2022 UNOH 200 Race Picks

NASCAR Camping World Truck Series Betting Predictions
Date/Time: Thursday September 15th, 2022. 9:00PM (EST)
Where: Bristol Motor Speedway
TV: USA

Last week, John Hunter Nemechek delivered a dominating win at Kansas Speedway in the Kansas Lottery 200. Despite entering the year as the overwhelming favorite to win the championship, the win at Kansas was just Nemechek’s 2nd victory of the season and the first since Darlington back in the spring. Nevertheless, Nemechek delivered an impressive performance to prove he is still among the drivers to beat over the next 4 races which will decide the Camping World Truck Series Championship. On Thursday, the action heats up as the Round of 8 begins with the running of the UNOH 200 at Bristol Motor Speedway.

Both Carson Hocevar and Matt Crafton were eliminated from playoff contention following last week’s stop at Kansas. As a result, just 8 drivers remain eligible for the championship and that means these next 3 races will be critically important towards earning a shot at the title at Phoenix. With that being said, this Thursday night’s race at Bristol promises to shake things up. The Truck Series has not held many races this season on short tracks and none that can compare to the high banks of Bristol Motor Speedway. In each of the last two years, this Truck Series’ race at Bristol has produced first-time winners in Sam Mayer and Chandler Smith. Needless to say, there could be another opportunity for a first time winner this Thursday.

Unfortunately for bettors, the Bristol races have become harder to handicap since the dirt race has replaced the Bristol spring race. As I alluded to above, the Truck Series has not competed at any similar venues unlike NASCAR’s other touring series. As a result, bettors are essentially going into Thursday night’s event completely blind. Truck Series’ teams and drivers will have the opportunity to practice and qualify Thursday evening. However, those on-track sessions will be held just a few hours before the green flag. Since I will be leaning on some of those practice and qualifying observations this week, our betting predictions will not be finalized until shortly before the race begins.

Potential Targets

If we go by current momentum, Chandler Smith should have an excellent opportunity to go for the repeat on Thursday. Smith is the defending winner of this race and also captured a victory at the most recent short-track venue at Richmond just a few weeks ago. In my opinion, Smith has been the best driver on the short tracks this season with notable mentions going to guys like John Hunter Nemechek, Ben Rhodes, and Grant Enfinger. However, I will reiterate the fact that Bristol is different from all of the other short tracks the series has visited this year which mostly consists of flatter surfaces.

Since I believe predicting the race winner will be difficult, I think our potential betting targets should revolve around the drivers that should perform well above where current odds suggest for H2H match-up purposes. The guys that fall into that category going into Thursday’s on-track activities include the likes of Carson Hocevar, Stewart Friesen, and Taylor Gray. The reasons for those options are all different. Friesen is simply undervalued with top 4 finishes in 3 of his last 4 starts at Bristol. After a disastrous opening round in terms of performance, Hocevar has fallen off everyone’s radar. However, Bristol is one of those tracks where the driver can make up for some of the raw speed disadvantages and Hocevar looked really strong in this race last year. Meanwhile, Taylor Gray is one of my favorite sleepers for H2H and prop style bets. Gray battled inside the top 10 for a good portion of last year’s race when he was just 16 years old. With some more experience under his belt and a fast #17 truck, he is a guy that will have the opportunity to surprise people just like we saw at IRP in the opening race of the playoffs.

Practice Observations and Final Thoughts

Update: Practice and qualifying just concluded at Bristol Motor Speedway for tonight’s UNOH 200. Surprisingly, Derek Kraus earned the pole for tonight’s race by edging out Chandler Smith for the top spot. Kraus was also fast in practice which preceded qualifying so perhaps the #19 has a truck that can run towards the front of the field this evening. I would point out that Kraus has failed to crack the top 5 all season so while the #19 team has shown speed; I would not over react to the speed in practice. Nevertheless, tonight’s UNOH 200 has the potential to be a strong performance from the young driver.

In terms of overall observations, I thought Chandler Smith and Stewart Friesen were the best drivers overall throughout practice and qualifying. Both Smith and Friesen qualified just behind Kraus so they will have the luxury of having good track position which should help matters for this relatively short race. Aside from Smith and Friesen, I would not rule out the chances of Ty Majeski who also displayed solid speed which has been the case all year. Other drivers that caught my eye that had more speed than I expected which may be useful for H2H match-ups and/or fantasy purposes, include the likes of Jack Wood, Rajah Caruth, and Taylor Gray.

Draftkings UNOH 200 Optimal Lineup

2022 UNOH 200 Race Picks

*Final*

Ty Majeski +700 (1 unit)
Carson Hocevar +1400 (.75 unit)
Stewart Friesen +1400 (.75 unit)
Ben Rhodes +1800 (.5 unit)

H2H Match-ups and Props

Stewart Friesen -110 over Christian Eckes (2 units)
Matt Crafton -110 over Tyler Ankrum (2 units)
Taylor Gray +600 finishes Top 5 (1 unit)