2026 Black’s Tire 250 Betting Race Picks

Date/Time: Friday August 14th, 2026. 7:30PM (EST)
Where: Richmond Raceway
TV: FS1

In just a few short hours, the Craftsman Truck Series will wave the green flag for the running of the Black’s Tire 250 under the lights at Richmond Raceway. It has been 3 weeks since the Truck Series last competed at Lucas Oil Indianapolis Raceway Park. In that race, Layne Riggs picked up his 5th victory of the season. Riggs has been the hottest driver in the sport over the summer months racking up 4 wins over the last 7 races which also includes 4 poles during that same stretch. Tonight, Riggs will try to keep that momentum going against a talented lineup that includes part-time entries from the likes of Shane Van Gisbergen, Corey Heim, and Christopher Bell who are all expected to be in the hunt for a victory!

Before today’s on-track activities began, I thought Riggs, Bell, and Heim would likely dominate tonight’s race simply based on their elite skill sets, especially on the short-tracks. However following today’s qualifying session, SVG emerged from the pack as a surprise contender by winning the pole with a fast lap of 116.540mph. SVG edged out Kaden Honeycutt and Chandler Smith for the top spot. Despite the fact that SVG has competed in several road course races in the Truck Series where he is typically expected to dominate, today’s pole was the first of SVG’s career in the Truck Series. Needless to say, SVG will have the somewhat surprising honor of leading the field to the green flag this evening and perhaps should be in the conversation as a potential betting target as well.

With that said, I am excited to see tonight’s race because Richmond is one of those tracks that I really enjoy from a betting perspective. While track position is always important at the NASCAR level, Richmond Raceway has an aged surface that requires drivers to take care of their equipment and also usually gets the best of each driver’s talent as the tires start wearing out. For that reason, this track has historically been a solid handicapping and betting venue because we can expect the better drivers (at this style of racing) to continue to move forward barring any unforeseen circumstances. Obviously, there will be some huge favorites tonight in the likes of Bell, Heim, and Riggs tonight that will limit ROI on futures betting. However, there will also be some dark horses to consider and some sharp opportunities in the form of H2H match-ups.

Richmond Quick Facts

Grant Enfinger, Chandler Smith, Ty Majeski, and Corey Heim are all former winners at Richmond.
Corey Heim is the defending winner of the Black’s Tire 250.
Ty Majeski has never finished worse than 3rd through 4 career starts at Richmond.
Layne Riggs has finished in the Top 5 in 2 of 3 career starts at Richmond.
Chandler Smith has finished in the Top 5 in 2 of his last 3 starts at Richmond.
Corey Heim has finished 6th or better in 3 of 4 career starts at Richmond.
Jake Garcia has finished 7th or better in 2 of his last 3 starts at Richmond.
Ben Rhodes has finished 8th or better in 4 of 6 career starts at Richmond.
Grant Enfinger has finished 9th or better in 5 of 6 career starts at Richmond.
Kaden Honeycutt has finished 10th or worse in all 3 career starts at Richmond.
*SVG and Christopher Bell have never competed at Richmond in Truck Series competition.
There have been 5 cautions or less in 3 of the last 4 races at Richmond.
The race winner has started from the front row in 3 of the last 4 races at Richmond.

Practice Observations

Before SVG delivered an upset in qualifying, Layne Riggs appeared to be trending as the driver to beat for tonight’s Black’s Tire 250 once again. Riggs posted the fastest lap in practice with a speed of 117.909mph. Riggs was also among the notable drivers that seemed to have really strong pace on the long-run in practice as well which is one of the most important aspects to being successful at Richmond. Kaden Honeycutt and Ty Majeski were among the other drivers that displayed really good pace as well. It is worth noting that both Riggs and Chandler Smith entered the track a little later than others which is why their averages did not show great speed. However, both trucks appeared to have solid pace compared to others, especially during the latter stages of practice. On the other side of the fence, Christopher Bell, Stewart Friesen, and Corey Heim were among the bigger names that appeared to struggle with speed in practice. Friesen and Bell are both piloting trucks owned by Halmar Friesen Racing and it appeared both trucks struggled significantly to find speed.

Betting Targets

While I expected this race to be decided among the heavy favorites, I’m not exactly sure anyone deserves the title as the “heavy” betting favorite going into tonight’s race. I would still give the top spot to Layne Riggs if I had to rank a driver at #1. However, there has not been a single driver or team that has shown enough speed, so far this weekend, that leads me to believe that they will run away with a victory tonight. In fact, I think there are so many drivers that are so close to each other that I would not be surprised to see some less popular names competing at the front of the field. The most obvious choice on that front would be Ty Majeski who has historically been incredible at Richmond. The #88 team has struggled for large portions of the year but has made considerable improvement over the last several weeks. If that truck is close tonight, Majeski has the skills to drive it towards the front.

Unfortunately, betting odds are making it damn near impossible to bet on anyone among the favorites tonight. For example, Corey Heim and Kaden Honeycutt are as low as 3-1 at some sportsbooks while SVG has been bet down to +600. Needless to say, there is minimal value on most drivers in terms of betting on the outright win. With that said, Majeski and Chandler Smith are among some of my favorite H2H targets among the drivers listed in the “favorites” range. Both drivers are excellent at this style of racing and may be immediately H2H options if we can get them in the right pairings. If you are looking for deeper options for H2H targets including drivers that could potentially yield low-risk/high-reward upside in prop bet situations, both Ben Rhodes and Jake Garcia deserve consideration. Both drivers have been really strong at these types of tracks and are getting 100-1 numbers beside their names. While I think it would be a stretch for those drivers to win tonight, a top 5 or quality finish is not out of the question if they catch a few breaks in the battle for track position!