Ryan Blaney won last week’s Xfinity race at Dover, but he is ineligible for points. That means the big winner was Justin Allgaier, who leads the standings as the series shifts to Charlotte Motor Speedway for the final race of the round of 12 as four drivers will be eliminated after this week’s Drive For The Cure 300.
Details
Event: Drive For The Cure 300
Category: Xfinity Series
Date: Saturday, October 7th, 3:00 PM ET
Location: Charlotte Motor Speedway, Concord, North Carolina
Blaney led 136 laps en route to the win, while Allgaier finished second, followed by pole-sitter William Byron, who led 62 laps. Daniel Hemric and Brennan Poole rounded out the top five at Dover. Joey Logano won last year’s race, but he won’t be back to defend his title. Blaney won the first Charlotte race of the season in this series, leading 107 laps en route to the victory, followed by Kevin Harvick.
Past Five Winners
2016: Joey Logano
2015: Austin Dillon
2014: Brad Keselowski
2013: Kyle Busch
2012: Joey Logano
The Field
This will be a fairly competitive race this weekend as we’ll see seven Monster Energy Cup Series drivers getting behind the wheel for this race. That includes the likes of Austin Dillon, Ty Dillon, Reed Sorenson, Daniel Suarez, Erik Jones, Ryan Blaney and Corey LaJoie.
Although Sam Hornish Jr. has a limited schedule, he’ll be in the No. 12 Ford care for this race. We’ll also see Alex Bowman in the saddle this week. He’ll be gunning it for Chip Ganassi Racing. As you might recall, Bowman will be replacing Dale Earnhardt Jr. in the No. 88 car next season. Part-timer Ben Kennedy was supposed to go but ended up withdrawing.
The preliminary list for this race had 40 drivers in the running and there are in fact 40 spots on the starting grid. That means we’ll see a fully-stocked field unless there are some unexpected late changes. There are a total of 12 drivers who are still in the running to continue. Eight will move on.
What To Know About The Track
Charlotte Motor Speedway held its first race in 1960 and it is a 1.5-mile track that is banked at 24 degrees in the turns and five degrees on the straightaways. Drivers love winning at Charlotte because it is considered the home track of NASCAR; most of the teams have set up shop in North Carolina.
A Good Matchup To Bet: Austin Dillon over Justin Allgaier
Dillon is the underdog in this matchup at +110 to -140 for Allgaier, who finished 12th here in the summer race. Dillon finished third in that race, and then went on to win the Cup race the next day, and he also won this race in 2015. Something about this track just suits Dillon and not only should he be favored in this matchup, he should be one of the top three favorites to win the race. Dillon also has a lot of motivation for this race as he is out of the Cup series playoffs now, and he would love to get a win to get some of his confidence back. Allgaier will be fine and probably churn out a high finish, but it won’t be better than Dillon.
Top-Five Pick: Cole Custer
Custer finished eighth at Dover and is fourth in the standings, and he has been pretty consistent with six top-10 finishes in his last seven starts. He also finished seventh at Charlotte in the summer, so he knows how to get around this track, and he also knows that he has to raise the bar a little bit in order to make some noise in the championship. He is still within shouting distance of Allgaier, Byron and Elliott Sadler in the standings and fortunately for him, none of them have won a race in the playoffs. If Custer can pick up a top-five result and maybe even win at Charlotte, that would make things a lot more interesting for Custer.
Odds To Win 2017 Drive For The Cure 300
Ryan Blaney +250
Erik Jones +400
Daniel Suarez +500
William Byron +600
Elliott Sadler +900
Justin Allgaier +900
Austin Dillon +1200
Sam Hornish Jr +1200
Alex Bowman +1800
Cole Custer +2500
Daniel Hemric +2500
Matt Tifft +3000
Ty Dillon +3000
Brennan Poole +4000
Field +1800
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