Kentucky Speedway… It’s been a while since we’ve had a “typical” NASCAR race–and by typical I mean a race at a track type that comprises the majority of the schedule. Of course, I’m talking about at a cookie cutter 1.5-mile track. Technically the last 1.5-mile venue we visited was Homestead five races ago, but that’s not your typical cookie cutter. You have to go back in early June to Atlanta for the most recent, and other races on this track type include Las Vegas back in February and the two Charlotte races in May.
The bets listed below are ones that I have already placed via the DraftKings Sportsbook, with the odds posted.
My Top Bets for the Quaker State 400 on Sunday
Ryan Blaney – I locked in Ryan Blaney to win (+1400) as well as him to score a top 3 finish (+350) on Sunday. Here’s the thing: this #12 Ford may only have one win this season, but Blaney could easily have three or four in that column. One of the wins that got away was at Las Vegas, where Ryan was leading late but then a caution came out. He pitted, lost track position, and his teammate, Joey Logano won the race. Make no mistake about it, though: Blaney had one of the fastest cars that race, as he ranked 3rd in driver rating and was actually fastest in green flag speed. Goodyear is bringing the same tire from Las Vegas to use here at Kentucky this weekend, and Blaney has a series-best average finish of 5.0 on the 1.5-mile tracks this season. He should be a good bet for top 5 and top 10 finish props as well, whenever DraftKings Sports Book posts those odds.
Alex Bowman – As PJ Walsh of the The Action Network said on Monday, you should have ran (not walked) to lock in Alex Bowman at 40-to-1 odds to win at Kentucky. Unfortunately I wasn’t quick enough to do that, but I did grab Bowman to win at +2000. Those are still the odds that DraftKings Sports Book is offering as of the Tuesday evening. Bowman has been nowhere near reliable this season but the #88 Chevrolet has been one of the fastest cars on the track the first half of the year. And on the 1.5-mile venues, he’s averaging 21 fastest laps per race, including 18 at Las Vegas and 52 and 28 in the two Charlotte races. Like Blaney, Bowman was solid at Las Vegas earlier this year, and his green flag speed ranked as 6th-fastest. I also bet on him to finish top 3 (+500).
