enjoy Illinois 300 Race Picks

*FINAL* Christopher Bell +550 (1 unit)
William Byron +900 (.75 unit)
Chase Elliott +1800 (.5 unit)

H2H Match-Ups and Prop Bets

William Byron -110 over Chase Briscoe (3 units)
Ty Dillon -110 over Cody Ware (3 units)
Ross Chastain +100 over Brad Keselowski (2 units)
Ryan Blaney -130 over Kyle Larson (2 units)
Total number of Fords under 3.5 (-135) finish in the Top 10 (2 units) *Caesars*