Chase Elliot should be in the mix this weekend. Jerry Markland/Getty Images
The NASCAR Monster Energy Cup Series heads to Dover Delaware for the AAA 500. Last week at Talladega, Joey Logano was able to capture his first win of the season after he was able to hold off Kurt Busch and Chase Elliott. From the beginning of the day to the end, it was clear that Logano was the car to beat. Overall, Logano led a race high 70 laps and was able to obtain 58 points from each stage. With this victory, he gets his first win since Richmond last year.
This weekend, we head for the “Monster Mile” at Dover International Speedway for the AAA 500: Drive For Autism. This track is a 1-mile oval with 24 degrees of banking. One of the many things that makes this race track unique is its concrete surface, Dover is one of three other tracks including Bristol and Martinsville that uses this surface as opposed to the regular asphalt we see at the remaining 23 other tracks. While it is not the only track that uses this surface, it is by far the longest of the three in length which means the speeds here are far greater than they are at Martinsville and Bristol and that is what makes this race track so tough for drivers to master.
One of The biggest challenges here is getting through traffic. Here at Dover, there is a stark contrast between the banking in the corners and the banking in the straightaways; the corners are 24 degrees as the straightaways are nine degrees. Passing in the straightaways here is much more difficult at Dover than it is anywhere else and catching lapped traffic at the wrong time can really cost a driver a chance at winning.
Take last year’s fall race here, for example. In the closing laps Chase Elliott appeared to be en route to his first career victory but in the final stages, Elliott caught the lapped car of Ryan Newman. For many laps, Chase tried and tried to get around him he even tried to let Newman drive away from him for a while but once he caught back up to him, Newman would not budge. After all the time it took for Elliott to finally get around him, Kyle Busch was able to run him down and steal the victory away from Elliot, as he passed him with two laps remaining to claim the win. Look for lapped traffic to play a big role in sunday’s race.
The favorite going into this race is Elliott. As I mentioned earlier in the article, Elliott was two laps away from victory here last year in the fall, and this is easily been his best race track. While Elliot and his team always seem to have a car that is capable of winning, they either can’t catch a break in traffic or they just aren’t the best car there but nonetheless Elliott has almost been flawless here. Of his four starts, he never has finished outside of the top-five and has an average finish of 3.3. If the third year driver can run a perfect race from start to finish and can get through traffic at the right time, then I see no reason why he can’t finally get that first win here on Sunday. Look for the Napa Camaro to be a serious contender to win this weekend.
My Dark Horse pick for this week is Daniel Suarez. The Sophomore driver got two of his 12 top 10 finishes here at Dover, finishing sixth in the spring and eighth in the fall. To say that Dover is his best race track so early in his career is a bit of a stretch but his results speak for themselves. Not only has he runn well here in the Cup series but also in the NASCAR Xfinity series as well, where he owns an average finish of 8.17 including a fourth place effort in his debut in 2015. I Look for Suarez and his team to be up near the front as they try to get their season back on the right track.
My winner this weekend is Jimmie Johnson. If you follow the sport, it is no secret that it has been a rough beginning to the season for the seven-time champion. He is currently 14th in points and only has one top five so far but this weekend, I think Jimmie gets out of his slump and what better place to do it at than at a track he has won at 11 times. No one in NASCAR HISTORY Is better than Jimmie Johnson. If there is any track where Jimmie can get his first win of the season it has to be here for sure. Look for the Lowe's Chevrolet to take the checkered flag this sunday at Dover.
(All stats and information used in this article is brought to you by the good folks at driveraverages.com and Racing-Refrence.com the best website for all NASCAR stats).
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Jul 16, 2025, 10:57 am
The Houston Astros entered the 2025 MLB Draft with limited capital but a clear objective: find talent that can help sustain their winning ways without needing a full organizational reboot. With just under $7.2 million in bonus pool money and two forfeited picks, lost when they signed slugger Christian Walker, the Astros needed to be smart, aggressive, and a little bold. They were all three.
A swing on star power
With the 21st overall pick, Houston selected Xavier Neyens, a powerful left-handed high school bat from Mt. Vernon, Washington. At 6-foot-4, Neyens is raw but loaded with tools, a slugger with plus power and the kind of bat speed that turns heads.
He’s the Astros’ first high school position player taken in the first round in a decade.
If Neyens develops as expected, he could be the next cornerstone in the post-Altuve/Bregman era. Via: MLB.com:
It’s possible we’ll look back at this first round and realize that the Astros got the best power hitter in the class. At times, Neyens has looked like an elite hitter who’d easily get to that pop, and at times the swing-and-miss tendencies concerned scouts, which is why he didn’t end up closer to the top of the first round. He was announced as a shortstop, but his size (6-foot-4) and his arm will profile best at third base.
Their next big swing came in the third round with Ethan Frey, an outfielder/DH from LSU who was one of the most imposing college hitters in the country.
He blasted 13 home runs in the SEC and helped lead the Tigers to a championship.
Filling the middle
In the fourth round, the Astros grabbed Nick Monistere, an infielder/outfielder out of Southern Miss who won Sun Belt Player of the Year honors.
If Kendall likes the pick, I like the pick. https://t.co/NQKqEHFxtV
— Jeremy Branham (@JeremyBranham) July 14, 2025
He doesn’t jump off the page with tools, but he rakes, hitting .323 with 21 home runs this past season, and plays with a chip on his shoulder.
They followed that up with Nick Potter, a right-handed reliever from Wichita State. He projects as a fast-moving bullpen piece, already showing a mature approach and a “fastball that was regularly clocked in the upper-90s and touched 100 miles per hour.”
From there, Houston doubled down on pitching depth and versatility. They took Gabel Pentecost, a Division II flamethrower, Jase Mitchell, a high school catcher with upside, and a host of college arms, all in hopes of finding the next Spencer Arrighetti or Hunter Brown.
Strategy in motion
Missing multiple picks, Houston leaned into two things: ceiling and speed to the majors. Neyens brings the first, Frey and Monistere the second. And as they’ve shown in recent years, the Astros can develop arms with late-round pedigree into major league contributors.
The Astros didn’t walk away with flashy headlines, they weren’t drafting in the top 10. But they leave the 2025 draft with a clear direction: keep the farm alive with bats that can produce and arms that can fill in the gaps, especially with the club managing injuries and an aging core.
If Neyens becomes the slugger they hope, and if Frey or Monistere climbs fast, this draft could be another example of Houston turning limited resources into lasting impact.
You can see the full draft tracker here.
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