2026 MillerTech Batteries 250 Betting Race Picks

Date/Time: Saturday June 13th, 2026. 4:00PM (EST)
Where: Pocono Raceway
TV: CW

On Saturday, the O’Reilly Auto Parts Series returns to action at the “Tricky Triangle” for the running of the MillerTech Batteries 250. The O’Reilly Series is fresh on the heels of their first “off” week of the season and is slated to return to competition on Saturday for 100 laps of racing at Pocono Raceway. The entry list for tomorrow’s MillerTech Batteries 250 is a potential banger with the likes of Connor Zilisch, William Byron, Cole Custer, Rajah Caruth, and others who will join the O’Reilly Series full-time drivers as the O’Reilly Series returns to competition, which has arguably been the best series in all of NASCAR so far this season.

I am excited to watch tomorrow’s race primarily as an avid fan of the sport. However, I am not nearly as excited for tomorrow’s race from a handicapping and betting standpoint. Pocono Raceway has always been a somewhat difficult track to handicap because there are so many variables. At 2.5 miles, the sheer size of the track produces a lot of strategy plays for track position. The track also produces high speeds but the “Tricky Triangle” produces 3 distinct corners that places a heavy emphasis on the setup because drivers will need a car that handles relatively well at all ends of the race track. Needless to say, drivers and teams will need a little bit of everything to go their way on Saturday in order to be the group that is in victory lane.

The other reason that I am sort of pessimistic towards tomorrow’s race from a betting perspective is based around current betting odds. Each week, we see that betting odds in the O’Reilly Series heavily favors the Cup Series entries and this week is no different with big-time names in Connor Zilisch and William Byron. Zilisch and Byron are automatically big favorites simply on talent but Zilisch is especially getting a lot of attention as the defending winner in the O’Reilly Series at Pocono last year. Aside from the Cup Series stars, current betting odds also have Justin Allgaier listed as an equal favorite at short odds. As a result, we have 3 drivers that are getting extremely conservative odds at a place where wins can be difficult to come by even for the best drivers/fastest cars. Needless to say, this is not the ideal handicapping situation especially with so many questionable dark horses as well.

Pocono – O’Reilly Notes

Cole Custer is the only driver in O’Reilly Series history with multiple (2) wins at Pocono.
Austin Hill and Connor Zilisch are also former winners at Pocono.
Cole Custer has won 2 of his last 4 starts at Pocono.
Last year, Connor Zilisch won in his first start at Pocono and produced a near-perfect 141.4 average driver rating.
William Byron has finished 3rd (2024) and 12th (2017) in his only two starts in the O’Reilly Series at Pocono.
Carson Kvapil finished 6th in his only start at Pocono last year.
Justin Allgaier has finished 7th or better in 4 of the last 6 races at Pocono.
Austin Hill has finished 8th or better in 3 of the last 4 races at Pocono.
Taylor Gray has finished 9th or better in both career starts at Pocono.
Sammy Smith has finished 9th or better in each of the last 3 races at Pocono.
Sam Mayer has finished in the Top 10 in the last 4 races at Pocono.
Brandon Jones has finished 13th or worse in 7 of the last 9 races at Pocono.
Last year’s race produced a record (10) number of cautions at Pocono.
Chevrolet drivers have won 3 of the last 4 races at Pocono.
The eventual winner has started from the 8th-13th starting position in each of the last 5 races at Pocono.

Betting Targets

I will be eagerly waiting to observe practice speeds on Saturday because I believe they are an important handicapping angle for a track like Pocono where speed usually carries over from practice into race conditions. As a result, I am not overly anxious to take many selections prior to practice until I am able to confirm that some of my leans/targets have unloaded with strong speed. With those things in mind, I would put Connor Zilisch at the top of the list going into tomorrow’s race if I had to rank the top threats. Zilisch, Allgaier, and Byron would probably be the correct order but I believe both Allgaier and Byron have been somewhat underwhelming at Pocono in recent years to warrant their current price tags. With that said, Allgaier has been fast everywhere this season so there is still a good chance he will be in the hunt for the victory.

Behind the top names, I will be very eager to see if rookies Brent Crews and Corey Day can create some magic. Both drivers are in the 2nd-tier intermediate betting range. Both drivers have winning upside but are likely slightly under the ROI threshold we would like for true dark horses. Meanwhile, Jesse Love, Sam Mayer, and Austin Hill are some other names that have run really well at Pocono in recent years. Hill is a former winner and has consistently run in the top 5 despite not always getting the results to show for it. Zilisch’s win last year overshadowed an excellent outing by Jesse Love that many are forgetting. Meanwhile, Mayer is one of those drivers that seems to always hang around the latter end of the top 5 at Pocono. Personally, I believe Love and Hill offer the best sharp value in H2H and prop bet formats but they can be considered as dark horses for the outright victory as well. Lastly, Sammy Smith and Cole Custer are potential fantasy fliers and/or prop bet options. Custer is not competing in strong equipment and may not have the raw speed. However, Custer should move forward under race conditions!