2015 Chevrolet Silverado 250 Race Picks
NASCAR Camping World Truck Series Betting Preview
Sunday August 30th, 1:51PM (EST) at Canadian Tire Motorsports Park
by Jay Horne of NASCARWagers.com, NASCAR Handicapping Service
The NASCAR Camping World Truck Series will take center stage this afternoon with road course racing at Canadian Tire Motorsports Park in the Chevrolet Silverado 250. Earlier today Alex Tagliani grabbed the pole for today’s race with a lap of 110.539mph. Tagliani will be making just his 2nd start ever in the Camping World Truck Series but the decorated road course specialist is the overwhelming favorite to capture the victory. Find out our full race thoughts and our 2015 Chevrolet Silverado race picks as we prepare for another fun afternoon of road course racing north of the border!
Tagliani has really dominated the speed charts thus far this weekend finishing in the top two in both practices and then followed that up with a blistering lap in qualifying. The former open wheel veteran is well known for his road course skills. However Tagliani is still missing a victory in NASCAR’s top 3 series as he has failed to win in 7 starts in the Xfinity Series and finished 16th in this race one year ago after starting from the pole in his first Camping World Truck Series start. There is no doubt that the #29 truck has shown exceptional speed but I think everyone is wondering if Tagliani will be as fast in race conditions after several green flag laps?
The biggest challenger towards the #29 trucks run for victory will be coming from the #4 truck of Erik Jones. Jones has been right there with Tagliani finishing in the top 2 in both practices and qualifying on the outside pole. Jones finished 3rd in Bowmanville last year in his first start at CTMS and that has to be a promising sign for his return to Canada today. If you follow our forums talk throughout the week, Jones was our opening and biggest play at +650 odds. Since practices and qualifying, the odds on the #4 truck have dropped significantly to +400 and I firmly believe that Jones is the biggest threat outside of the #29 truck for today’s Chevrolet Silverado 250.
A couple of other trucks that could run well today and potentially challenge the leaders include the likes of Matt Crafton, Cole Custer, and Gray Gaulding. I know the Gray Gaulding name may have confused some people that are familiar with Truck Series racing action. Gaulding made 9 starts in the Camping World Truck Series in 2014 but never found much success. However, the young kid did post his best finish of 4th right here at CTMS in last year’s Chevrolet Silverado 250. The youngster was not in the best of equipment when he accomplished that feat which appeared to open some eyes regarding his road course talent. Today Gaulding will sit behind the wheel of the Kyle Busch Motorsports #54 Krispy Kreme Toyota giving him an excellent chance to be a factor yet again. Gaulding has looked pretty solid and will be starting from the 8th position.
Custer and Crafton have also been pretty solid in terms of speed. Custer was another early pick in our forums at +800 odds and the #00 truck qualified in the 5th position for today’s race. The good news is you can actually grab Custer at an even better price currently which I believe still has some upside considering the way he run last year in Bowmanville in his first start at CTMS. Crafton of course has been the guy to beat seemingly everywhere this season with 4 wins and just two finished worse than 8th on the entire year. The #88 truck put together a strong qualifying effort after a pair of mediocre practices and will start in the 3rd position. Crafton has had a few races this year where he has not looked really good heading into the race but then stole the show. Therefore keep an eye on the #88 truck when the green flag drops to see what type of threat he will be throughout the afternoon.
The always interesting aspect of road course racing is that strategy and fuel seem to always play a factor. So even though the drivers we talked about above seem to be the class of the field, there is still opportunity for a surprise winner giving the right circumstances. I would not be surprised if guys like Cameron Hayley and Johnny Sauter also made some noise this afternoon. Still, I think the top two guys are Jones and Tagliani. The #29 truck has really low odds which I believe may be a bit overrated due to his history of having the fastest car/truck through practices and qualifying while following that up with decent but not winning runs. I think the risk may be too high based on Tagliani’s current odds to give him any type of serious backing. We will see shortly if that was the right decision!
2015 Chevrolet Silverado 250 Race Picks
Erik Jones +650 (1.5 units): early forums pick, 3rd place finish in this race last year, fastest in final practice, starting 2nd
Cole Custer +800 (1 unit): strong run here last year as well, decent practices, should race better, starting 5th
H2H Match-ups and Props
Erik Jones -135 over Matt Crafton (3 units)
Cole Custer -125 over Tyler Reddick (1 unit)
