2016 Great Clips 200 Race Picks
NASCAR Camping World Truck Series Betting Preview
Saturday February 27th, 4:49PM (EST) at Atlanta Motor Speedway
by Jay Horne of NASCARWagers.com, NASCAR Handicapping Service
The Camping World Truck Series will take center stage this afternoon following Xfinity Series action at Atlanta Motor Speedway with the running of the Great Clips 200. Today 32 trucks are scheduled to tangle on the rugged surface of Atlanta for 130 laps of action. Today’s race will be the last time we see the Truck Series for several weeks as they will have over a month off until we see them again at Martinsville on April 2nd. Therefore, we take this time to dissect today’s race and hopefully cash a winning ticket that will take us into April with some momentum. Take a look at our 2016 Great Clips 200 race picks!
Last week Johnny Sauter captured a victory at Daytona in his first start with GMS Racing. Sauter was formerly with ThorSport Racing alongside Matt Crafton for the better half of the last decade. However, the 37 year old made an immediate impact with last week’s victory at Daytona snapping a 33 race winless streak. The good news is that Sauter is already locked into the Chase for the Truck Series title which will be new to the series this year and hopefully echoes the excitement of the Chase format that we have witnessed in the Sprint Cup Series over the last few years. The bad news is that Sauter’s momentum has not exactly carried over to Atlanta from the early looks of things. The #21 truck struggled heavily during Friday’s 3 practice sessions and finished final practice all the way back in the 23rd position. Sauter followed those efforts up with a rather mundane 16th place qualifying effort earlier this morning so the #21 truck has some work to do.
Instead it was teammate Grant Enfinger that opened a few eyes and has kept the torch burning for GMS Racing. Enfinger was fastest in the opening and final practice sessions on Friday. The 31 year old driver scored 12 wins in the ARCA Series over the past 2 years and could be a guy to watch for in 2015. Enfinger is not your typical young teenager that is trying to make a name for himself like a lot of rookies in the Truck Series. Instead, he has been around racing for quite some time and is getting his 2nd opportunity in the Truck Series with GMS Racing. If you like pulling for an underdog, Enfinger would be a good one to pull for considering his background in the sport and he will be rolling off from the 4th position after a strong qualifying effort later today.
Of course the guy everyone expects to be chasing is Matt Crafton in the #88 truck. Nobody has won more races in the Truck Series over the past two years than Crafton and he expects to have another big year in 2016 following his 6 wins mark from a year ago. Crafton dominated the 1.5 mile tracks especially last season with 5 of his 6 victories coming on the 1.5 mile surfaces including Atlanta in this race last year. Since Erik Jones moved to the Xfinity Series, I have a tough time finding anyone that can consistently challenge Crafton this season if he continues to run like he did a year ago. Crafton has already put the #88 truck on the pole for today’s race and it will be interesting to see if he is seriously challenged by anyone in today’s Great Clip’s 200 field.
There are plenty of interesting names that would love to challenge Crafton this afternoon. Ryan Truex, Cole Custer, and Tyler Reddick are a few of the more well-known names competing this afternoon. However, none of those drivers showed a lot of speed in Friday’s practice sessions. In fact, it was rather odd to see Reddick so far down the speed charts and the #29 could only muster a 21st place qualifying effort this morning. Custer was the best of that group but he did not appear to be good enough to win this afternoon. If you are looking for a long shot or two that could make some noise, I still like the #4 truck of Christopher Bell. We know he is in good equipment and he has been rock solid in practices thus far this weekend. I like both Bell and Ben Kennedy to run well this afternoon and potentially make some noise.
2016 Great Clips 200 Race Picks
Matt Crafton +125 (4 units): 5 of 6 wins in 2015 were on 1.5 mile tracks, 2nd in final practice, posted fastest 10 lap average, and starting on pole
H2H Matchups
Cole Custer -135 over Tyler Reddick (2 units)
