2019 Corrigan Oil 200 Race Picks

NASCAR Gander Outdoors Truck Series Betting Predictions
Saturday August 10th, 1:10PM (EST) at Michigan International Speedway
by Jay Horne of NASCARWagers.com, NASCAR Handicapping Service

The Gander Outdoors Truck Series will kick off a double header on Saturday with the running of the Corrigan Oil 200 at Michigan International Speedway. Shortly after the Truck Series concludes at Michigan, the Xfinity Series will step into the spotlight for racing at the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course. Therefore bettors will have two unique opportunities on Saturday to cash winning tickets between two different types of racing among NASCAR’s lower series. As we prepare for Saturday’s races, we take this time to turn our focus towards the opening event at Michigan. Check out our full preview, analysis, and 2019 Corrigan Oil 200 race picks!

Back in June, the Cup Series visited Michigan for the first time this year and they are scheduled to conduct their 2nd event at Michigan on Sunday with the running of the Consumers Energy 400. However, Saturday’s Corrigan Oil 200 will be the first and only stop for the Truck Series this year at Michigan. Additionally, Michigan is unlike any other surface the Trucks have competed on this season. Michigan’s two-mile layout is among the fastest tracks in NASCAR and provide nearly full-throttle laps for Truck Series drivers. As a result, we will be looking for the trucks with raw speed and the drivers that can keep their foot on the throttle to sustain momentum lap after lap. These two factors are critical towards racing at Michigan.

So far this season at the horsepower tracks like Pocono and even Chicagoland, we have not really seen any trends. Perhaps that is a sign of the parity in the Truck Series this season but we have not seen any dominant trends to point out. Brett Moffitt was the best driver back at Chicagoland which has a very similar banking layout and is comparable to how drivers will approach the turns at Michigan. Moffitt has actually won 2 of the last 3 races in the series at Michigan. Both victories stemmed from different racing teams and Moffitt will have an opportunity to seek another victory with a 3rd race team at Thorsport on Saturday.

In practices earlier this afternoon, I believe Ross Chastain and Brett Moffitt emerged as the best duo in the field. Chastain was fastest in the opening session and finished P2 behind Christian Eckes in Happy Hour. Chastain’s #45 team has shown speed capable of winning at the big tracks this season which was evident with their victory at Pocono just 2 weeks ago. Furthermore, I don’t think anyone would disagree with the fact that Chastain has proved to be the most talented driver in the field. Even though Michigan is a track where drivers are typically “flat out”, the driver can still make a big difference just by being aggressive and keeping their foot on the throttle to maintain momentum. I don’t think anyone in the Truck Series does those two things better than Chastain which means the #45 definitely deserves a lot of respect ahead of Saturday’s green flag.

Unfortunately behind Chastain and Moffitt, I think it is a pure guessing game on the drivers that will be fast on Saturday. I watched practice times closely but honestly did not come away with many strong opinions. Lap times were all over the place and drivers rarely ran more than 3-4 consecutive laps. From what I was able to gather, it appeared that Stewart Friesen definitely had speed capable of running upfront. Dark horse drivers like Christian Eckes, Ben Rhodes, and Tyler Ankrum all showed speed as well. Also for the first time in several weeks, Johnny Sauter had really good speed. It’s worth mentioning that Sauter is the only other driver outside of Brett Moffitt who is a former winner at Michigan in the Truck Series. In recent weeks, the #13 truck has struggled significantly but tomorrow’s race presents a great opportunity to turn things around.

Unfortunately, I don’t have too many other opinions to share that will be helpful for tomorrow’s race. I would love to have more opinions to share but I think it’s important to be honest when we are unsure of what to expect. Otherwise we would force opinions and bets that are less favorable than normal. I have much better targets and fades to discuss for the B&L Transport 170 that will follow in the Xfinity Series. However, I normally leave everyone with a few drivers to fade for H2H purposes. If I had to pick a few drivers in that category, I would probably state Grant Enfinger and Todd Gilliland struggled the most in practices based on pre-week expectations. I actually took Enfinger at early odds so it pains me to state the #98 struggled. The good news is that lap times were so close, it was nothing that cannot be overcome with some overnight changes and that is why I will be playing things cautious on Saturday in the Truck Series because things look very equal amongst the competition.

2019 Draftkings Corrigan Oil 200 Optimal Lineup

2019 Corrigan Oil 200 Race Picks

*Final

Ross Chastain +450 (2 units)
Johnny Sauter +950 (1 unit)
Grant Enfinger +1350 (.75 unit) *early play
Austin Hill +2200 (.5 unit) *early play

H2H Match-Ups

Brett Moffitt -130 over Stewart Friesen (2 units) *early play