NASCAR Predictions and Picks: Should We Fire Up James Davison at Charlotte Motor Speedway Xfinity Series Race?
NASCAR Predictions and Picks: Should We Fire Up James Davison at Charlotte Motor Speedway Xfinity Series Race?
Xfinity Series Race Start Time, Where to Watch
- Date:Â Saturday, October 8
- Time:Â 3:00 pm EST
- Where to Watch:Â NBC
- Track:Â Charlotte Motor Speedway Road Course
We're turning left and right again this weekend. The haulers head to Nascar's home base in Charlotte, North Carolina, and the drivers will be tasked with conquering the very popular and fan favorite Roval.
You may be wondering, "What the heck is a Roval?"
It is very clever wordplay...something Slop may have come up with for Nascar's head brass. Roval is simply a combination of the words "Road Course" and "Oval." Genius...that's exactly what we've got here.
The Xfinity Series gets its first crack on Saturday morning. Practice starts at 10 am and is immediately followed by qualifying.
Lucky for us, we have an inside man at the track this weekend. Steve will be in attendance at both of the races. Hopefully, he will throw banana peels and green turtle shells at our opponents, if necessary.
Xfinity Series Drive for the Cure 250 Prediction
1.3u to win 1.0u - James Davison to finish better than Brandon Jones (-130) ($130 to Win $100)
Who?
Exactly.
I don't think we've ever bet on James Davison before. But here we are...diving right into something new. We recommend you do the same.
Just because we've never bet on him, it doesn't mean we don't know who he is. The first thing you need to know is that this guy is Australian. We love Aussie Rules football in my house. We are subscribed to the AFL version of the red zone channel and one of my girlfriend's boyfriends is Charlie Dixon of Port Adelaide Power. The other is Kyle Larson, but he's not racing until Sunday. Basically, betting on Davison will allow me to watch the race without having to do chores around the house for a few hours. It's crazy what a cool accent can let you achieve.
Secondly, he's a road course ace. This guy has wins in the IndyLights Series. He has also raced in the Indy 500 a handful of times and had 40 starts between the Cup Series and Xfinity Series. The 35 Cup Series starts should have a huge asterisk since it was in a Rick Ware ride...which is the equivalent of a bathtub on wheels.
On Saturday though, Davison will be piloting a Joe Gibbs Racing rocket ship. The #18 has been bad fast all year long. This car, if you were to combine the green flag speed of all the drivers in 2022, is a top-5 machine. We call that "elite" around these parts...and not the Joe Flacco kind of "Elite." Our guy Sammy Smith cashed a +1200 Top-5 ticket for the @speedwaysteve2 brand at the Watkins Glen Road course a few weeks ago.
Here's the thing. Brandon Jones will most certainly have a pretty fast racecar, too. Maybe even better than our Aussie. But Brandon Jones is ten points out of a spot in the round-of-eight and this is a cut off race. Cue the suspenseful music.
Brandon Jones will most certainly be stage-point racing. On road courses, there are two strategies teams can employ. The first is electing to pit right before the end of the stages but punting on the chance at stage end points. This sounds bad, but then the driver makes HUGE strides in track position when the then leaders inevitably pit under the stage break caution, and cycle to the back of the field. This is the strategy Davison will be on. He does not need stage points and will only be trophy hunting. Do not be alarmed if you tune in and see Davison behind Jones for the first two stages of the race. Unless Davison crashed. Then we've already lost.
Jones will be racing like mad for stage points in the first two stages of the race. This will put him at a severe disadvantage to Davison when the field flips after the second stage. He will be maximizing his point haul, while Davison will be only concerned with improving track position. It almost feels unfair to have these two drivers pitted in a head-to-head matchup because of the differing strategies.
All we can do is handicap the matchups the bookmakers give us. This one is easy. Let's cash with the Aussie.