2016 Chevrolet Silverado 250 Race Predictions
NASCAR Camping World Truck Series Betting Preview
Sunday September 4th, 2:46PM (EST) at Canadian Tire Motorsports Park
by Jay Horne of NASCARWagers.com, NASCAR Handicapping Service
Before the lights shine on Darlington Raceway, the Camping World Truck Series will take center stage tomorrow afternoon with the running of the Chevrolet Silverado 250 at Canadian Tire Motorsports Park in Bowmanville, Ontario Canada. Tomorrow’s race will mark just the 4th Truck Series race in the history at CTMP and it is the only road course on the entire Camping World Truck Series schedule. In the previous 3 trips to Canada, we have seen some of the sport’s most promising young drivers prevail with the likes of Chase Elliott, Ryan Blaney, and Erik Jones all finding their way to victory lane. Tomorrow another drive will add his name to the list of winners that have captured victories on Canadian soil. Take a look as we preview tomorrow’s race and provide our 2016 Chevrolet Silverado 250 race predictions!
From a pure skill standpoint, Bowmanville’s 2.459 mile facility does not challenge drivers as much as some of the other road courses that you may see in either the Xfinity or Sprint Cup Series’. Of course there are some similarities and guys with road course backgrounds can definitely shine in this type of race. However, the course has a lot of short swinging turns that you might find similar to a flat surface short track which is why I believe we have seen so much success from talented youngsters in this race in previous years. Therefore, I do not think you necessarily need experience to win at the Canadian Tire Motorsports Park but rather drivers need to have a strong feel for how to approach each turn and get the best drive off each corner down these long straightaways.
Throughout the two practices on Friday, a small group of about 4-5 trucks really separated their selves from the rest of the competition. Cole Custer, John Hunter Nemechek, Kaz Grala, Austin Cindric, and Daniel Hemric appeared to be among the group of guys that adapted well to the two and half mile road course. Cindric and Grala may be names that most people are not familiar with but should run well. Cindric just turned 18 on Thursday and has 3 Truck Series starts to his resume. The young driver has had 3 starts on short tracks in the Truck Series with a career best finish of 14th at Phoenix. While Cindric has not been overly impressive in his prior 3 starts, he has a lot of road course related experience in his young career and is a full-time competitor in the Pirelli World Challenge. Therefore Sunday’s race at CTMP will be his perfect opportunity to show his road course abilities and challenge the top competitors in the Truck Series.
I definitely believe Cindric and Grala have the opportunity to add their names to the popular young drivers that have won at Bowmanville in the past. Grala is just 17 years old and is making his 6th start of the season. He has shown some promising upside at times with finishes of 10th at Dover, 11th at Bristol, and 8th at Gateway. I could not draw any correlation to his racing history and how it would help him at a place like CTMP. However, he has been one of the most consistent guys at the top of the leaderboard since the trucks first hit the track on Friday.
Outside of the youngsters, as stated before I think Daniel Hemric, Cole Custer, and John Hunter Nemecheck were among the guys that will be really tough to beat on Sunday. I know we think of those guys as experienced drivers because they have been around the series for some time. However both JHN and Custer are still teenagers and Hemric is just 25 years of age. Therefore, I would not resort to calling any of those guys true “veterans” any time soon. On the other hand, I do think those 3 guys have the best shot to win tomorrow afternoon. Custer really looked strong throughout both practices and he was our early forums pick at 13-1 odds. Custer won the pole for tomorrow’s race so there is no doubt that we got the best early odds on one of the top drivers for tomorrow’s race.
Outside of the guys previously mentioned, I think there is a little bit of a gap back towards the rest of the competition. However, strategy could definitely come into play tomorrow afternoon as is the case often at road course events. Therefore, if you are looking for a few guys that may be in that “2nd tier” group that is worthy of your attention then consider Johnny Sauter and William Byron among guys flirting with the possibility of contending for a victory. Sauter has plenty of experience in Bowmanville with quality finishes while Byron has proven to be a factor everywhere this season. Both guys should be given some attention going into tomorrow’s race.
2016 Chevrolet Silverado 250 Race Predictions
Daniel Hemric +750 (1.25 units)
Cole Custer +1300 (1.25 units)(early forums pick)
John Hunter Nemechek +2250 (1 unit)
H2H Matchups
Ben Kennedy -130 over Rico Abreu (3 units)(early forums pick)
Johnny Sauter -130 over Timothy Peters (2 units)
