UNOH 225 Race Picks
NASCAR Camping World Truck Series
Date and Time: Thursday June 26th, 2014 8:18PM Eastern
Where: Kentucky Speedway
TV: FS1
By:NASCAR Wagers, NASCAR Handicapping Service
The Camping World Truck Series will fire the engines at Kentucky Speedway later tonight for the UNOH 225. Earlier today, teams participated in two back to back practice sessions totaling 2 ½ hours of seat time. German Quiroga Jr ended the morning on top of the speed charts as the fastest truck in both practice sessions. Quiroga posted a very stout lap of 176.028mph in the final practice this morning which bested the field by two tenths of a second. The 34 year old Mexican racing driver nearly pulled off a surprise victory at Gateway Motorsports Park two weeks ago before finishing 2nd. Perhaps tonight Quiroga will have another chance to score his first NASCAR victory but it will not come easy as Sprint Cup veterans like Kyle Busch, Brad Keselowski, and Austin Dillon along with a cast of other talented Truck Series drivers stand in the way.
Outside of Quiroga, Kyle Busch appeared very strong for tonight’s race which is the least bit surprising. Busch is the overall favorite any time he straps into a truck and rightfully so considering he has won at a remarkable 46% clip (30 of 65) in Camping World Truck Series starts since 2009. Busch’s was one of just 3 drivers to post 10 consecutive laps in either practice and his average lap throughout a 10 lap run at 172.646mph would have placed him 14th on the speed alone in final practice. His 10 lap average was faster than the fastest laps ran by both Brad Keselowski and Matt Crafton not to mention Rowdy will be on the pole for tonight’s event. Both Keselowski and Crafton were the 2nd and 3rd biggest favorites outside of Busch heading into tonight’s race. Keselowski has posted two runner-up finishes in the Camping World Truck Series at Kentucky in the last 3 years but is still winless in 60 career Truck Series starts. Crafton has been strong every all season with two wins and nearly a 3rd before a blown tire at Gateway. The current CWTS point’s leader struggled throughout this morning’s practices but qualified decently in the 11th position.
Outside of your normal top names, some of the Truck Series regulars like Ryan Blaney and Jeb Burton should run well tonight. Burton was decent in practices and his driving style should help him on long runs tonight. Blaney won the Nationwide Series last year at Kentucky and will be going for his first Truck Series win tonight at Kentucky. Blaney started on the pole in last year’s UNOH 225 at Kentucky and posted a solid 5th place finish. He is a big fan of Kentucky Speedway and has posted solid results in each series between Nationwide and CWTS. Another guy to keep your eye on is Austin Dillon who we alluded to earlier. Dillon has been fast in every trip to Kentucky and was solid in the morning practices. In his 3 Truck Series starts at Kentucky, Dillon has started on the front row in each start with a career best runner-up finish in 2011. Dillon appeared to be in-line for another promising run tonight but hit the wall fairly hard in the 2nd round of knockout qualifying and will start 23rd tonight.
UNOH 225 Race Picks
German Quiroga +1600 (.5 unit)
Austin Dillon +950 (.5 unit)
H2H Matchups
Timothy Peters +115 over Johnny Sauter (3 units)
Ryan Blaney -130 over Darrell Wallace Jr (2 units)
Odds are being posted late. Check back closer to green flag time
