Now that the 2021 NASCAR season has gotten underway with the Daytona 500 in the Cup Series, it is time for the Xfinity Series and the Camping World Truck Series to get underway as well. This weekend’s events in NASCAR are set for the Las Vegas Motor Speedway. The Xfinity Series will feature the Alsco Uniforms 300 on Saturday afternoon, while the Camping World Truck Series features the Bucked Up 200 on Friday evening. Both races will broadcast on FS1.
Let’s take a look at the schedule as well as NASCAR betting suggestions for each race.
NASCAR News: Weekend Xfinity Series and Truck Series Calendar
Friday, March 5
Bucked Up 200 (9:00 pm ET, FS1)
Ben Rhodes will start from the pole in this race, followed by Sheldon Creed. After that, the starting order features John Hunter Nemechek, Matt Crafton, Christian Eckes, Todd Gilliland, Chandler Smith, Derek Kraus, Stewart Friesen and Carson Hocevar. Rhodes won the BrakeBest Brake Pads 159, the truck series’ season opener, by 0.320 seconds over Creed. Rhodes had the pole and led 13 laps, and he also had the fastest lap in 2:00.689.
Nemechek jumped out to an early lead and won Stage 1 by 0.44 seconds. However, Raphael Lessard moved into the lead after 22 laps and won Stage 2, with a 0.949 second lead over Kaz Grala. Sheldon Creed moved into the lead after 33 laps. However, Rhodes was able to storm back to make it two wins in a row at Daytona, picking up his fifth career victory. Given that Rhodes had drifted back as far as 30th place in this race, the victory was an impressive one. I don’t see him digging himself out of a similar hole in Las Vegas, though.
Rhodes needed three overtime starts to edge out Creed, who won the truck series title last year. Winning both of the races at Daytona (the first on the oval and the second on the road course) was a signature achievement, just the third time in the history of the truck series that the same driver had won both races to start the season.
Final Prediction:
Sheldon Creed wins
Saturday, March 6
Alsco Uniforms 300 (4:30 pm ET, FS1)
Last week, Myatt Snider picked up his first win in the NASCAR Xfinity Series, holding off Tyler Reddick down the stretch to win at Homestead-Miami Speedway. Snider raced masterfully coming from the inside land after getting a second chance with an overtime restart. Noah Gragson, once again, finished just short at Homestead-Miami. This has made three straight races here where Gragson has been close enough to win, but he crashed with a little over two laps remaining in the race’s regulation period. That set up overtime and gave Snider a chance to take the win.
Reddick ended up losing his second-place finish, though, because the post-race inspection found that his ride height was too low in the car’s rear. In the first overtime, Snider’s tires spun and Reddick jumped into the lead. However, A.J. Allmendinger careened toward the infield grass at Turn 1 to lead to the race’s eighth and last caution. In the second overtime, it was Reddick’s turn to spin his tires, and Snider pulled away along the bottom lane. Reddick gained ground on the last lap but was still .085 seconds back when Snider got the win.
Gragson’s wreck was bad luck as David Starr, the last-place driver on the lead lap, blew out a tire and shot along the track into the outside wall, right in front of Gragson. Gragson, in the lead, could not get out of the way; when the crash happened, Gragson had a lead of over eight seconds on Reddick. Gragson seems right on the verge of victory; can he pull it off in Vegas?
Final Prediction:
Noah Gragson wins
NASCAR Betting Odds
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