The NASCAR Craftsman Truck series, along with the rest of the sport, will head to Music City this weekend. The 1.3-mile concrete oval doesn’t compare well to most other tracks in the sport, and the defending winner of the last two Truck Series races here, Ryan Preece, isn’t in the field. The race will get underway on Friday, June 23 at 8 p.m. ET — and I’m here to make my Rackley Roofing 200 predictions to help you find the best Truck Series bets for this weekend’s NASCAR action at Nashville.
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NASCAR Truck Series Predictions for the Rackley Roofing 200 at Nashville: Race Preview
Who Fills the Void Left by Ryan Preece?
Ryan Preece took the last two checkered flags here at the Nashville Superspeedway. While this would normally be a good time to target the team Preece drove for last year, it split in two during the offseason. The No. 17 Ford he drove was then run out of the same Front Row Motorsports stable as the No. 38 Ford Zane Smith drove — and still drives — but it’s now a TRICON Garage machine. The No. 38 Ford finished second behind Preece in both 2021 and 2022 with Todd Gilliland and Smith behind the wheel, respectively.
Both FRM and TRICON will have access to Preece’s notes. Logically, their star drivers are the two favorites for this weekend’s action. Corey Heim slots in a 4-1 via Caesars Sportsbook while Zane Smith clocks in at 17-4. Smith doesn’t have any teammates, but all of Heim’s teammates own odds of 28-1 or longer to win, making them a potential source of value. With Preece’s notes now spread out throughout the garage, it’ll be a lot harder to handicap this event than last year’s.
The other note with Nashville is that it features plenty of tire wear, which rewards driver talent. But correlation-wise, the results from Nashville align more with the higher-speed ovals like Las Vegas, Texas and Charlotte than the tougher ones like Darlington. Preece ran at all three tracks last year and led laps. Smith, his teammate, also did major damage at Charlotte and Las Vegas, just not at Texas.
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NASCAR Truck Series Predictions for the Rackley Roofing 200 at Nashville: Best Bets
What’s Carson Hocevar Going to do Tonight?
Although the teams that are now FRM and TRICON were the ones to beat here last season, that may not be true this year. Neither program dominated at the high-speed ovals last year. Smith led at Vegas but did nothing at either Charlotte or Texas. He didn’t win any of those events. Similarly, the TRICON drivers didn’t win at any of those tracks. Heim led 49 laps and finished second at Charlotte, one spot ahead of his teammate, Dean Thompson. No other TRICON drivers scored a top-3 in those three events.
But the one driver two impressed at all three tracks was Carson Hocevar. He finished seventh in Las Vegas after leading 19 laps, first at Texas after leading one lap and fourth at Charlotte after leading 43. While Niece Motorsports has taken a step back generally, the No. 42 Silverado has looked impressive so far, and Hocevar has the talent to bring it back to victory lane. It helps that Hocevar finished third here last season, behind only Preece and Smith.
We can buy Hocevar at 8-1 to win via Caesars. I like that number, and I also like taking him to get a top-5 at +115 via Caesars. Hocevar was fast enough at the high-speed ovals to perform well here, and we know he has the talent to manage tire wear — he finished fifth at Darlington and fourth at North Wilkesboro. Let’s back Hocevar to put together another solid showing tonight. New to Caesars? Your first bet is on the house up to $1,250!
Best NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series Bet: Carson Hocevar 8-1 for 0.17 Units at Caesars
Best NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series Bet: Carson Hocevar T5 +115 for 0.5 Units at Caesars
