2022 Pacific Office Automation 147 Race Picks

NASCAR Xfinity Series Betting Predictions
Date/Time: Saturday June 4th, 2022. 4:30PM (EST)
Where: Portland International Raceway
TV: FS1

For the first time in series history, NASCAR’s Xfinity Series will drop the green flag at Portland International Raceway on Saturday with the running of the Pacific Office Automation 147. For those that do not know, Portland International Raceway is a 12 turn 1.967 mile road course that was recently added to the NTT IndyCar Series back in 2018. NASCAR previously held Truck Series events at Portland back in 1999 and 2000 but has never held an event at the Xfinity or Cup Series level, at least until now.

Luckily, the Xfinity Series frequently visits the road course venues each season which provides bettors with a baseline of expectations among the Xfinity Series’ regulars. Without the presence of Cup Series drivers this week, perhaps we can find some reliable betting targets to produce confident predictions. Personally, I have AJ Allmendinger at the top of my list this week for various reasons. Allmendinger won the only road course event this season back at Circuit of the Americas and is easily among the best road course talents in the field. What many bettors may not know is that Allmendinger is one of the very few drivers in the field with experience at Portland. Allmendinger actually won the Champ Car Grand Prix at Portland back in 2006 which means he is a rare example of a driver that actually has experience at Portland International Raceway.

Obviously, experience does not guarantee success but when you combine Allmendinger’s road course skills then he quickly moves to the top of the list in terms of betting targets on Saturday. Among the participants racing on Saturday, Ty Gibbs is the only other driver that has matched Allmendinger’s success at the road course venues. Gibbs won his first Xfinity Series start at the Daytona road course last year and backed up that performance with another victory at Watkins Glen. Therefore, Gibbs is the logical choice to battle Allmendinger for the victory on Saturday but Gibbs is not the only potential challenger. Let’s discuss some other names that bettors should consider for the Pacific Office Automation 147!

Practice Notes

Early Friday, Xfinity Series’ teams got the opportunity to practice at Portland for an extended 50 minute session. In the end, Sheldon Creed posted the fastest lap with a speed of 79.975mph. Behind Creed, Ty Gibbs, Myatt Snider, AJ Allmendinger, and Brett Moffitt rounded out the top 5 in terms of single lap speed. However, I think it is extremely important to note that all lap times were a product of extremely wet conditions at Portland International Raceway. With the rain and wet conditions, we saw a lot of the guys with open wheel/road course experience showed the best race pace. Those individuals included guys like Andy Lally, Jeremy Clements, and Connor Mosack among others.

The weather forecast does not exactly look promising for dry conditions on Saturday. In fact, it would be extremely surprising if we do see a dry track on Saturday. Therefore, perhaps the practice observations will correlate to conditions on Saturday. If that holds true, I really like Connor Mosack in the #18 for Joe Gibbs Racing to be a live dark horse. Mosack had really good speed in the rain on Friday and I believe he will hold a lot of H2H value in his 1st start. Outside of Mosack, Jade Buford and Andy Lally were a couple of additional less popular names that appeared to be really comfortable with the track conditions that were presented in practices. Therefore, keep those guys on your radar for H2H purposes as well.

Betting Targets

Despite the threat of weather, I still believe everyone will be chasing AJ Allmendinger on Saturday. Simply put, I think he is the class of the field for this type of racing especially at a venue where he has experience. I really like Sheldon Creed and Connor Mosack as your semi-dark horses that could stay at the front of the field if they can avoid trouble. Creed had excellent pace in practice and has won at the road courses in the Truck Series. In fact, I would label Creed as a very under-appreciated road course talent and that is cause for betting attention.

As an important note of advice, I would advise bettors to monitor the weather conditions leading up to Saturday’s green flag. If the forecast remains the same which expects extremely wet conditions, I believe guys like Andy Lally, Jeremy Clements, and Jade Buford get an immediate boost of confidence due to their experience in the rain. If for some reason the forecast clears up, I would not be nearly as confident in those drivers in dry conditions. In dry conditions, Justin Allgaier and Riley Herbst would get better votes of confidence with Allgaier’s ceiling being as high as threatening for the victory.

*For fade considerations, I really like fade options against Noah Gragson, Sam Mayer, and Josh Berry from the J.R. Motorsports brigade. Mayer and Berry have minimal road course experience and the wet conditions would really put a strain on that experience factor. Meanwhile, Gragson has a poor road course background in terms of average finishing position.

2022 Draftkings Pacific Office Automation 147 Optimal Lineup

2022 Pacific Office Automation 147 Race Picks

*Final*

AJ Allmendinger +250 (2 units)
Sheldon Creed +750 (1 unit)
Connor Mosack +2000 (.5 unit)

H2H Match-Ups and Props

Riley Herbst -120 over Landon Cassill (3 units)
Sheldon Creed -145 over Daniel Hemric (3 units)
Justin Allgaier -145 over Josh Berry (3 units)
Riley Herbst +400 finishes Top 5 (.5 unit)
Andy Lally +800 finishes Top 5 (.5 unit)