2025 Explore the Pocono Mountains 250 Race Picks

Date/Time: Saturday June 21st, 2025. 3:30PM (EST)
Where: Pocono Raceway
TV: CW

NASCAR racing at Pocono Raceway continues on Saturday as the Xfinity Series steps into the spotlight for the running of the Explore The Pocono Mountains 250. On Friday, Layne Riggs won the opening race of the weekend in the MillerTech Battery 200. Riggs scored the win after Corey Heim suffered a flat tire and Carson Hocevar was tagged with a restart violation. Ironically, all of our betting picks found trouble but we are determined to bounce back on Saturday with a full betting card and perhaps a more opportunistic betting opportunity!

Before we dive into expectations, Saturday’s Xfinity Series race at Pocono will once again be “tricky” for handicappers and bettors. As I stated in our Truck Series preview, Pocono Raceway is a very unique raceway. The “Tricky Triangle” is a large 2.5 mile triangle that has 3 completely distinct turns and long straightaways that require drivers to carry a lot of speed. For the Xfinity Series specifically, we don’t have any relative races this year to compare. The Truck Series and Cup Series participated at Michigan a few weeks ago which has some similarities. However, the Xfinity Series has only visited superspeedway style tracks this season that are over 1.5 miles in length. As a result, we have not observed any “big” track styles races where raw speed is on full display.

With those things in mind, I still believe there are some pretty decent betting opportunities on the table for the Explore The Pocono Mountains 250. Currently, Justin Allgaier is listed as the outright betting favorite due to the fact that the #7 has been the fastest car most consistently throughout the season. However, if we look really closely at the competition which includes Cup Series superstar Chase Elliott, there are several names that could get the job done on Saturday and many of those drivers have much better odds than the outright favorites. For those reasons, I believe we could find some decent value in the drivers that could be challenging for a win at the end of 250 miles tomorrow afternoon!

Pocono – Xfinity Series Notes

• Austin Hill (2023) is the only former Xfinity Series winner at Pocono in the field.
• Justin Allgaier has an impressive 113.0 average driver rating over the last 6 races at Pocono. *Allgaier’s best finish is runner-up (twice)
• In two career starts at Pocono, Chase Eliott has finished 2nd (2018) and 3rd (2023).
• Sheldon Creed has two top 5 finishes in 3 career starts at Pocono.
• Sam Mayer has finished 6th, 2nd, and 10th in his last 3 starts at Pocono.
• Austin Hill has finished 8th, 1st, and 7th in his last 3 starts at Pocono.
• Taylor Gray finished 5th in his only career start at Pocono last year.
• Brandon Jones’ best finish at Pocono is 7th in 9 career starts.
• Ryan Sieg’s best finish at Pocono is 12th in 9 career starts.
• Ford drivers have won 4 of the last 6 races at Pocono.
• The eventual race winner has never started worse than 13th in series history (9 races).
• There have been at least 6 cautions in 5 of the last 6 races at Pocono.

Betting Targets

One of the key handicapping objectives that you always want to accomplish at Pocono is ensuring betting picks are among those drivers that perform well at high-speed venues. Based on that fact and other handicapping angles, Austin Hill clearly has the best value on the board. Hill is a former winner at Pocono, performs best at the high speed venues, and is having a terrific 2025 campaign. With betting odds approaching the 10-1 range, Hill has considerable value and is worthy of immediate betting attention.

With that being said, Justin Allgaier and Chase Elliott are obvious top threats for the win on Saturday. However, I am not exactly thrilled with the betting odds on either driver. In fact, I would encourage bettors to wait until practice and qualifying has concluded on Saturday before taking any drivers are small odds. Balance and setups on these Xfinity Series cars are extremely important at Pocono and I would want some reassurance from on-track activities before pulling the trigger on the heavy favorites in any format.

Behind the names described above, I also have the likes of Connor Zilisch and Taylor Gray relatively high on my dark horse list. Zilisch continues to show speed everywhere and I think it is a matter of time before he wins on a traditional oval. Gray posted a top 5 finish at Pocono last season and was also really strong back at Texas earlier this year. I mention the Texas result because turns 1-2 have some similarities to how drivers must navigate their cars on the backside of Pocono Raceway. Personally, I am looking at Gray more in the form of H2H match-ups but would not rule him out from prop bet or futures if his odds improve. Deeper into the field, Nick Sanchez is my favorite deep dark horse that is poised to shatter his suggested ceiling based on current betting odds. Sanchez is one of those drivers that could surprise on Saturday and I would target him in H2H and prop style formats.

Draftkings 2025 Explore The Pocono Mountains 250 Optimal Fantasy Lineup

2025 Explore The Pocono Mountains 250 Betting Picks

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

Austin Hill +800 (1 unit)
Brandon Jones +1600 (.5 unit)
Jesse Love +1600 (.5 unit)

H2H Match-Ups and Props

Jesse Love -110 over Taylor Gray (3 units)
Brandon Jones -110 over Sammy Smith (2 units)
Nick Sanchez +160 finishes Top 10 (2 units)

Two Team Parlay

Chase Elliott +350 wins Explore The Pocono Mountains 250
Denny Hamlin +200 wins Group A (Larson, Blaney, Byron)
Risking .5 unit to win: +625