DraftKings NASCAR DFS Picks for Gateway: Fantasy NASCAR Strategy and Picks for the Enjoy Illinois 300

World Wide Technology Raceway, AKA Gateway, hosts the second race of the 2026 NASCAR Cup Series postseason.

Gateway is a 1.25-mile flat track that runs the low-downforce, high-horsepower package that’s also run at the other shorter flat tracks. That means recent visits to Iowa and New Hampshire will factor in heavily as comparable tracks, so we have plenty of recent data to go by on who should be fast here.

But most importantly, we have my practice FLAGS data for Gateway, which will factor in heavily here as well.

With 240 laps scheduled, this is most likely a two-dominator race, but there can certainly be some three-dominator builds and the rare one dominator, although I expect that’s not super likely given the cars at the top and where they start.

As always, be sure to check out my NASCAR projections in the NASCAR Models on FantasyLabs, complete with floor, ceiling, median, and ownership projections.

My projections, along with Stephen Young’s from RotoGrinders, are available in our NASCAR DFS package. You can read more about what the package entails here.

Let’s not skip the best part, my Perfect% metric, a metric that tells you how often certain racers appear in the optimal lineup when running 250,000 race simulations.

And don’t forget about the tools that FantasyLabs has to offer, like our Lineup Optimizer to effortlessly create up to 300 lineups or our Lineup Builder if you like to hand-build your lineups.

So, without further ado, here’s my strategy guide and NASCAR DFS picks for the Enjoy Illinois 300 at Gateway.

Enjoy Illinois 300 Cash Game Picks

Joey Logano ($10,200) and Christopher Bell ($11,000): Yes, I’m paying up for both drivers that top my practice FLAGS, because they start first (Logano) and fourth (Bell) and were by far the two best cars in practice per my FLAGS metric.

These are two of the three most dominant drivers at shorter flat tracks this year, along with Ryan Blaney, but these are the two I want to raise my floor as well as elevate my ceiling in all formats.

My model has one of these two winning the race north of 40% of the time.

Josh Berry ($7900): We’re going to continue to use Josh Berry at shorter flat tracks as long as he’s priced this low.

Berry has six straight top-10 finishes, including finishes of fourth and third at Iowa and New Hampshire, which comp best to Gateway.

Berry ranked eighth in practice FLAGS and starts 16th, which probably isn’t reflective of his speed, again because of the qualifying draw where playoff cars go out in the last 16 spots and have the track-conditions advantage.

Enjoy Illinois 300 Tournament Picks

Dominators: Here are my top dominators by likelihood of dominating:

1. Joey Logano
2. Christopher Bell
   
   (gap to show tier)
   
3. Ryan Blaney
   
   (gap to show tier)
   
4. Kyle Larson
5. Denny Hamlin
6. Chase Briscoe

Logano and Bell are the clear dominators, with Blaney a clear third. After that, Larson had great practice FLAGS, but he hasn’t been great at this track type this year. Hamlin didn’t quite have the practice FLAGS, but he’s always strong everywhere including here, and Briscoe is the wild card who could pop.

Austin Cindric ($8200): Cindric is a former winner here and ranked third in practice FLAGS.

I’d consider him for cash games, especially since some may be scared off by the 13th-place starting spot. And certainly if you don’t use him in cash, you definitely need him in tournaments.

Conor Zilisch ($5700): Zilisch was happy with his car post-practice and mentioned how Gateway is a track that can play to his strengths with all the shifting.

Again, he had a horrible qualifying draw, but he put his car 19th, which shows it’s potentially even faster than that on the short run.

His long-run speed looked solid too, ranking above the 40th percentile. While that doesn’t sound great, it’s a long way from where he’s been and fantastic for a $5700 price tag. The car was consistent and had low tire degradation as well in practice.

I love the tournament upside for an immensely talented driver who everyone is scared of rostering right now. He finished 11th at Iowa just a few weeks ago.

Pictured: Joey Logano
Photo credit: Joe Puetz, Imagn