A Gateway that leads to riche$
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The NASCAR Cup Series heads to Gateway for the third annual running of the Enjoy Illinois 300. Past champions Joey Logano and Kyle Busch are the only winners at Gateway in the Cup Series.
DraftKings has neither driver among the pre-race favorites. Instead, Denny Hamlin (+550), Kyle Larson (+600) and Ryan Blaney (+850) sit at the top of the board.
Here are my four favorite betting picks as the NASCAR circuit visits the St. Louis area for the Enjoy Illinois 300:
Christopher Bell top-five finish (+130, bet365)
Bell’s season has been all over the place. He opened with four finishes of sixth or better in his first seven races. He then finished 13th or worse in five of six races.
Seemingly out of nowhere, he led a race-high 90 laps en route to winning the Coca-Cola 600 last week. I don’t think Bell will become the first this season to win back-to-back races, but he should be a top contender at Gateway.
He hasn’t been great at the track, finishing ninth and 11th, but he excelled at Phoenix and Richmond this season. Those races are the closest comparison to Gateway. The Charlotte victory should give Bell some much-needed momentum this week.
A crash ended Gragson’s day in the Coca-Cola 600, but that shouldn’t discount his recent speed where he had a stretch of three straight top-10 finishes.
Gragson had low expectations ahead of the 2024 season, but he has shown speed. His five top-10 finishes are tied with current playoff drivers Ross Chastain,
Blaney and Bubba Wallace.
Gragson finished 12th at Phoenix and Richmond, and his speed rating showed he had the seventh-fastest car at Phoenix.
The odds suggest he’s a long shot, but I don’t think it’ll take much for Gragson to crack the top 10 on Sunday.
Denny Hamlin over Kyle Larson (-110, ESPN BET)
The two best drivers in NASCAR are going head-to-head Sunday as two of the favorites.
Hamlin excels on short flat tracks, exhibiting the fastest speed ranking across those tracks since 2023. He isn’t terrible on that type of track, but it’s far from his best.
The total speed ranking shows Larson hasn’t cracked the top 10 in both Gateway races. He also struggled at Phoenix this season, finishing 14th.
Hamlin scored a runner-up finish at Gateway last season. I expect another strong performance as he finishes ahead of Larson.
Winning manufacture: Toyota (+140, ESPN BET)
I didn’t feel confident enough to pick one race winner, but I love the Toyota camp as a whole. For me, it all goes back to their speed at Phoenix. This year’s Phoenix race saw a historically dominant performance from Toyota. They combined to lead 298 of the 312 laps. Hamlin, Tyler Reddick, Ty Gibbs, Martin Truex Jr. and Bell led between 50 and 68 laps. Bell came out victorious at Phoenix. Then Hamlin scored the victory at Richmond despite a dominant performance from Truex. They’ve clearly been the cars to beat on short flat tracks. Look out for every Toyota driver at Gateway.