The 2018 Quaker State 400 gets underway on Saturday from Kentucky Speedway, the 19th of 36 races this season, so we are officially on the downhill side of the 2018 NASCAR season. The Quaker State 400 is one of the newer races in the series, as it is only in its eighth edition. Interestingly, four of the first seven winners have driven Toyotas. This is the seventh race of the year on a 1.5-mile track; so far, Kyle Busch has won three of them (including the last one at Chicagoland) and Kevin Harvick has won the other three. So those two are definitely ones you would want to consider as you put together your sports betting for this week in stock car racing. We also have some other drivers for you to consider as well, so take a look at our NASCAR betting preview for this week.
2018 Quaker State 400 Betting Preview (July 14)
Kevin Harvick has never won at Kentucky Speedway in a NASCAR event. However, he did win the Alsco 300 in the Xfinity Series here twice, and he has five consecutive top-10 finishes at this track. Also, he has most recently won at Kansas and Dover, and he has eight top-five finishes in his last 10 races. Along with Kyle Busch, he has been one of the dominant drivers in the sport this season and could be the best overall in the last two months. He has led the most laps overall in six different races in 2018. So he has an excellent shot at picking up his sixth checkered flag of 2018. Martin Truex Jr. looked tantalizingly close to winning at Daytona a week ago, but he ended upfinishing second. He does have seven finishes in the top five in his last eight starts, and he is the defending champion of the Quaker State 400. The Kentucky Speedway has been kind to him, as he has four top-10 finishes in his last six races here. He does have a way of snatching defeat from the jaws of victory in 2018, but he is definitely a contender to the end, and eventually that sort of driver ends up with the checkered flag too. Kyle Busch didn’t do nearly as well as he had hoped he would in Daytona, but he still has five top-five finishes in his last six starts. While Harvick has been slightly better over the last two months, Busch has the most consistency over the season as a whole, and he has two first-place finishes at the Quaker State 40 on his resume already — joining Brad Keselowski as the only multiple winner in the field. Busch also won here in the Camping World Truck Series and the Xfinity Series, so he is definitely someone to consider. Speaking of Brad Keselowski, he keeps disappointing stock car bettors, because he hasn’t won any races since October of last year. However, he has won three of the seven editions of this race. He has raced at Kentucky Speedway seven times overall and has finished in the top seven five times overall. So if you’re looking for a race that could get Keselowski back into the winner’s circle, this could easily be the one. Kyle Larson is also worth considering here. He hasn’t won since September 2017, but he has been the runner-up in two of his last five starts, and he has four top-seven finishes in his last seven races. He was the runner-up at the Quaker State 400 in 2017 and cracked the top ten two different times while racing in the Xfinity Series, so think about wagering on him. Some others down the board include Kurt Busch, who led 20 laps at Chicagoland, and Ryan Blaney, who led 19 laps at that race. While Harvick is a 2/1 favorite to win, with Kyle Busch just behind him at 7/2, there are a number of different drivers to put on your card and bring home some money.It’s a new day at @KySpeedway! ☀️ #QS400 pic.twitter.com/9ZZK2itbeq
— Stewart-Haas Racing (@StewartHaasRcng) July 13, 2018
