Wednesday, September 20, 2017

New Hampshire Betting Preview: 2017 ISM Connect 300

Truex won the pole and led most laps in the first NHMS race.
This year's NASCAR Playoffs can't be that easy, can it?

It's only one race in the Playoffs, but it went almost as scripted with Martin Truex Jr. winning at Chicagoland for his fourth win on six 1.5-mile tracks and fifth overall. The win gives him a pass in the final two race in the Round of 16. He can simply park his car if he wanted, but he won't. He's going to try and pile up more wins and put his stamp on the season in his quest to win his first Cup Championship. He's the overwhelming favorite to win it all at the Westgate SuperBook at 9/5 odds (Bet $100 to win $180), something Kyle Busch agrees with.

“(Martin) Truex, and he showed us last week already," said Busch who is the 11-to-4 second-choice to win it all. "Just the way they've run. Now they're picking it up everywhere they go to. They're a scary team. They're a threat, that's for sure. If you look at, okay, what is Truex's worst track, Martinsville maybe. Probably a sixth or a seventh, that's it. Everywhere else it's a win. That's pretty scary. For us, I think we look at it as every track is a pretty good track. You look at Talladega as just being an unknown. For us, I feel like Texas is probably our worst place just with the repave, trying to figure out what it takes to be fast there.”

The rest of the drivers are going to have to make their mark on different type of tracks like this week at New Hampshire Motor Speedway, which features a flat 1-mile layout. Of the nine races remaining on the season, four of them will be on 1.5-mile tracks and that's likely going to mean more Truex Jr. Even the Nov. 19 Championship Race at Homestead is a 1.5-mile layout.

But no need to crown Truex yet. Let's at least see how it plays out.

I've been waiting for some drama between the drivers and we got a little bit of it on Friday, albeit coming via Twitter. I guess that's the new way of talking smack in NASCAR. Whatever, I'll take it, because the physical altercations seem like a thing of the past.

Brad Keselowski saw the top-4 speeds in the first Chicagoland practice all being from Toyota and tweeted "We are all in for a rude awakening. Haven't seen NASCAR let a manufacturer get this far ahead since the 70's."

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