William Byron won at Phoenix to race his way into the Championship Round for the Xfinity series, which will have its season finale at Homestead-Miami Speedway on Saturday. Byron is one of two rookies in the Championship Round, along with Daniel Hemric, while veterans Elliott Sadler and Justin Allgaier will also compete for the title. All of these drivers will be going for their first Xfinity championship. Daniel Suarez is the defending race-winner here.
Details
Event: Ford EcoBoost 300
Category: Xfinity Series
Date: Saturday, November 18th – 3:30 PM ET
Location: Miami Speedway – Homestead, Florida
Byron beat out Ryan Blaney, who led 147 laps at Phoenix, while pole-sitter Erik Jones, Christopher Bell and Hemric rounded out the top five. Last year, Suarez left no doubt who the champion was as he led 133 laps from the pole en route to the title (and he left for the Cup series). Ty Dillon, Sadler, Blaney and Austin Dillon were also in the top five.
Past Five Winners
2016: Daniel Suarez
2015: Kyle Larson
2014: Matt Kenseth
2013: Brad Keselowski
2012: Regan Smith
The Field
Byron is coming off a win last week at Phoenix, which now makes it four wins on the year for him. He’s again the favorite here at 3/1. On the year, he now has 11 Top 5 results. After Byron, there are three other drivers right behind him at 6/1: Sam Hornish Jr., Justin Allgaier and Elliott Sadler.
A couple of interesting drivers to keep in mind are Ryan Preece and Christopher Bell. Preece is at 7/1 even though he doesn’t race much on this series. He’s started just three races but if you’re a betting man, you know he does well. He’s placed in the Top 5 in each of those starts. History is not on his side, though, as he has placed outside of the Top 20 in his two starts here.
As for Bell, he’s raced on the Xfinity Series seven times this year with one and two fourth place results. He’s on the board at 8/1 for this weekend.
What To Know About The Track
Homestead-Miami opened for business in 1995 and it is your typical 1.5-mile track as it is banked 18-20 degrees in the turns, and three degrees down the straightaways. That means the drivers will decide the championship on the track, although a starting position here is more important in the Xfinity series than it is in the Cup series. The last nine winners here have all started 10th or better.
A Good Matchup To Bet: Elliott Sadler over William Byron
Sadler is an underdog in this matchup at +135 to -180 for Byron, and this is all about experience. Sadler has finished third, 13th and ninth in his last three Xfinity starts at Homestead-Miami, while this is Byron’s first time coming here in an Xfinity car. Sadler has come oh-so-close to the Xfinity title in the past, finishing second three times since 2011, along with a third, fourth and sixth-place finish, so you would have to think that he would cash in at some point. Byron has had success at Homestead-Miami before as he won here last year in the Truck series, but the Xfinity series is a big step up and at 19 years old, you can’t fault him for having nerves going into this race and maybe doing something early to knock himself out of the running.
Top-Five Pick: Justin Allgaier
Allgaier’s sixth-place run here last year was his first top-10 in the Xfinity series at Homestead-Miami in six starts, and like Sadler, he has been around this series for a while. He has finished sixth twice, third on two occasions (including last year), fourth and fifth in the Xfinity series, but Allgaier just can’t get over the hump. He should be able to compete for the win this year at Homestead-Miami, but he’ll fall just short. Still, a top-five finish is definitely in play for Allgaier.
Odds To Win 2017 Xfinity Ford Ecoboost 300
William Byron +300
Sam Hornish Jr +600
Justin Allgaier +600
Elliott Sadler +600
Ryan Preece +700
Christopher Bell +800
Tyler Reddick +800
Daniel Hemric +1200
Ben Kennedy +2000
Austin Cindric +2000
Cole Custer +2000
Matt Tifft +2000
Brennan Poole +3000
Brendan Gaughan +4000
Field +2000
Click here to get all of the latest NASCAR betting lines at BetDSI including head-to-head matchups, props and odds to win each NASCAR and NASCAR Xfinity playoffs!
