NASCAR Picks This Week: Xfinity and Trucks Series in Rockingham

NASCAR Picks: Your Weekly Winning Edge

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For the first time in decades, the Xfinity Series and Craftsman Truck Series will hold races this weekend at Rockingham Speedway. Xfinity hasn’t competed at this venue since 2004, while the Trucks were last at this speedway in 2013.

With that said, the Cup Series will not race this weekend due to Easter Sunday. NASCAR has a proud tradition of taking holidays off, which gives the drivers a much-needed break.

The Craftsman Truck Series will start the Rockingham festivities with the Black’s Tire 200 race on Friday, April 18. The race will begin at the earlier time of 5pm ET and can be seen on FS1.

The Xfinity Series will compete on Saturday with their North Carolina Education Lottery 250 presented by Black’s Tire on Saturday, April 19. You can watch this race in its entirety on The CW beginning at 4pm ET.

Without any further delay, pull those seatbelts down tight and strap in as we take a look at some of our best NASCAR picks this week.

NASCAR Picks Today

NASCAR Xfinity Series Picks This Week

• Race: North Carolina Education Lottery 250
• Race #: 10^th of the season
• Date: April 19
• Where: Rockingham Speedway

Last weekend at Bristol Motor Speedway, Kyle Larson dominated the race to take home the checkered flag. Larson would also win the Food City 500 the following day. Carson Kvapil and Justin Allgaier finished well behind Larson to round out the Top 3.

Allgaier, the reigning Xfinity Series Champion, enters this weekend’s Rockingham race as the odds-on favorite. This is the first time that the Xfinity Series has raced at Rockingham in two decades. Their last event came in 2004. So, almost the entire field will be racing here for the first time.

One man that has raced at Rockingham in the past, is Kasey Kahne who makes his NASCAR return after seven years. We’ll talk more about that below.

With that said, will there be another repeat winner on the season?  Or will we get a fresh face in the winner’s circle like in Darlington two weeks ago?

North Carolina Education Lottery 250 Odds

• Justin Allgaier (+220)
• Sam Mayer (+550)
• Jesse Love (+700)
• Sheldon Creed (+700)
• Connor Zilisch (+750)
• Austin Hill (+750)
• Brandon Jones (+800)
• Kase Kahne (+850)
• Carson Kvapil (+1200)
• Sammy Smith (+1400)
• Ryan Sieg (+1800)
• Taylor Gray (+2000)

North Carolina Education Lottery 250 Favorites

Justin Allgaier (+220) comes into this weekend with a firm grip on the top spot in the standings. He has two wins, seven Top 5s, seven Top 10s, and a 7.2 average finish. All of those numbers lead Xfinity. It’s easy to see why he’s the race favorite.

Sam Mayer (+550) is second in the standings and has been consistent this season to date. He has five Top 5s and six Top 10s in nine races so far. Yet, Mayer did finish 14^th and 11^th over the last two weeks. I think Mayer could be a Top 10 driver with a Top 5 ceiling.

Jesse Love (+700) is one of five Xfinity drivers with a win this year. He also has 6 Top 10s and a 10.6 average finish, which makes me think that Love could crack the Top 10 this weekend and possibly the Top 5 as well. Love has two Top 6s in the last four races including last weekend in Darlington.

Sheldon Creed (+700) was caught up in crash last weekend in Darlington which dropped him four spots to eighth in the standings. Prior to that, he had four consecutive Top 10s, which included two Top 5s. He was also 2^nd at Martinsville three weeks ago. Another Top 10 result isn’t out of the question. In fact, he’s a sneaky play for a Top 5 finish.

Connor Zilisch (+750) has been impressive in his first full-time rookie season with the Xfinity Series. He’s already won a race (Austin, Texas) and has three Top 10s on the season. He’s also led laps in six of the nine Xfinity races so far.

Furthermore, he was 6^th at Darlington two weeks ago and had points in both stages of Bristol last weekend. With that said, Zilisch is very excited to compete at Rockingham this Saturday:

“I’m really excited to go to Rockingham for the first time this weekend because it’s such a unique racetrack and has so much history in NASCAR. It’s really cool to finally have it back on the schedule again. Rockingham is a fast track with a lot of grip in the fresh repave. A lot of people don’t know how well it’s going to race, but based off how we were at the test a few months ago, I think we are going to have a really solid WeatherTech Chevrolet.”

North Carolina Education Lottery 250 Betting Value

Kase Kahne (+850) is my lone pick for betting value. And, that’s just because I want to talk about Kahne more than anything. It’s hard to find solid betting value when none of these drivers have raced at this track before, other than Kahne.

The 45-year-old commented on why he decided to return to NASCAR since his retirement in 2018, due to health issues:

“Rockingham just sparked something. The longer I’ve been out of the sport, the more interest I’ve had in feeling the car again and having those feelings I did for so many years driving and working with the teams. Once Rockingham went on the schedule, it’s an open weekend in High Limit Racing on the sprint car side, and it just made sense to try to put something together and do the (North Carolina Education Lottery 250).”

In Kahne’s five Xfinity appearances at Rockingham, he never cracked the Top 15 and had a 23.4 average finish. In the Truck Series, Kahne won his lone appearance in 2012. And, in the Cup Series, Kahne finished 2^nd in his only appearance at The Rock.

It would be a wonderful story if Kahne could turn back the hands of time and win on Saturday. But that would be a big “if” as the competition is fierce in the Xfinity Series and we have no idea how Kahne or his car will perform.

North Carolina Education Lottery 250 Longshot

Harrison Burton (+6000) has had a few tough weeks with results outside of the Top 20 in two of the last three races. Yet, Burton sits 12^th in the standings and has shown enough promise already; to make me think he could be in the Playoffs this year.

