2016 DC Solar 350 Race Predictions
NASCAR Camping World Truck Series Betting Preview
Saturday October 1st, 8:49PM (EST) at Las Vegas Motor Speedway
by Jay Horne of NASCARWagers.com, NASCAR Handicapping Service
The Camping World Truck Series will take center stage later tonight with racing at Las Vegas Motor Speedway when the green flag waves for the DC Solar 350. Last week William Byron dominated the first race in the Camping World Truck Series Chase by leading 161 of 175 laps in route to his 6th victory on the season. The rookie has dominated this season and it was a fitting start to the inaugural Truck Series Chase as Byron is now locked into the Chase round of 6 that will take place after next week’s stop at Talladega. Since everyone knows how unpredictable Talladega can be, tonight’s race will be very important for several drivers looking to solidify their advancements in the Chase. Take a look as we preview tonight’s event and provide our 2016 DC Solar 350 Race Predictions!
Tonight’s race at Las Vegas will mark the 7th Truck Series race of the year on a 1.5 mile surface but the first in Sin City. So far this year, the winners are on the 1.5 mile tracks have looked like this: William Byron (3), John Hunter Nemechek (1), Matt Crafton (1), and Kyle Busch (1). Therefore as you can see Byron has been best on the 1.5 mile tracks meaning he has a very good chance of adding to his impressive record this year. Crafton and Nemechek are the only other two drivers participating this evening that have also won on similar surfaces this season. Therefore, we can establish a few trends surrounding the drivers that have run well on the 1.5 mile surfaces that typically share similar setups in the Truck Series as we head into an exciting night of race in Las Vegas.
Now I don’t want to get too caught up on the prior 1.5 mile performances but I don’t want to undermine the fact that these tracks have been Byron’s best so far this year. After a pair of solid practices earlier this morning, I am sure that Byron will be in the mix tonight. I specifically thought Byron, Matt Crafton, and Daniel Hemric had the best Trucks from the two practice sessions earlier today. Crafton has been strong on the 1.5 mile tracks all year and has a win at Charlotte to show for it along with a pair of runner-up finishes as well. Crafton and Byron have by far been the most dominate this year on the 1.5 mile tracks and I think that trend will continue tonight.
The lone exception to that expectation could be the #19 truck of Daniel Hemric. Hemric has been very impressive on 1.5 mile tracks this year with top 5 finishes in 4 of the 6 races run on similar surfaces. Most recently, Hemric posted a runner-up finish at Chicagoland. We took Hemric early in the week when odds opened at a very generous 17-1 offering. Earlier this morning, Hemric posted the fastest lap in practice 1 and was 2nd fastest in final practice. Whether he can get the job done this evening remains to be determined but we got tremendous value in our early pick at +1700 as I believe the #19 is a legitimate dark horse for tonight’s event.
Behind those top 3 trucks, things get a bit cloudy in terms of expectations. Practice speeds were all over the place and it is hard to predict who could emerge from the pace to challenge some of the guys I previously mentioned. Christopher Bell is another guy that has been running well and shown good speed in the #4 for Kyle Busch Motorsports. Bell was actually closing in on Byron in the closing laps last week at New Hampshire but simply ran out of time. Bell has the KBM speed and I believe he will be another guy to watch tonight. I would consider Bell and potentially Cole Custer as valuable guys in H2H match-ups. I do not necessarily consider either overly confident threats to win tonight’s race but I think they will probably outrun everyone but the #9, #88, and #19. Therefore, keep both of those guys on your radar when formulating betting cards for tonight’s race.
2016 DC Solar 350 Race Predictions
*More race picks to be added closer to race time
Matt Crafton +375 (2 units)
Daniel Hemric +1700 (1 unit)
Cole Custer +2250 (.5 unit)
H2H Match-ups
Christopher Bell -115 over Johnny Sauter (2 units)
Cole Custer +125 over Ben Kennedy (1 unit)
