The Camping World Truck Series will lead off a double header Saturday of NASCAR racing with the running of the Careers for Veterans 200 at Michigan International Speedway. The Truck Series will drop the green flag at 12:49pm (EST) on Saturday and will be followed by the Nationwide Series at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course at 3:03pm (EST). The Camping World Truck Series had the luxury of accompanying the Sprint Cup Series to Michigan this week. As a result, several Cup drivers will participate in tomorrow’s race including big named drivers like Kyle Busch, Joey Logano, and Austin Dillon. Take a look as we provide our thoughts on tomorrow’s race along with our Careers for Veterans 200 race picks:
From a betting standpoint, tomorrow’s race centers around Kyle Busch. Love him or hate him, the guy they call “Rowdy” has been nothing short of spectacular throughout 2014 in the Camping World Truck Series. Tomorrow Rowdy will look to keep his 2014 Truck Series campaign perfect as he goes for his 5th win in his 5th start of the season. Last year in this exact race, Busch was passed by James Buescher after a late restart with 5 laps to go in a rather surprising upset. Busch went on to finish 2nd in that race marking his 4th runner-up finish in Camping World Truck Series races at Michigan. To date, Michigan and Martinsville are the only two tracks where Busch has failed to score a win in Truck Series competition where he has at least 5 starts. Tomorrow Busch looks to end his winless streak at Michigan in Truck Series competition after a promising Friday where he posted the fastest lap in both Truck Series’ practices for the Careers for Veterans 200.
Busch is the overwhelming favorite for tomorrow’s race despite the fact he has never won in a Truck at Michigan. Fellow Sprint Cup Series drivers Joey Logano and Austin Dillon may be Busch’s closest competition. Dillon captured a victory in the last Truck Series race two weeks ago at Pocono and posted the 2nd fastest lap in the 1st practice on Friday behind Busch. In two Truck Series starts at Michigan, Dillon has a best finish of 5th in 2010. Meanwhile Joey Logano is making a rather rare Truck Series appearance. This will be just Logano’s 6th start in the Camping World Truck Series and he has yet to score a victory in any prior starts. To make matters worse for Logano, the #19 Truck really struggled in final practice on Friday finishing 17th on the speed charts. Logano is currently listed as the 2nd biggest favorite behind Busch but he has not shown much speed thus far this weekend.
With both Dillon and Logano struggling in final practice, the question has been raised as to who can challenge Busch on Saturday? Could another Truck Series regular surprise everyone as James Buescher did a year ago? Well if you are going to step out on one of the Truck Series regulars, your best bets would be Matt Crafton or Darrell Wallace Jr. Before Dillon’s win at Pocono two weeks ago, Toyota Trucks had won every other Camping World Truck Series event in 2014. Wallace Jr and Kyle Busch Motorsports have been especially impressive this season and “Bubba” has really come on strong in recent weeks. Crafton is another driver worthy of consideration. Crafton had a great start to his 2014 season but has cooled off a bit in recent weeks. However, the #88 Truck has still been very impressive at some of these higher speed tracks this season and tomorrow’s race will be a great opportunity for that team to perform well.
Careers for Veterans 200 Race Picks:
Kyle Busch +100 (3 units): fastest in both Friday practices, 4 runner-up finishes in 7 Truck Series starts at Michigan
Cover Bet: Darrell Wallace Jr +850 (.5 unit)
H2H Matchups
Jeb Burton -110 over Joey Coulter (2 units)