Finally! Ryan Blaney managed to end his season-plus-long winless streak at Charlotte Motor Speedway last weekend. Unfortunately, he finished directly ahead of two drivers on the betting card, William Byron and Martin Truex Jr. The NASCAR Cup Series now heads to Gateway Motorsports Park for this year’s Enjoy Illinois 300, on Sunday, June 4 at 3:30 p.m. ET. I’m here to break down the betting odds, make my predictions and identify the top NASCAR bets for this weekend’s action in Charlotte. Alex Bowman stands out as an interesting NASCAR bet early this week.
This season, I will handicap the opening outright odds for the NASCAR Cup Series early in the week, and I’ll post a prop article once those markets become available. Only of OddsShopper Insider Access will get access to my full betting card, but I will include most of it in articles and on our YouTube Channel.
The legal gambling age is 21+ in most states. Gambling Problem? Call or text 1-800-GAMBLER.
NASCAR Predictions for the Enjoy Illinois 300 at Gateway: Race Preview
There’s a Clear Dominant Team Headed to St. Louis
Gateway Motorsports Park, or World Wide Technology Raceway, is a 1.25-mile flat oval track. It has an oblong shape, meaning turns one and two are narrower than turns three and four; it resembles a smaller Darlington Raceway but features much less tire wear as the surface was recently repaved to accommodate IndyCar racing in 2017. These factors mean it compares most favorably to Richmond and Phoenix.
Last year, Ryan Blaney recorded the best driver rating at Phoenix and the second-best driver rating at Richmond for Team Penske. His teammate, Joey Logano, recorded the seventh-best driver rating at Phoenix and the 13th-best one at Richmond. Blaney was the only driver to record a rating of 110-plus in both events. Blaney then recorded the second-best driver rating at Gateway, one spot ahead of his teammate, Logano, who won the race.
A quick look at the results from Richmond and Phoenix makes it clear that one team has a pretty massive advantage this year. William Byron, driver of the No. 24 Chevrolet for Hendrick Motorsports, won at Phoenix and recorded the second-best driver rating in both events. Kyle Larson, driver of the No. 5 Chevrolet for Hendrick Motorsports, won at Richmond and recorded the best driver rating in both events.
Hendrick Motorsports led a whopping 68.7% of the laps at both Richmond and Phoenix. Larson and Byron did most of the damage, but Alex Bowman and Josh Berry chipped in with some laps led on their own as well. Unsurprisingly, Hendrick Motorsports drivers will feature heavily in my NASCAR Cup Series predictions for Gateway.
(function (d, w, c) {(w[c] = w[c] || []).push(function() {try {w.yaCounter92258009 = new Ya.Metrika2({id:92258009,clickmap:true,trackLinks:true,accurateTrackBounce:true});} catch(e) { }});var n = d.getElementsByTagName("script")[0],s = d.createElement("script"),f = function () { n.parentNode.insertBefore(s, n); };s.type = "text/javascript";s.async = true;s.src = "https://mc.yandex.ru/metrika/tag.js";if (w.opera == "[object Opera]") {d.addEventListener("DOMContentLoaded", f, false);} else { f(); }})(document, window, "yandex_metrika_callbacks2");