In the words of Rodney Childers after Darlington, “Complete bullshit … Was going to be a great night”. Man, we took one on the chin Sunday night but so did others besides us and Harvick. Kyle Busch has motor issues. Chase Elliott wrecks and finishes 36th. Oh, and we had another week of a driver (Daniel Suarez) vowing to pay back another driver (Christopher Bell) after he felt he was done wrong. All of this, and it was just week one of the playoffs.
After last week we do need to regroup a bit and look at where guys are in the playoffs to determine how they may race in the next two weeks’ races. I think its fair to look at where a guy is in the playoffs and possibly figure out how they may run these next two weeks’ races.
If a guy is below the cut line who has not shown a lot of speed like Cindric, Dillon, and Briscoe could run things differently than a guy like Harvick who has had consistent speed. Will those guys below or just above be more incline to points race? Well, you have to look at their positon and their history at these next two tracks to determine that!
Well, as always we won’t stay long on the previous week and head west to Kansas for the Hollywood Casino 400 on Sunday afternoon at 3 P.M. eastern time. Back to another mile and a half track. When the series left Kansas in the spring all six of the Toyotas finished in the top 10.
I see no reason why this trend shouldn’t continue with the amount of speed that the Toyota six have had all year!
Denny Hamlin -125 vs MTJ -105
This week I am looking at the match-up of Denny Hamlin -125 vs Martin Truex Jr -105. Yes, this is a playoff vs non-playoff driver. Yes, these are two Toyota drivers. Yes, one has the nickname of mile and a half Martin. However, with those factors, I am still looking at this! Lets look at recent finishing position of the two JGR drivers. Hamlin’s last six races he has three top fives, an average finish of 11.3, and an average rating of 97.3. MTJ has three top ten finishes, an average finish of 16 and during that time with an average rating of 85.3. So as far as momentum lean Hamlin. Next let’s look at the last time they raced at Kansas in May of 2022. Hamlin finished 4th while MTJ finished 6th. Lean Hamlin again. Finally, let’s look at recent success at mile and a-half race tracks. Beginning with that spring Kansas race Hamiln has finishes of 4th, 1st, and 25th. MTJ has a 6th, 12th, and 11th. Going to lean Hamlin here once again. Even on tracks like Michigan and Pocono Hamlin was better than MTJ. Yes, I know he DQ at Pocono however he was faster than Truex. For those reasons, I am leaning on Hamlin at a little juice to score the victory in this match-up of teammates!
NASCAR Style Odds 