This week in NASCAR auto racing betting features the Camping World Truck Series Aspen Dental Eldora Dirt Derby, the Monster Energy Cup Series Brantley Gilbert Big Machine Brickyard 400, and Xfinity Series Lilly Diabetes 250. They can’t all have cool names, now can they?
Aspen Dental Eldora Dirt Derby
Date: July 19th
Venue: Eldora Speedway
Location: Rossburg, Ohio
Distance: 75-mile-long
Laps: 150
Christopher Bell – the winner of the of the Eldora Dirt Derby (which was then known as the 1-800 Car Cash Mudsummer Classic) – enters as a favorite of people who bet on auto racing, coming off his third win of the 2017 Camping World Truck Series in the Buckle Up in Your Truck 225 at Kentucky Speedway on July 6th. Bell is currently second in the driver standings 28 points behind leader Johnny Sauter who finished 9th in Kentucky and whose best finish in Rossburg was an 8th place in 2014.
Lilly Diabetes 250
Date: July 22nd
Venue: Indianapolis Motor Speedway
Location: Speedway, Indiana
Distance: 250 miles
Laps: 100 (Stage 1: 30 Stage 2: 30 Stage 3: 40)
William Byron has been en fuego lately, finishing 7th at the Alsco 300, placing 3rd in the Overton’s 200, runnering-up the Irish Hills 250, and winning the American Ethanol E15 250, and Coca-Cola Firecracker 250, all of which makes him a strong auto racing betting contender. Meanwhile the Drivers’ Championship leader Elliott Saddler has yet to win a race this season and has been improving at the Lilly Diabetes, going from 13th in 2013 and 15th in 2014 to 5th and 6th in 2015 and 2016 respectively.
Brantley Gilbert Big Machine Brickyard 400
Date: July 23rd
Venue: Indianapolis Motor Speedway
Location: Speedway, Indiana
Distance: 400 miles
Laps: 160 (Stage 1: 50 Stage 2: 50 Stage 3: 60)
Kyle Busch enters Sunday as the winner of the last editions of this race, in which he has finished no worse than 2nd in four of the last five runnings and no worse than 10th in the last seven years. If there is a place and a time for Busch to get his first win of the 2017 season it is Sunday in Indiana. He’ll have stiff competition from Jimmie ‘James’ Johnson, the active racer with the most Brickyard 400 wins (2006, 2008, 2009, and 2012). JJ finished in 3rd place last year and could conceivably tie Jeff Gordon’s record of five wins. Neither can sleep on Denny Hamlin, however, who has been on a roll with four top 5 finishes in the last five races, including winning the 2017 Overton’s 301 – his first win of the season. In addition to that he has finished in the top 5 in the last three editions of this race, so it would seem like it’s the proverbial perfect storm for Hamlin. And there are of course your usual auto racing betting subjects, Martin Truex – won the Quaker State 400 and placed 3rd in the Overton’s – and Kyle Larson – back-to-back runner-up finishes, in those two selfsame races.