2017 UNOH 200 Race Predictions

2017 UNOH 200 Race Predictions
NASCAR Camping World Truck Series Betting Preview
Wednesday August 16th, 8:30PM (EST) at Bristol Motor Speedway
by Jay Horne of NASCARWagers.com, NASCAR Handicapping Service

The Camping World Truck Series will kick off the first of 3 night races this week at Bristol Motor Speedway with the running of the UNOH 200. The Xfinity and Cup Series will be in action on Friday and Saturday nights in what has become one of the most exciting race weekends of the year. However, tonight all focus will be on the Truck Series as they battle it out for 200 laps in Thunder Valley. Among the participants in tonight’s race includes Kyle Busch who owns the most wins at Bristol in the Truck Series with 4 career victories. Busch is currently the overwhelming favorite to win tonight’s race and we will discuss his chances along with others as we present our 2017 UNOH 200 race predictions!

As most are aware, Kyle Busch is the heavy favorite tonight considering his history of dominance in the Truck Series and his dominance in specifically at Bristol Motor Speedway. Busch has won 4 times in the Truck Series, 8 times in the Xfinity Series, and another 5 times in Cup Series competition at Bristol Motor Speedway. In retrospect, Busch also owns one of the most prestigious and unique accomplishments in NASCAR history by way of his 2010 sweep at Bristol Motor Speedway that included wins in all 3 series. Busch will look to replicate that remarkable feat this weekend starting with tonight’s UNOH 200. Busch is currently an overwhelming favorite following practices earlier this morning where he was clearly the fastest truck compared to the competition. Busch did not run many laps in total but he was very fast in both practices topping out with the fastest lap in Happy Hour. Busch was the only driver to eclipse the 130mph bracket and did so in consecutive laps in Happy Hour. Therefore, Busch has obviously shown the most speed so when you combine his history and talent against a rather mediocre Truck Series lineup, he is clearly the driver to beat this evening.

However expectations can crumble at Bristol Motor Speedway when you consider that laps click off at about 14 seconds per circuit. Therefore if any driver experiences the slightest bit of trouble, they can go several laps down and not have the opportunity to fight their way back to the front. As great as Busch has been at Bristol, he has still only won in 4 of 10 starts and has failed to find victory lane in his last 4 starts in the Truck Series. Last year’s winner Ben Kennedy scored an improbable victory in underdog fashion over the likes of Christopher Bell, William Byron, and others. Bell actually led over half of the laps in last year’s race but lost valuable track position late in the race which resulted in a 7th place finish. Therefore I don’t think anyone should consider Busch an automatic win based on the simple possibility of misfortunate or loss of track position which can be catastrophic at Bristol.

If Busch does find misfortune, I believe the likes of Johnny Sauter and Christopher Bell will be ready to pounce on the opportunity. As stated before, Bell proved that he can run extremely well at Bristol with his performance in this race last year. Bell showed strong speed in practices earlier today and improved rather significantly in the final session which put him very close to the times that Busch was running in the #46 truck. Sauter did not have the raw speed as the KBM trucks; however Sauter was still fast and very consistent with lap times. Therefore, I feel like those two drivers are the best options behind Busch for the outright victory.

Among the rest of the field, I would not expect any major surprises. Brandon Jones may be a driver that is worth keeping an eye on. Jones has participated in this race in each of the last 4 years with a best of 5th in the 2015 race. I like the speed that the #99 has shown this week and Jones has enough experience to capitalize on the opportunity. I think you can also throw notable mentions at the direction of Ben Rhodes and John Hunter Nemechek for their talents on the short tracks. Meanwhile, guys like Chase Briscoe and Ryan Truex have not looked good at all. Both guys have struggled this week thus far which is very surprising at least in Briscoe’s case considering his driving background favors short track racing. I believe Truex is also worthy of fade consideration. Truex has had really strong runs in recent weeks with finishes of 3rd and 4th marking his best consecutive weeks of the season. However, Truex has historically struggled on shorter tracks and does not have a finish better than 10th on a surface less than 1.5 miles since Dover in 2015. Therefore, I feel like he is in a good position to fade if you can find him in matchups against other top competitors.

2017 UNOH 200 Race Predictions

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Johnny Sauter +750 (1 unit)

Two Team Parlay

Kyle Busch -175 wins UNOH 200
Team 2 – Open
Risking 1.75 units to win: TBD

Christopher Bell +395 wins UNOH 200
Team 2 – Open
Risking 1 unit to win: TBD

H2H Matchups

Brandon Jones -155 over Regan Smith (3 units)
John Hunter Nemechek -115 over Chase Briscoe (2 units)
Ben Rhodes -145 over Ryan Truex (2 units)