2025 Ecosave 200 Race Picks

Date/Time: Friday March 14th, 2025. 9:00PM (EST)
Where: Las Vegas Motor Speedway
TV: FS1

Later tonight, the Craftsman Truck Series will have the luxury of kicking off the racing weekend at Las Vegas Motor Speedway for the running of the Ecosave 200. As many are aware, all of NASCAR’s touring series will be in action over the next 3 days leading to Sunday’s Pennzoil 400 in the Cup Series. For tonight’s Ecosave 200, this marks the Truck Series’ first event since February 22nd. The Truck Series competed at Daytona and Atlanta during the first two weeks of the season meaning tonight’s race at Las Vegas will be the first of the season on a non-drafting style oval. Needless to say, this race will be an important measuring stick to determine the speed teams/drivers have brought to the 2025 campaign!

For those wondering, I waited to compile tonight’s preview until I had a chance to view practice and qualifying sessions which just concluded at Las Vegas. In the Truck Series, handicapping the 1.5 mile tracks is not as easy as just looking at driver and track history but instead we have to stay on top of recent performance trends to see which teams are producing the best overall speed. Since drivers are nearly full-throttle around these 1.5 mile tracks, we must make an attempt to identify the teams that are showing signs of producing the best speed. Furthermore, since we have not had any races this season on this style of track, we cannot just assume that last year’s trends will carry over to this season especially given the massive driver/team changes that occurred over the offseason. As a result, I thought today’s on-track sessions were a good early indicator of where everyone resides in the “speed” department heading into tonight’s main event.

Betting Strategy

Before we jump into practice observations which will hold some weight into our handicapping equation, I first want to remind everyone that we should adopt a relatively conservative betting approach throughout the weekend because, again, this is the first event of the season at a traditional 1.5 mile sized speedway. Typically we see the most speed changes from the offseason unfold during the first few weeks of the season and I would imagine we will see some surprises organizationally throughout the weekend at Las Vegas. With that being said, I still believe bettors will have opportunities to turn profits especially in H2H formats where I have already jumped on some early betting lines. H2H match-ups have been really solid for our picks through the opening weeks of the season despite not having much luck in “futures” (win) formats. As a result, I believe we have to continue to be sharp in H2H match-ups because that appears to be where the best value is at the moment, especially since outright betting favorites have won nearly every race this season among all series.

Las Vegas – Trucks Series Betting Notes

• Grant Enfinger (2018), Chandler Smith (2022), and Rajah Caruth (2024) are the only former CTS winners at Las Vegas.
• In 5 races last season at 1.5 mile tracks in the Truck Series, Corey Heim finished no worse than 3rd and won 2 races (both at Kansas).
• In two career starts, Heim has finished 3rd and 4th at Las Vegas.
• Behind Corey Heim, Christian Eckes had the best average driver rating (108.6) at the 1.5 mile tracks in 2024. *Daniel Hemric now drives the #19 truck.
• Kaden Honeycutt finished 4th (twice) and 8th in 3 part-time starts at 1.5 mile speedways in 2024.
• Ty Majeski won the opening two stages in last year’s race at Las Vegas before finishing 10th.
• Despite not having any wins, Matt Crafton has finished 9th or better in 17 of the last 21 races at Las Vegas.
• Stewart Friesen has finished 6th or better in 4 of the last 6 races at Las Vegas.
• Tanner Gray has finished 8th or better at 3 of the last 4 races at 1.5 mile speedways.
• Toyota powered trucks have won 7 of the last 9 races at Las Vegas.
• The last two winners at Las Vegas have started from the pole position.

Practice Observations

Practice was split into two different groups earlier this afternoon. In the opening session, Corey Heim paced the field with a fast lap of 177.971mph. Heim experienced electrical issues in the opening moments but rebounded to post the fastest laps of the session by a relatively wide margin. Aside from Heim, Layne Riggs was likely the 2nd best truck but did show above average fall-off in lap times. Meanwhile, William Sawalich, Connor Mosack, and Jack Wood were among the surprise stories that were really competitive on the longer runs. Both Sawalich and Mosack were among the trucks that showed the least amount of fall-off which is a good sign for race conditions.

In the 2nd practice session, it appeared speed was much better likely due to track conditions. In fact, 8 of the top 10 drivers with the fastest lap were from the 2nd practice session led by Ben Rhodes, Ty Majeski, and Tyler Ankrum. Teammates Rhodes and Majekski posted the fastest two laps of the entire day however neither truck seemed to show “winning” speed from a consistency standpoint and both drivers complained about handling issues. Meanwhile, Tyler Ankrum and Corey Day were among some of the surprise stories that were best in the 5,10, and 15 lap average categories. Meanwhile Daniel Hemric, Chandler Smith, and Kaden Honeycutt were among the names that were further down the charts than most would have expected.

Betting Targets

After practice completed, I thought Corey Heim would be in the even money range when odds are posted again this evening. Instead, Heim qualified poorly and has opened the door for potentially better value. Heim is the best talent in the entire field and showed the best practice speeds by a wide margin. As a result, Heim is the driver to beat going into tonight’s race and can be targeted in all formats. If Heim has trouble or is unable to get the job done, Ty Majeski and Justin Haley are deserving of being in the category of “favorites.” Personally, I believe that Majeski is the driver that deserves the most betting consideration behind Corey Heim.

With that being said, there are still several other drivers that have shown positive trends this weekend that could become a “surprise” story this evening. Tyler Ankrum and Corey Day have been very fast since unloading at Las Vegas earlier today and both drivers qualified on the front row. I believe Akrum and Day will likely yield the best return in H2H formats but they could be considered as outright dark horses for the race win as well. Meanwhile, I would list drivers like Giovanni Ruggiero and Bayley Currey as potential drivers to target in prop bet formats that have much higher ceilings than betting odds will indicate.

Draftkings Ecosave 200 Optimal Fantasy Lineup

2025 Ecosave 200 Betting Picks

*FINAL*

Ty Majeski +900 (.75 unit)
Tyler Ankrum +1000 (.75 unit)
Justin Haley +1200 (.75 unit)

H2H Match-Ups and Props

Kaden Honeycutt -120 over Tyler Ankrum (3 units) *early pick
Justin Haley -110 over Rajah Caruth (2 units)
Ty Majeski -110 over Layne Riggs (2 units)
Tanner Gray +1000 finishes Top 5 (.5 unit) *early pick

Two Team Parlay

Corey Heim +200 wins Ecosave 200
Kyle Larson +500 wins Pennzoil 400
Risking .75 unit to win: +1275