Toyota Tundra 250 Race Picks
NASCAR Camping World Truck Series Betting Preview
Friday May 8th, 8:49PM (EST) at Kansas Speedway
by NASCARWagers.com, NASCAR Handicapping Service
After more than a month since their last race at Martinsville, the Camping World Truck Series returns to action tonight at Kansas Speedway with the running of the Toyota Tundra 250. Tonight’s race will be featured in primetime with the green flag dropping at 8:49PM (EST). 18 year old Erik Jones has got everyone’s attention entering tonight’s race. Jones started getting attention after several strong runs in the Xfinity Series this year and became the talk of the garage today when he posted the fastest lap in final practice for the SpongeBob SquarePants 400 in what will officially be his first Sprint Cup Series start. Jones entered 2015 with a full-time ride in the Camping World Truck Series but is quickly becoming one of the hottest names in the entire sport. Will Jones be the driver to beat tonight? Find out our thoughts in our Toyota Tundra 250 race picks preview!
Earlier today rain washed out the 1st of two scheduled practices for tonight’s Toyota Tundra 250. Luckily weather conditions subsided later in the day allowing teams to participate in a 90 minute practice session. When practice concluded, Cameron Hayley was the guy on top of the leader board after posting a lap of 175.798mph. Most drivers taped up their trucks for mock qualifying runs late in practice which may give a false indication of which drivers looked best. However, Erik Jones finished 4th on speed and he was one of very few drivers that did not make a mock qualifying run. Ryan Newman finished behind Jones in the 5th position. Newman is the only regular from the Sprint Cup Series participating in tonight’s race and many feel he will be a threat to win. Newman was solid in race trim in the #8 Rescue Ranch Chevrolet. Tonight’s race will be Newman’s first Truck Series race since Eldora in 2013 and just the 6th start of his career. Therefore, I expect Newman to get better as the night progresses as he gets a better feel for his Truck.
At this point, it definitely appears that Erik Jones and Ryan Newman are the drivers to beat. Truck Series veteran Matt Crafton has been really good on the 1.5 mile tracks over the last year. In fact, Crafton has been really good at Kansas in his last few appearances with a victory in 2013 and then a runner-up finish in this race a year ago. Crafton has kind of flown under the radar this week with all of the hype surrounding Erik Jones and the talk of Ryan Newman returning to the Truck Series. However, Crafton is a guy that could easily score an upset victory tonight and definitely should be looked at in H2H betting situations. A few other guys that should be worth consideration tonight in possible match-ups include Tyler Reddick and Daniel Suarez. Reddick is having an excellent season and has finished no worse than 5th in his 3 starts including that win back in Daytona. The #19 truck has looked fast this weekend and that should not be too surprising considering how well he ran at Atlanta. Suarez was another driver that had a strong run at Atlanta finishing 4th and has looked pretty solid again since unloading the #51 car this weekend.
If you are looking for a couple of trends entering tonight’s race, consider the following facts while setting up your betting card tonight. In 14 Kansas Truck Series races, the winner of the race has never started outside the top 10. In fact, the last 7 winners have all started in the top 6 positions. However these Kansas races have provided a lot of exciting racing over the last several years. Cautions have been frequent which opens the door for pit road strategy and the last 5 races have had a minimum of 15 lead changes in each race. Therefore if things get real crazy tonight, it may not be a bad idea to have a small play on long shot with great odds. Guys like Tyler Reddick, Daniel Suarez, and Ben Kennedy would be names to consider that should have great odds entering tonight’s race.
*Update: Tyler Reddick will go to backup car after wrecking during qualifying
Toyota Tundra 250 Race Picks
Erik Jones +125 (3 units): fastest in race trim, starting on pole, lot of momentum going in all touring series
Open Parlay
Matt Crafton +300 wins Toyota Tundra 250 (.5 unit)
Open Slot 2 (For SpongeBob SquarePants 400)
H2H Match-ups
Tyler Reddick +175 over Daniel Suarez (2 units)
Matt Crafton -170 over Johnny Sauter (2 units)