2017 OneMain Financial 200 Race Predictions
NASCAR Xfinity Series Betting Preview
Saturday June 3rd, 1:16PM (EST) at Dover International Speedway
by Jay Horne of NASCARWagers.com, NASCAR Handicapping Service
Racing at Dover International Speedway will continue tomorrow when the Xfinity Series drops the green flag for the OneMain Financial 200. Earlier today, the Camping World Truck Series went 200 miles on the Monster Mile and we cashed a nice profit with Johnny Sauter +750 (1.5 units) bringing home the checkered flag. Tomorrow, we look to try to keep the momentum alive in what promises to be another exciting race highlighted by a crop of prestigious talent from the Cup Series. Follow us as we preview another 200 miles of racing and provide our 2017 OneMain Financial 200 race predictions!
For tomorrow’s 200 mile race in the Xfinity Series, I believe we will have another episode dominated by Cup Series drivers. Ryan Blaney, Kyle Larson, Erik Jones, Daniel Suarez, and Austin Dillon will all be in action. Suarez and Jones won the 2016 races at Dover. Both drivers have a pretty solid history at the Monster Mile which has been completely dominated by Joe Gibbs Racing. In fact, Joe Gibbs Racing drivers have won 4 of the last 6 races in the Xfinity Series at Dover among 3 different drivers. I definitely believe Jones has the best opportunity to extend JGR’s success at Dover tomorrow afternoon. However, none of the JGR brigade was overly impressive in practices earlier today.
Obviously practices are not always the best indicator of race day speed. However, Kyle Larson and Ryan Blaney looked extremely stout in today’s practices. I would say Larson and Blaney are arguably two of the best talents in the entire sport right now evident by their strong runs this season in the Cup Series. Blaney is coming off a big Xfinity win at Charlotte last week and Larson already has two wins in 5 starts this year in the series. Larson has never finished outside the top 10 in his 5 Xfinity Series starts and posted a runner-up showing in 2013. Blaney has finished 4th at Dover in his last two Xfinity starts. Therefore, I think both drivers have the talent, the experience, and most importantly the speed in their racecars to go after the victory tomorrow.
I don’t mean to negate any other driver’s chances tomorrow’s but I always speak honestly in my previews. With that being said, I think this is a two horse race between Larson and Blaney. There is a chance that Suarez or Jones could enter the picture; Austin Dillon could be an even bigger long shot. However, I stand by my predictions that the #42 and #22 are the class of the field going into tomorrow’s race. With this event being a rather short 200 miles, it does not give teams and drivers many opportunities to make their cars better. If you also consider that track conditions should be very similar again tomorrow, I just do not expect much “change” in circumstances.
Outside of the Cup Series drivers, I don’t believe anyone has a great chance to win this race unless we see some unusual pit strategy come into play echoing the hurt from last week Coca Cola 600. Going into the week, I was pretty eager to see what type of speed Justin Allgaier would show in practices. Allgaier has been great on the shorter tracks this season highlighted by his Richmond victory and he also has a really solid Dover resume. The unfortunate news is that the #7 team struggled in practices in terms of speed and overall balance which is not a good combination. Therefore, I am less confident in Allgaier’s potential for Saturday.
On the other hand, Allgaier’s teammate in Elliott Sadler had a much better showing on Friday. Sadler was strong throughout both sessions as the #1 team looks to turn around a rather slow start to the 2017 season. Sadler was actually the only non-Cup Series driver in the top 5 of 10 lap averages in the final session on Friday. Sadler is actually listed as underdogs in both of his matchups listed at 5Dimes which is excellent value for a guy I expect to have a good run.
Another individual I believe will have a good run on Saturday is the #00 of Cole Custer. Custer has not had a great season but they have shown speed in recent weeks. The #00 car was also very fast at Bristol before a late race wreck. Bristol has some similarities to Dover which I find useful in handicapping scenarios. I think Custer is under the radar again this week but has a lot of potential if he can avoid trouble. Therefore, keep the #00 and #1 cars on your radars heading into Saturday’s 200 mile race as I believe they bring a lot of value into betting lineups.
2017 OneMain Financial 200 Race Predictions
*Check back closer to race time
Erik Jones +500 (1.25 units)
Austin Dillon +1150 (1 unit)
Two Team Parlay
Kyle Larson +145 wins OneMain Financial
Team 2 – Open
Risking 1.5 units to win: TBD
H2H Matchups
Cole Custer -140 over Ryan Reed (5 units) *My biggest play of the year courtesy of 5Dimes
Erik Jones -130 over Austin Dillon (3 units) *early forums play
Elliott Sadler +170 over Justin Allgaier (2 units)
