2017 Winstaronlinegaming.com 400 Race Predictions
NASCAR Camping World Truck Series Betting Preview
Friday June 9th, 8:19PM (EST) at Texas Motor Speedway
by Jay Horne of NASCARWagers.com, NASCAR Handicapping Service
The Camping World Truck Series will kick off this weekend’s racing activities tonight with the running of the Winstaronlinegaming.com 400. Over the past few years, the Truck Series and IndyCar Series have combined forces to provide a unique weekend pairing at Texas Motor Speedway which has proved to be a successful combination. As we anticipate the Xfinity and Cup Series races at Pocono on Saturday and Sunday, tonight’s action will be all about the Truck Series as they set the stage for a full weekend of racing festivities. Take a look as we provide our thought’s surrounding tonight’s event and provide our 2017 Winstaronlinegaming.com 400 race predictions!
Truck Series drivers and teams were given 3 practice sessions on Thursday in preparation for tonight’s Winstaronlinegaming.com 400. After all 3 practices, it became pretty obvious that Christopher Bell appears to be the man to beat. Bell led all 3 practice sessions and also posted the best 10 lap average in final practice. The final practice session was held around the same time that tonight’s green flag will wave. Therefore, I find that session the most important for comparable track conditions. Bell easily looked like he had the fastest truck which is not much of a surprise considering KBM trucks have won all 3 races on the 1.5 mile tracks this season between Bell (1) and Kyle Busch (2).
While I fully expect Bell to be the fastest truck at Texas when the green flag waves later tonight, I still believe there could be some parity at the front of the field. Bell has consistently been one of the fastest trucks this season but he has not been fearfully dominate outside of the win at Atlanta. In fact, Bell has led just 39 laps in the last 3 races combined so I do not think he will run away with this race despite having the best overall speed. As a result, I believe guys like Johnny Sauter, Ben Rhodes, and Matt Crafton are equally viable threats to visit victory lane tonight as well. I believe Sauter is an obvious pick considering his momentum which includes finishes of 3rd, 2nd, 2nd, 2nd, and 1st in the 5 races since Daytona. Furthermore, Sauter has an pretty outstanding Texas resume which houses 3 victories. Therefore, his chances are as good as anyone this evening.
Even though Crafton has not been overly impressive this year, Texas has been one of his best venues in terms of performance. In recent visits, Crafton has finished no worse than 5th in his last 6 starts and has also scored two victories during that stretch. After showing some promising speed in practices on Thursday for the first time in several weeks, I believe Crafton will definitely be a factor later tonight. I am still a little skeptical in the #88 team’s chances for the victory based on their performance in recent weeks but Texas will likely be one of their best opportunities.
Another guy that I believe is in good position to potentially score his first victory is Ben Rhodes in the #27 truck. Rhodes has had a few really good runs this year to show he is capable of winning. He was in position to win at Kansas before blowing an engine in the final laps and he was arguably the fastest truck at Dover last week before pit strategy cost the team valuable track position late in that race. However, the #27 team has plenty of speed which was evident again in Thursday’s practices and more importantly Rhodes is hungry for a victory. I personally jumped on Rhodes early this week at +1750 and that number is looking great for today’s race. If you are not taking advantage of early betting lines, then get signed up with 5Dimes.
If you are looking for a few guys that may be worthy of putting together strong runs tonight, then I would put John Hunter Nemechek and Ryan Truex at the top of the list. Truex has been really impressive in recent weeks and it has been very obvious the entire #16 team has found speed. Truex has consistently run upfront this season and has put together 4 straight top 10 finishes. I expect that trend to continue. Lastly, John Hunter Nemechek deserves some attention based on the speed he showed in practices on Thursday. Nemechek has not had a good start to the season but has shown speed at times. I believe this #8 team really needs a strong run after finishes of 22nd or worse in 4 of the last 5 races. They have shown the speed thus far this weekend but now need to get the finish. If the #8 can avoid trouble, I expect them to run inside the top 10 throughout the night.
2017 Winstaronlinegaming.com 400 Race Predictions
*Check back closer to race time
Matt Crafton +600 (1.25 units)
John Hunter Nemecheck +1500 (.75 unit)
Ben Rhodes +1750 (1 unit)
Two Team Parlay
Johnny Sauter +260 wins Winstaronlinegaming.com 400
Team 2 – Open
Risking 1 unit to win: TBD
