2016 Boyd Gaming 300 Race Picks
NASCAR Xfinity Series Betting Preview
Saturday March 5th, 4:16PM (EST) at Las Vegas Motor Speedway
by Jay Horne of NASCARWagers.com, NASCAR Handicapping Service
The Xfinity Series will have the luxury of kicking off the racing weekend in Sin City this afternoon when the green flag is waved for the Boyd Gaming 300 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. A full field of drivers including several stars from the Sprint Cup Series are slated to battle it out for 200 laps in search of a Vegas victory. Qualifying will not take place until 12:45PM (EST) later this afternoon. However after two practice sessions on Friday, we already to breakdown our expectations of today’s race. Take a look as we provide our 2016 Boyd Gaming 300 race picks!
Last week Kyle Busch piloted the #18 NOS Energy Drink Toyota to victory lane at Atlanta Motor Speedway. Busch dominated by leading 119 of the 163 laps in route to his first victory at Atlanta in the Xfinity Series. Previously, Busch was 0 for 11 at Atlanta Motor Speedway which is rather surprising considering he has won nearly everywhere in the Xfinity Series. Today Busch looks to snap another winless streak at Las Vegas Motor Speedway where he is ironically 0 and 11 leading up to today’s event in terms of victories. In fact, Las Vegas is the only oval that Busch has more than 3 starts without a victory in this series. However, Busch has been very close in recent races finishing runner-up in his last two starts. If you consider how the #18 looked in final practice yesterday finishing P1 on the boards, Busch could easily snap another streak today and add to his Xfinity Series legacy.
Currently Busch is the overwhelming favorite for today’s race prior to qualifying which will not change regardless of where the #18 qualifies. It may be hard to find ways to bet the #18 at such low odds. One option that we will be doing is starting an open parlay that will be closed with tomorrow’s Sprint Cup Series Kobalt 400 if Busch is able to pull out the win. If you do not have the option to bet parlays with race winners, then I encourage you to get signed up with 5Dimes. The ability to play parlays with race winners in NASCAR betting is huge and can be a very successful strategy in how you bet the lower series in NASCAR.
Outside of Busch, then you could argue only a handful of drivers have a decent change to challenge the #18 this afternoon. Brad Keselowski is the most obvious choice in the #22 car. Keselowski won this race in 2014 and was one of the early week favorites at similar odds to Busch. However, the #22 really struggled in practice yesterday to get a handle on that race car. Obviously there is a chance that the team makes some adjustments to get the #22 dialed in but they were pretty far off in yesterday’s sessions. I think the driver that impressed the most from practices, outside of Busch, was teammate Erik Jones in the #20 machine. I have made mention several times of Jones’ strength on the 1.5 mile tracks and he had a very solid outing last week at Atlanta with a 3rd place finish. I believe he is the next best driver/car in today’s field if the #18 cannot get the job done.
Of course there are a few others that are looking to make noise this afternoon. Last year’s winner Austin Dillon should be solid. Chase Elliot will also return to the #88 in search of his 2nd victory following his big win at Daytona. Ty Dillon and Daniel Suarez appear to have fast cars if they can keep pace for long green runs. Therefore, there are a few opportunities for an upset if something goes wrong with a few of the favorites. If that does not happen, I think it is the #18, #20, and #2 in that order to battle it out for the win. If you are looking for a potential sleeper in H2H matchups, consider the #33 of Brandon Jones. Jones is one of those guys that keeps improving and I really like the potential in that #33 team. I look for those guys to have a pretty solid run inside the top 10 later today.
2016 Boyd Gaming 300 Race Picks
* More plays to be added after qualifying and closer to race time
Erik Jones +650 (2 units): finished 3rd last week at Atlanta, starting to run really well in this series everywhere, fastest in practice 1, two wins last year came on 1.5 mile tracks
Two Team Parlay
Kyle Busch +100 wins Boyd Gaming 300
Slot 2 – Open
Risking 1.5 units to win: TBD
H2H Matchups
Erik Jones -125 over Austin Dillon (2 units)
Brandon Jones -180 over Ryan Reed (2 units)
