2020 NextEra Energy 250 Preview
NASCAR Gander Outdoors Truck Series Preview
Friday February 14th, 7:30PM (EST) at Daytona International Speedway
by Jay Horne of NASCARWagers.com, NASCAR Handicapping Service
The first official NASCAR race of the 2020 season will take place Friday night when the green flag waves in the Gander Outdoors Truck Series with the running of the NextEra Energy 250 at Daytona International Speedway. After several weeks of inactivity over the off-season, Daytona Speedweeks has not disappointed thus far with exciting action in last week’s Busch Clash and once again in tonight’s duel qualifying races. With anticipation building towards Sunday’s Great American Race, we don’t want to overlook Friday’s Truck Series’ event which always puts on a spectacular show at superspeedways. Take a look as we provide our 2019 NextEra Energy 250 betting preview!
If handicapping and predicting races is not hard enough at Daytona, it’s even harder when you consider another crop of young drivers will be stepping up to full-time competition starting Friday night. Usually when a driver makes a debut in the Cup Series, we know it’s going to take time before they begin competing for victories. In these lower series, that is not always the case. We have seen young drivers be very competitive right away and surprise winners have been pretty common at Daytona in the Truck Series. Nobody expected Austin Hill to score his 1st series victory in last year’s NextEra Energy 250, the same scenario unfolded with Kaz Grala in 2017, and again with Tyler Reddick in 2015. Back in 2012, John King scored his first and only win of his NASCAR career in the opening race at Daytona. Needless to say, all outcomes are possible for Friday’s NextEra Energy 250 at a track where underdogs have frequently prevailed!
The good news for this Daytona product is that picking the correct underdog could present huge reward potential. The bad news is that this style of racing is just too unpredictable. If you have followed my picks in the past, then you are fully aware that I never make bets just to have “action.” My style has always involved managing risk and being sharp when the odds allow. Without a handicapping advantage, I will be sitting this race out which is my normal plan each year for the Trucks/Xfinity races at Daytona. Official race picks will kick off with Sunday’s Daytona 500 and continue for all races going forward.
For Friday’s NextEra Energy 250, I am just going to try and take some time to learn more about the new drivers and get a better idea of what we should expect in the coming weeks. The reigning ARCA Champion in Christian Eckes will be among the rookie class this year which includes the reigning K&N Pro Series West Champion Derek Kraus, Ty Majeski, Zane Smith, Tanner Gray, and Raphael Lessard. For those unfamiliar with those names, let me just say this young class has some serious talent. Alongside the new drivers, John Hunter Nemechek returns to the Truck Series after an unsuccessful stint in the Xfinity Series. Meanwhile Sheldon Creed, Austin Hill, Brett Moffitt, Tyler Ankrum, Todd Gilliland, and veterans Matt Crafton, Stewart Friesen, Grant Enfinger and Johnny Sauter all return to full-time competition in the Truck Series.
From a superspeedway talent standpoint, Johnny Sauter and Austin Hill deserve to be the most notable favorites in this race. Sauter has scored 3 victories in the last 7 years and those 3 victories is the most all-time in the Truck Series at Daytona. Austin Hill does not have longevity in superspeedway racing like Sauter but has performed exceptionally well in all of his superspeedway starts. I never pay much attention to practice speeds at Daytona but I will mention that both Sauter and Hill were in the top 3 in the final session. In the realm of favorites, bettors should also give respect to Ross Chastain who will be starting in the #40 truck for NIECE Motorsports. Chastain proved to be an elite talent in his Truck Series starts last year and his aggressiveness is a high risk/high reward style play.
Ultimately there is no wrong play in this race. If you are going to bet the event, just make sure you are establishing sufficient ROI for the risk of this style of racing. There is a lot of luck involved with winning this race with half of the battle pertains to simply surviving the full 250 miles. For dark horse options, I would not be surprised if Zane Smith performed well in this race. John Hunter Nemechek, Sheldon Creed, and Riley Herbst are some additional names that I like as well. If you do decide to lay down some action, best of luck and rest assured the handicapping action will pick up next week at Las Vegas!
*NextEra Energy 250 fast facts:
3 of the last 4 winners have started from the front row
Toyota’s have won 9 of the last 13 races at Daytona (Ford 1 win/ Chevrolet 3 wins)
The pole position has won 4 times (most of any other starting position)
4 of the last 7 winners have included Truck Series first time winners
