Boyd Gaming 300 Race Picks
NASCAR Xfinity Series Betting Preview
Saturday March 7th, 4:15PM (EST) at Las Vegas Motor Speedway
by NASCARWagers.com, NASCAR Handicapping Service
NASCAR will kick off a weekend of racing in Sin City this Saturday starting with the Xfinity Series in the Boyd Gaming 300 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. Ironically NASCAR’s visit to Las Vegas represents a unification of gambling and racing which the essential purpose of NASCARWagers.com. On the verge of this symbolic weekend of a NASCAR bettor’s paradise, we look forward to cashing a few big winning tickets ‘Vegas Style.’ Take a look as we dive into our race preview and Boyd Gaming 300 race picks.
There will be 8 drivers doing “double duty”, as they call it, this weekend participating in both the Xfinity Series Boyd Gaming 300 on Saturday and the Sprint Cup Series Kobalt Tools 400 on Sunday. Among those drivers from the Cup Series, the big favorites are Denny Hamlin and Dale Earnhardt Jr. Hamlin is racing the #54 car that Kyle Busch was scheduled to drive while Dale Earnhardt Jr will look to make it two in a row for JR Motorsports going back to last week’s win with Kevin Harvick in the #88 car in Atlanta. Hamlin opened and is currently listed as the overall favorite. However, Hamlin has just 1 top 5 finish in 6 career starts in the Xfinity Series. After a pair of mediocre practices on Friday, Hamlin poses a rather high risk with low reward type of bet at just over 2 to 1 odds.
Dale Earnhardt Jr has had a bit better history at Las Vegas with 3 top 5 finishes in 5 career starts but Junebug has also never visited victory lane at Vegas. JR Motorsports cars did look pretty strong in practices. Earnhardt was 2nd in the first practice and Regan Smith finished in the top 5 in both sessions. We know the #88 car has been strong over the last year and seems to be among the best cars on a weekly basis. Therefore that is good news for Earnhardt Jr fans that want to back him going into Saturday. His car was not overwhelmingly impressive in practice but it did stay strong on the long runs. If you add in the competition factor, Earnhardt may be a play worth considering when the green flag waves at 4:15PM (EST) tomorrow.
Outside of your two big favorites in Hamlin and Earnhardt Jr, Austin Dillon’s #33 car had the garage buzzing on Friday. Dillon posted the fastest lap in both of Friday’s practice sessions and also posted the best 10 lap average in final practice as well. Dillon has finishes of 6th and 7th in his two career starts at Vegas in the Xfinity Series. However, the #33 car was wicked fast in practice on Friday and paced the field by more than a half of a second in terms of single lap speed in the final session. Dillon’s speed got the attention of a lot of people and he is among the drivers to watch entering Saturday.
As far as the rest of the field is concerned, there is a hungry group of young guys trying to make a splash on Saturday. Xfinity Series point’s leader Ty Dillon was a bit unhappy with his car in practice but he did have a very strong 3rd place run last week at Atlanta. Chase Elliot, Ryan Blaney, Darrell Wallace Jr, and Erik Jones are a few other young guns that are going to be fun to watch this year. Wallace Jr and Jones have had plenty of success in the Camping World Truck Series and are hoping to make a bigger name for themselves in the Xfinity Series. Jones won the Truck Series race last year at Las Vegas over Wallace so both drivers know how to get around LVMS pretty well.
Everyone has been kind of waiting for Chase Elliot to show his “magic” this season. Elliot became the youngest champion in Xfinity Series history last year that was highlighted by 3 victories. Elliot got off to a rough start with a wreck at Daytona and was really not much of a factor last week at Atlanta despite rallying late for a 5th place finish. It appeared the Elliot was struggling again in practice on Friday so it will be interesting to see how the #9 car performs when the green flag drops. Ryan Blaney on the other hand is a guy that we are a bit interested in. Penske Racing drivers have won this race in each of the past two years so Blaney looks to carry the torch again on Saturday. Blaney was 4th in the first practice on Friday before sliding back to 10th in final practice. If you consider the way Penske Racing cars have run here over the past couple years along with how well Blaney has run in the Xfinity Series in the past several races, there may be some upside on the #22 car for Saturday.
Boyd Gaming 300 Race Picks
Ryan Blaney +950 (1 unit): Forums pick early after openers, Penske Racing cars have won last two races at Las Vegas. Blaney 4th in practice 1 and starting 4th.
Dale Earnhardt Jr +400 (1 unit): 3 top 5 finishes in 5 career starts at Las Vegas in the Xfinity Series, 2nd in practice 1, starting 6th
Winning Parlay
Austin Dillon +285 wins Boyd Gaming 300
Slot 2 – Open (For Kobalt Tools 400)
H2H Matchups
Erik Jones -155 over Ty Dillon (2 units)
Dale Earnhardt Jr -115 over Denny Hamlin (2 units)
Regan Smith -140 over Elliot Sadler (2 units)
