Photo by Gregory Fisher/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images. Pictured: NASCAR Cup Series drivers Ross Chastain (No. 42) and Chase Elliott (No. 9) race
NASCAR is back at Indianapolis!
While the Cup Series has run at the Brickyard since 1994, this will be the first time it races on the Indianapolis road course.
And because this is the first time Cup cars will take on the Indy road course, there will be both practice and qualifying this weekend, allowing drivers and teams to get in some laps before Sunday afternoon’s Verizon 200 (1 p.m. ET, NBC).
This also allows bettors to analyze practice speeds and starting positions in order to find value, but, in turn, also provides oddsmakers with information to adjust their numbers based on those speeds.
While I’ll certainly be on the lookout leading into Sunday’s race, there’s one top-10 prop I’m jumping on right now before this driver potentially shows his hand in practice on Saturday morning.
NASCAR at Indianapolis Picks
*Odds as of Friday at 7:30 a.m. ET
After crashing at the Daytona Roval back in February, Ross Chastain has finishes of fourth, seventh, seventh and 12th at the past five NASCAR Cup Series road course races.
In fact, even when you include the crash and 39th-place finish on the Daytona Roval, Chastain still owns the ninth-best average finish and driver rating across the five road courses races this season.
Chastain has proven he has top-10 speed every time the Cup Series visits a road course, which is why the price of +175 at DraftKings Sportsbook is so appetizing for Sunday.
In addition, while the Cup Series has never been to the Indy road course, the Xfinity Series did run there last year, so Chastain will have an experience advantage over the majority of the field which has never turned a lap on this circuit heading into the weekend.
The Bet: Chastain +175 for a Top-10 Finish
_BookPromo=405