2015 Lucas Oil 150 Race Picks
NASCAR Camping World Truck Series Betting Preview
Friday November 13th, 8:48PM (EST) at Phoenix International Raceway
by Jay Horne of NASCARWagers.com, NASCAR Handicapping Service
Just two weekends remain in the 2015 NASCAR season and tonight the Camping World Truck Series will kick off a triple header weekend with the running of the Lucas Oil 150 at Phoenix International Raceway. Currently Erik Jones holds a 17 point advantage over Matt Crafton in the points championship but one bad race could change everything. Luckily for the #4 team, they return to Phoenix where Jones has won in each of his two Truck Series starts. The question for tonight’s race is can anyone stop the #4 team from doing it again? Take a look as we provide our thoughts and 2015 Lucas Oil 150 race picks!
Yesterday in the only practice for tonight’s race, Cameron Hayley posted the best lap of the session with a time of 26.192 resulting in a lap of 137.337mph. Hayley has been one of the faster trucks in recent weeks throughout practice sessions and the youngster is starting to perform really well. Hayley has posted 4 straight top 10 finishes including a career best 3rd at Martinsville. With momentum on their side, keep an eye on the #13 tonight to see if their run of quality finishes can continue.
Another name to keep on that watch list, is the #8 truck of John Hunter Nemechek. JHN has been great on the shorter tracks this season with finishes of 2nd at Martinsville and 3rd at Bristol. I know Phoenix is not necessarily considered a short track, but it does have some similar characteristics towards a flat short track by the way drivers maneuver throughout the turns. After a decent showing in practice yesterday, I believe John Hunter Nemechek could be a guy to run really well especially during the late stages of tonight’s race. Therefore keep both JHN and Hayley on your radar in lower tier match-ups if available.
As far as the names that should contend for the victory tonight, it starts with Erik Jones. Jones has been absolutely dominate in his two starts at PIR. In 2013 in just his 5th career start, Jones led all 150 laps to score his first truck series victory at Phoenix. Then again last year Jones led 114 of the 126 laps to score his 2nd straight Phoenix victory. Last year’s race came with a tad bit of controversy due to power outages that intermittently caused interruptions throughout the race. In fact, the last power outage caused NASCAR to call the end of the race after 126 laps because it would have taken too long to recover power. When the incident happened, Matt Crafton was making a charge towards the lead. If the lights would not have malfunctioned, Crafton may have stolen that victory despite Jones nearly leading all the laps.
I know we should not have any power outage issues tonight but I do think this race comes down to the #4 and #88 trucks. Jones has the huge advantage and Crafton may be the only guy that could steal that spotlight as long as nothing unforeseen happens to the #4 truck. Some may argue that Daniel Suarez deserves to be in the winning competition. The #51 truck definitely looked pretty strong in practice yesterday and I have little doubt that he will hang out towards the front. However, I still think Suarez’s biggest strength comes on the 1.5 mile tracks as evident with last week’s 2nd place finish at Texas. Suarez should run well tonight but unfortunately for the #51 team I do not think it will be quite good enough for a victory yet again. Cole Custer is another guy that could sneek into the equation. Custer has posted finishes of 4th at Martinsville and a 9th at Iowa this year as his best finishes on ovals (not counting the win at Gateway). However, I think tonight could be a chance for him to stay towards the front. Still, he like others will likely be chasing the #4 truck all night.
2015 Lucas Oil 150 Race Picks
Erik Jones +175 (5 units): early pick, looking to score 3rd straight Phoenix victory, big play here to get the job done
H2H Matchups
*Check back closer to race time for potential added plays
