2025 Sober or Slammer 200 Race Picks

Date/Time: Saturday August 30th, 2025. 7:30PM (EST)
Where: Darlington Raceway
TV: FS1

The Craftsman Truck Series will kick off their playoffs on Saturday with the running of the Sober or Slammer 200 at Darlington Raceway. NASCAR will actually have a double header on Saturday with the Truck Series competing at Darlington in the early afternoon and the Xfinity Series taking center stage at Portland International Raceway in the evening hours. Needless to say, there will be multiple betting opportunities throughout the weekend concluding with the historic Southern 500 late Sunday. With that being said, let’s dive into the opening playoff race for the Truck Series to identify our best betting opportunities for what promises to be an exciting weekend of racing at Darlington!

As many are aware, Corey Heim has been the dominant driver in the Truck Series throughout the season. Heim has amassed 7 victories on the season and has won 3 of the last 4 races. However, Layne Riggs appears to be the driver emerging as Heim’s biggest contender in the championship race and perhaps Riggs is among the drivers to beat going into Saturday after winning the pole for the Sober or Slammer 200 on Friday. Riggs has won 2 of the last 5 races and is among the best drivers in the series on the shorter layouts; especially those with minimal grip. As a result, the next several weeks could be a battle between the Heim/Riggs duo.

The fortunate news for the Truck Series playoff competitors is that there are not any Cup Series drivers competing on Saturday due to the playoffs beginning. Therefore, we can focus solely on the Truck Series regulars from a handicapping and betting perspective. In terms of handicapping Darlington, we are simply looking for the best driving talents that excel in these low-grip conditions. We can look at prior races at Darlington and even from Homestead earlier this year to establish a baseline of those expectations. Additionally, we will also consider lap times from practice on Friday to potentially identify drivers that could be strong on the long-run on Saturday which is extremely important for Darlington considering the significant amount of tire falloff.

Darlington – Truck Notes

• Ben Rhodes (2020) is the only former winner at Darlington competing on Saturday.
• Corey Heim led the most laps in last year’s race at Darlington but was involved in a late crash resulting in a 28th place result. *Heim’s best finish is 8th in 4 career starts at Darlington.
• Ty Majeski has finished in the Top 5 in 2 of the last 3 races at Darlington.
• Grant Enfinger has finished 6th or better in 4 of 6 starts at Darlington.
• Kaden Honeycutt finished 10th in his only career start at Darlington in 2023.
• Matt Crafton has finished 12th or better in 11 of 12 career starts at Darlington.
• Tyler Ankrum has just one Top 10 finish in 6 career starts at Darlington.
• Corey Heim produced a 136.4 average driver rating at Homestead earlier this year before battery issues led to a 3rd place result.
• Layne Riggs finished 2nd at Homestead earlier this year.
• Daniel Hemric and Tyler Ankrum also finished in the Top 5 at Homestead earlier this year.
• Chevrolet drivers have won 4 of the last 5 races at Darlington.
• There have been at least 8 cautions in 8 of the last 9 races at Darlington
• The eventual race winner has started in the Top 6 positions in the last 4 races at Darlington.

Practice Speeds

If you look at the speed charts from Friday, you may notice some surprise names like Timmy Hill, Stefan Parsons, and Jack Wood who are among the fastest trucks in single lap speed. Those results were mostly due to track conditions that favored those trucks in the first group of practice. In reality, Corey Heim was the driver that was setting the pace in practice. Heim had nearly two tenths advantage in 10 lap consecutive average category and appeared to clearly be the fastest truck in race trim. Layne Riggs, Grant Enfinger, and Ty Majeski were all in a close group that was behind Heim in terms of consistency. Behind that group of drivers, I also thought Chandler Smith and Daniel Hemric were sneaky good as well. Smith appeared to be very loose on the telecast but was still able to post strong lap times. Therefore, perhaps the #38 has more speed to be found. Meanwhile, Kaden Honeycutt, Ben Rhodes, Trevor Bayne, and Rajah Caruth were among the drivers that were down on the speed charts. However, I would keep in mind that some of these speeds were circumstantial results as opposed to outright speed.

Betting Targets

I do believe that Heim and Riggs are the proper favorites going into Saturday. However, I must admit that I could easily see both drivers having trouble closing this race out especially if we get a lot of cautions. I fully expect that Heim will be the fastest in race trim but Riggs may actually be the best betting option. Riggs is getting 3 to 1 value compared to Heim and likely has a very similar chance of winning. With that being said, I also believe that Chandler Smith has the most value on the board. I would classify Smith as the most dangerous threat behind Heim/Riggs by a wide margin. While I could make an argument for guys like Grant Enfinger (track history), Kaden Honeycutt (opportunity), and others; I simply think Smith beats those guys by a high percentage tomorrow afternoon.

Personally, I am not a fan of any big dark horses for Saturday’s Sober or Slammer 200. I think the top 3 trucks likely have about a 90% winning probability and there are too many guesses to identify the breakout dark horses. My favorite picks to surprise people on Saturday include Daniel Hemric and Giovanni Ruggiero. Both drivers are clicking on several handicapping indicators and are getting very generous value in terms of betting odds. Personally, I like Ruggiero better as a high-yield target in prop bet formats while Hemric can be considered a high-yield target in all formats. Lastly, don’t overlook veteran drivers like Ben Rhodes, Matt Crafton, and Trevor Bayne for fantasy purposes. All of those drivers qualified poorly on Friday but should move forward on Saturday.

2025 Draftkings Sober or Slammer 200 Optimal Lineup

2025 Sober or Slammer 200 Race Picks

*FINAL*

Chandler Smith +750 (1 unit)
Daniel Hemric +1800 (.5 unit)

Prop Bets

Daniel Hemric -145 over Rajah Caruth (3 units)
Chandler Smith -120 over Kaden Honeycutt (3 units)
Ben Rhodes +105 over Corey Day (2 units)

Two Team Parlays

Layne Riggs +350 wins Sober or Slammer 200
Connor Zilisch -150 wins Pacific Office Automation 147
Risking 1 unit to win: +650

Corey Heim +175 wins Sober or Slammer 200
Ford +275 wins Cook Out Southern 500
Risking 1 to win: +930