2026 Kansas Lottery 300 Betting Race Picks

Date/Time: Saturday April 18th, 2026. 7:00PM (EST)
Where: Kansas Speedway
TV: CW

Last week, Connor Zilisch became the 7th different winner this season in the O’Reilly Auto Parts Series following his victory at Bristol Motor Speedway. Zilisch was able to take advantage of track position and steal a victory away from Kyle Larson who dominated the majority of the event. With the victory, Zilisch became the 3rd different Cup Series talent to win in the O’Reilly Auto Parts Series this year. Tomorrow night, the O’Reilly Series will take center stage once again with the running of the Kansas Lottery 300 at Kansas Speedway which will kick off an important stretch of racing which will feature 3 different 1.5 mile tracks over the next 5 races.

Unlike recent weeks where Cup Series stars have been rampant in the lower series’ events, tomorrow’s Kansas Lottery 300 has just two Cup Series entries with William Byron in the #88 car for JR Motorsports and Cole Custer who will be piloting the #0 SS GreenLight Racing. Obviously, Byron appears to be the biggest threat out of the Cup Series talents due to talent and equipment. While Custer has had plenty of prior success in O’Reilly Series competition, he is not exactly piloting strong equipment on Saturday which will likely limit his ceiling. Therefore with the exception of Byron, tomorrow’s Kansas Lottery 300 could be another good opportunity for the O’Reilly Series regulars to have the chance to battle for a victory.

With all things considered, I believe tomorrow’s Kansas Lottery 300 may be somewhat difficult to handicap for a variety of reasons. For starters, we have only had 1 race all season at a non-drafting 1.5 mile speedway which was back at Las Vegas last month. In that race, there were several different drivers that showed parity at the front of the field and we simply have not seen enough 1.5 mile action to feel overly confident. Additionally, all on-track activity for tomorrow’s Kansas Lottery 300 was cancelled earlier today due to rain. As a result, bettors, teams, drivers, and everyone in between will be going into Saturday night’s race blind which makes things an even bigger guessing game from the equipment/setup perspective. As a result, we must remain very cautious going into tomorrow’s green flag!

Kansas – O’Reilly Notes

• Brandon Jones has the most wins (3) at Kansas among active drivers.
• *There are not any other former winners in tomorrow’s field.*
• Brandon Jones has produced a +100 average rating in 7 of the last 8 races at Kansas, which includes 3 victories.
• William Byron finished 4th in his only career start at Kansas (2017).
• Sheldon Creed has finished in the Top 5 in each of the last 3 races at Kansas.
• Austin Hill has finished 7th or better in 4 of 5 career starts at Kansas.
• Nick Sanchez finished 8th in his only career start at Kansas last year.
• Jesse Love has finished 9th or better in 2 career starts at Kansas.
• Justin Allgaier has finished 9th or worse in 6 of the last 7 races at Kansas.
• Dean Thompson finished 10th in his only career start at Kansas last year.
• Cole Custer has finished 11th or worse in 5 of 6 career starts at Kansas.
• Ryan Sieg has finished 14th or worse in each of the last 4 races at Kansas.
• Rajah Caruth’s best finish is 18th in 3 career starts at Kansas.
• The eventual race winner has started from the Top 10 starting positions in the last 8 races at Kansas.
• There have been 6 cautions or less in 3 of the last 4 races at Kansas.
• Toyota drivers have won 4 of the last 5 races at Kansas.

Betting Targets

When we combine the style of racing that Kansas produces, with the type of driving skills that is required, consider the equipment factor, and all other various handicapping angles, I believe Brandon Jones has produced the most undeniable metrics for Kansas. I have never been a big “believer” in Jones’ talent but he has produced absolutely incredible metrics at Kansas and has elite equipment. In fact, I believe you could make a legitimate argument that Jones deserves to be the overall favorite for the Kansas Lottery 300 over Justin Allgaier and William Byron, contrary to current betting odds. Obviously, I would expect Allgaier and Byron to be legitimate favorites for the win Saturday night however I think it is hard to ignore Jones who is getting twice the value as the other two favorites.

Deeper into the field, Sheldon Creed and Austin Hill are among some of my favorite dark horse options and also potential H2H targets. Both drivers have performed really well at Kansas Speedway throughout their young careers. Creed specifically showed a lot of speed at Las Vegas last month which elevates my expectations for the driver of the #00. With that being said, Hill may be the sharper option in H2H formats. Hill has slid all the way back to 20-1 odds in the range of drivers like Sam Mayer, Sammy Smith, and others. Hill has shown much better upside at Kansas than some of those competitors which makes him a sneaky H2H option.

It may be worth mentioning that I believe there are several drivers that are overvalued and most of them surround young talents like Corey Day, Taylor Gray, and Brent Crews who are all receiving relatively low odds. Crews has been impressive on the shorter tracks this season but Kansas can be difficult for first-time drivers. Gray has not been extremely good on the 1.5 mile tracks to this point in this career. As a result, I may be also looking for potential H2H match-ups to fade both JGR teammates. Corey Day may be the only exception to the group. Day has been running really well at every track this season and is perhaps the surprise story thus far in 2026. However, I just think Day’s current odds are not worth taking seriously considering he will be making his first start at Kansas without any laps of practice.

2026 Draftkings Kansas Lottery 300 Optimal Lineup

2026 Kansas Lottery 300 Race Picks

*FINAL*

Brandon Jones +650 (1 unit)
Sheldon Creed +1100 (.5 unit)

H2H Match-Ups and Prop Bets

Brandon Jones -140 over Corey Day (2 units)
Sheldon Creed -130 over Carson Kvapil (2 units)
Austin Hill -120 over Sammy Smith (2 units)

Two Team Parlay

William Byron +330 wins Kansas Lottery 300
Joe Gibbs Racing +140 wins AdventHealth 400
Risking 1 unit to win: +930