Burton does have three Top 10s in nine races. Plus, I believe his chances for a strong result this weekend has increased due Rockingham being a fresh track for all the drivers and putting many of the field on even grounds.

North Carolina Education Lottery 250 Predictions

It’s going to be a fun race to watch as these drivers compete on a track against each other for the first time. Rockingham is one-mile in lap distance, so to me, that favors some of the best drivers in the field due to their experience and handling like Allgaier, Mayer, Love, Hill and Zilisch.

With that said, I’m taking Allgaier. He’s put together five consecutive Top 5 finishes including three Top 3s in a row. He’s also led laps in six consecutive races and seven of the nine Xfinity events to date.

Allgaier commented on Rockingham including testing there in January:

“It’s really cool to be heading back to Rockingham with our BRANDT Professional Agriculture Chevrolet. No one really knows what to expect this weekend, but I feel like the test we had here back in January gave Jim (Pohlman, crew chief) and all the guys on this team a good playbook to start with. We’ve had a lot of momentum on our side here lately, and hopefully that will carry over and we will have another great run on Saturday.”

Sure, you can take a flier on one of the other drivers I mentioned above and get better value. However, I prefer to take the caution lap on this weekend’s race by picking Justin Allgaier to win the North Carolina Education Lottery 250.

Bet: Justin Allgaier (+220)

NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series Picks This Week

• Race: Black’s Tire 200
• Race #: 7^th of the season
• Date: April 18
• Where: Rockingham Speedway

Last weekend, Chandler Smith joined the list of Craftsman Truck Series full-time drivers to pick up a win on the season. Smith held off a hard-charging Kyle Larson to take the checkered flag.

 By doing so, Smith prevented Larson from sweeping all three races at Bristol as the Cup driver would win both the Xfinity and Cup Series races.

This week, the Truck Series returns to Rockingham for the first time since 2013. Needless to say, this field of drivers weren’t racing trucks back in that era. In fact, some of these drivers were still in junior high.

With no Cup Series drivers participating this weekend, we should see another full-time Truck driver pick up the victory for the fifth time in seven races.

Will we see another multi-time winner, a new face to victory lane, or can Corey Heim extend his lead in the Truck Series with another checkered flag?

Black’s Tire 200 Odds

• Corey Heim (+180)
• Ty Majeski (+550)
• Chandler Smith (+600)
• Layne Riggs (+650)
• Sammy Smith (+800)
• Tyler Ankrum (+1400)
• Rajah Caruth (+1400)
• Daniel Hemric (+1400)
• Grant Enfinger (+1400)
• Kaden Honeycutt (+1400)
• Brandon Jones (+1600)
• Stewart Friesen (+5000)
• Ben Rhodes (+5000)

Black’s Tire 200 Favorites

Corey Heim (+180) leads the Truck Series in the standings with two wins, four Top 5s, five Top 10s and a 7.3 average finish. He’s also the leader in wins, Top 5s, Playoff Points and Laps Led.

Needless to say, Heim has been the best full-time Truck driver this season so far. He has three Top 3s in the last four races and has been a Top 6 driver for five of the six Truck races so far.

Ty Majeski (+550) has yet to win this season, but he has still been a consistent driver over the first six races. He sits 2^nd in the standings and has the skills to compete against Heim for the win this weekend. Will we get the dominant Majeski from last year or the one who comes close but doesn’t win?

Chandler Smith (+600) has surprised many this season so far. He sits third, but has one win, three Top 5s, and six Top 10s. Smith leads the field in Top 10s and average finish (5.3). As mentioned above, Smith won last weekend in Bristol and carries over a ton of momentum for Rockingham this weekend.

Layne Riggs (+650) sits 8^th in the standings but does have three Top 10s and a solid 9.5 average finish. He has three Top 10s in the last four races and a 6.0 average finish over that span. Don’t be surprised if Riggs runs in the Top 5 for most of this race.

Black’s Tire 200 Betting Value

Tyler Ankrum (+1400) offers value based on his strong season to date. He has four Top 5s and five Top 10s on the year. In fact, if he didn’t have engine issues at Daytona in the opening week of the season, Ankrum could possibly be sitting second in the standings instead of fourth.

Daniel Hemric (+1400) won two weeks ago in Martinsville and has finished 16^th or better in all six races so far. Yet, he only has three Top 10s and a 9,2 average finish. With Hemric, we’re either going to get a Top 5 driver that competes for the win or a driver that finishes in the 10 to 15 range. Which one shows up this weekend?

Grant Enfinger (+1400) sits 7^th in the standings, but does have four Top 10s in six races so far. However, a DVP two weeks ago has really dropped his numbers on the year. If you ignore that result, then Enfinger has a 7.4 average finish this season which leads me to believe he can be a driver flying under the radar on Friday.

Black’s Tire 200 Longshot

Ben Rhodes (+5000) is my longshot bet this weekend. Sure, he sits 9^th in the standings, but that’s due to a suspension issue in Homestead and a poor result in Daytona. In his other four races, Rhodes has a 7.7 average finish. Furthermore, he’s finished 5^th the last two weeks in a row.

Black’s Tire 200 Predictions

This weekend’s race will come down to the best drivers in the field. So, to me, that means Heim, Majeski, Smith, Hemric, Riggs and Ankrum.

Of those six drivers, I am leaning towards Heim. He’s been so dominant this season and it’s hard to think that he won’t perform well at Rockingham this week. I also think Chandler Smith could upstage the favorites this weekend as well.

Smith does offer better value than Heim, but I’m playing it safe and taking the Truck Series leader to pick up his third win of the season.

Bet: Corey Heim (+180)