2025 Team EJP 175 Race Picks

Date/Time: Saturday September 20th, 2025. 12:00PM (EST)
Where: New Hampshire Motor Speedway
TV: FS1

Early Saturday afternoon, the Craftsman Truck Series will kick off the racing weekend with the running of the Team EJP 175 at New Hampshire Motor Speedway. Both the Truck Series and Cup Series will be in action this weekend while the Xfinity Series enjoys a rare “off” week. The last time the Truck Series visited Loudon, New Hampshire, an emerging 23 year old named Christopher Bell scored a dominating win for Kyle Busch Motorsports. It has been nearly a decade since that last Truck Series race in Loudon but Saturday’s Team EJP 175 will serve as an exciting return for the Truck Series at New Hampshire in a race that will cap off the opening round of the Truck Series playoffs!

From a playoff perspective, Corey Heim and Layne Riggs are the drivers that have already advanced to the Round of 8 thanks to their victories at Darlington and Bristol. More importantly, Heim and Riggs appear to be on a collision course to battle for a championship which will be decided later this year at Phoenix. Heim and Riggs have combined to win the 7 races and appear to be heads and shoulders above the competition on a near weekly basis. For Saturday’s Team EJP 175, Heim has already put the #11 truck on the pole following a fast lap of 131.538mph in qualifying on Friday. As a result, Heim will have the opportunity to lead the field to the green flag in search of his 9th victory on the season.

While Heim will have the luxury of leading the field to the green flag, there are several prestigious names that will also be starting towards the front of the field. Chandler Smith, Ty Majeski, and Layne Riggs were among those that qualified in the top 4 starting positions. Needless to say, some of Heim’s biggest threats are also starting at the front of the field. The main question going into Saturday’s Team EJP 175 is can anyone put an end to the dominance from the Heim/Riggs duo? The one common factor that the vast majority of drivers will share on Saturday is that they have never competed at New Hampshire Motor Speedway and that could lead to some surprises over the course of 175 laps of racing!

Handicapping New Hampshire

Since the Truck Series last competed in Loudon back in 2017, bettors do not have any prior track history to observe in the trucks for handicapping purposes. However, New Hampshire Motor Speedway is one of the most pure flat tracks in the sport. The one-mile oval at NHMS barely has any banking and can be compared to tracks like Martinsville and IRP which have been frequent on the Truck Series schedule for years. The only major difference is that NHMS is slightly bigger in size and requires slightly more from the setup to carry long-speed. Otherwise, we can use venues like Martinsville, IRP, and even Richmond to help formulate expectations going into race day.

Practice Observations

Prior to Heim’s pole effort in qualifying, the #11 truck also posted the fastest lap in practice. Heim, Kaden Honeycutt, Chandler Smith, Layne Riggs, Ty Majeski, and Grant Enfinger were the only drivers to post a fast lap under the 30 second bracket. In terms of consistency and race speed, Heim also appeared to have the fastest overall observations however it was not by a wide margin. Both Ty Majeski and Layne Riggs were very close to Heim in most major consecutive lap categories. Behind those big names, Grant Enfinger, Kaden Honeycutt, and Brent Crews were among additional names that appeared to show solid speed. Both Honeycutt and Enfinger qualified outside the top 15 but appeared to have much better long-run speed compared to where they qualified. Meanwhile, I would make noteworthy observations that prestigious names like Christian Eckes, Daniel Hemric, and Jake Garcia were among the drivers that appeared to struggle during Friday’s sessions.

Betting Targets

Based on how things have already unfolded at New Hampshire Motor Speedway with the heavy hitters dominating practice and qualifying, it is going to be difficult to squeeze any betting value from odds makers especially in futures (win) formats. With that being said, I think Corey Heim is the driver to beat going into Saturday. However from a betting standpoint, Layne Riggs makes more sense as the better betting target. Heim is currently listed at even money while Layne Riggs is getting near 5-1 odds at some books which is somewhat surprising considering Riggs has actually been better on the shorter layouts. For that reason, I believe Riggs has standalone betting value while I would only consider Heim in parlay formats.

Behind the Heim/Riggs duo, Ty Majeski and Chandler Smith are likely the biggest threats for an upset win. I would rather take Majeski with better odds however I also think Majeski is somewhat overvalued based on the way the #98 truck has performed this season. Deeper into the field, I am not confident we will see any big dark horses emerge at the front of the field. If I had to guess, I would pick Kaden Honeycutt to be the driver that surprises people on Saturday and may be worth a shot at 20-1 odds. In H2H formats, I believe Brent Crews and Gio Ruggiero are poised to shatter than suggested ceilings. Ruggiero has shown promising short-track skills and was laying down some of the best laps at the end of Friday’s practice. Meanwhile, Crews is an under-appreciated talent that has shown speed throughout the weekend. For those reasons, I believe Crews and Ruggiero are sharp targets in both H2H and prop bet formats.

2025 Draftkings Team EJP 175 Optimal Lineup

2025 Team EJP 175 Race Picks

*More plays may be added closer to race time. Check back until “FINAL” status is displayed*

Layne Riggs +450 (1 unit)
Ty Majeski +600 (.75 unit)
Kaden Honeycutt +1800 (.5 unit)

H2H Match-Ups and Prop Bets

Ty Majeski -110 over Chandler Smith (3 units)
Ben Rhodes +100 over Jake Garcia (2 units)
Gio Ruggiero +800 finishes Top 5 (.5 unit)

Two Team Parlay

Corey Heim +100 wins Team EJP 175
Christopher Bell +350 wins Mobil 1 301
Risking 1 unit to win: +800