After consecutive Truck Series races featured Cup Series stars in the field, none are entered in this weekend’s FR8 Auctions 208. That leaves plenty of value on the board for the Truck Series regulars. Action will get underway on Saturday, March 18 at 1:00 p.m. ET — and our expert is here to make his FR8 Auctions 208 predictions to help you find the best NASCAR Truck Series bets for this weekend.
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Best NASCAR Truck Series Bets & Prediction | FR8 Auctions 208 | Atlanta
Have Tanner Gray’s Odds Gotten Too Long?
Although he is yet to win at a superspeedway track, Tanner Gray has put together some impressive runs at them recently. The series runs three superspeedway events each one, one at Daytona, one at Talladega and one at Atlanta. Gray has recorded a top-5 finish in two of his last four superspeedway starts, including a runner-up at this year’s Daytona race.
This weekend’s event at Atlanta compares favorably to the Daytona events at which Gray has found success. Those events are run in cool spring conditions, much like the 50-degree weather on tap for Saturday afternoon. Hotter, slicker conditions can make superspeedway racing a little more challenging for some drivers to handle.
Gray and his TRICON Garage teammates have gotten out to a respectable start. They were all running up front until late in Las Vegas. One of Gray’s teammates, Corey Heim — last year’s Atlanta winner — even scored a top-5. The TRICON trucks have enough speed to warrant Gray having shorter odds than the 30-1 available at DraftKings Sportsbook.
Bettors should get some exposure to Gray on outright markets and top-5 markets. Gray has a proven record of keeping his truck clean — aside from his solid runs at Daytona, he scored an eighth-place finish after staying near the front of the pack in last year’s Atlanta race. Readers can find Gray at +325 (23.5%) to score a top-5 at Caesars Sportsbook, slightly below his career hit rate at superspeedways (25%) and far below his hit rate through his last four superspeedway starts (50%).
Best NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series Bet: Tanner Gray 30-1 for 0.1 Unit at DraftKings
Best NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series Bet: Tanner Gray Top-5 +325 for 0.3 Unit at Caesars
Can Hailie Deegan Finally Live Up to the Hype?
At this point, most NASCAR fans are ready to call Hailie Deegan a bust. She has struggled in solid equipment over the last two seasons and is yet to have a strong run in an even better truck this year. However, I think it’s too early to write her off — especially with her NASCAR betting odds set so long. She sits at 100-1 to win and 8-1 just to score a top-5.
Deegan may not have a top-5 finish to her name yet, but she has three top-10 finishes over 48 starts, and she was running up front early at Daytona until a crash ended her day early. Deegan and her ThorSport Racing teammates strung together a 2-4-6 finish at the end of Stage 1. If they can do something similar again this week, Deegan could end up getting a top-5 finish out of the deal.
Much of the logic behind this play hinges on the quality of Deegan’s teammates. Ty Majeksi, Matt Crafton and Ben Rhodes have all put together strong runs at superspeedways in the past. For example, Rhodes has one win and five top-5 finishes to his name through his last seven superspeedway races. The three of them have outright odds of 8-1, 30-1 and 10-1, respectively. If Deegan can work with them in the draft, she has a better chance of scoring a top-5 finish than what her 8-1 (11.1%) odds available at Caesars Sportsbook suggest.
Best NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series Bet: Hailie Deegan Top 5 (+800 for 0.1 Unit) at Caesars
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