New week, new round of the NASCAR Playoffs! The Round of 12 fires up this afternoon with the 2022 AutoTrader Automotive 500 at Texas Motor Speedway. 500 miles on the lone “vanilla” track of the round calls for sustained speed and handling over the long haul. You better believe the heat will be on in Texas before the cut down to eight playoff teams with Talladega and the Charlotte Roval standing in the way.
Playing the 2022 AutoTrader Automotive 500 – Featured Handicaps for Texas
Saturday sure flipped my expectations on our early positions. Almost in reverse fashion, Joey Logano’s dominant Saturday outshined what the #20 team brought to the track. Just had to shake my head with Christopher Bell looking slow but Ryan at ifantasyrace.com has confidence in the kid. At least Kyle Larson and Chase Elliott weren’t phenomenal either. Hope springs eternal in a long 500-lap race, so let’s throw a little more fuel on the fire with another matchup bet for the card. BOL with your action today…
An Un-Friendly Battle: Chase Elliott -115 vs. Ryan Blaney -105
| Recent Speed | Recent Finish | Track | Track Type | Prac & Qual | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Elliott | B | B | B- | B- | B- |
| Blaney | B- | B- | A- | B | B |
I did not have this matchup available in any of my accounts prior to Saturday. Ryan Blaney against Byron, Reddick, Logano…sure. But this one is new on my radar screen and I really like the Blaney end of things. Practice did not hurt his outlook, running the 7th-fastest lap and 7th-fastest 5-lap average. Makes sense because what you get with Ryan is a consistently strong driver at Texas. It was a late overheating episode in 2019 that spoiled a run of nine straight points races with a 97.0+ rating. Plus he’s put up 110+ ratings in the last three and nailed down five straight playoff race Top 10 finishes.
Chase Elliott, on the other hand, has been less of a factor late in Texas races the last few seasons. When compared to Blaney’s speed and associated metrics, the #9 Hendrick Chevrolet has operated at a disadvantage on this particular oval. He’s topped a 97.0 rating just once since the 2017 track redo. But this is 2022 and much of the season has been about how teams have progressed with the new car. The Penske #12 Ford team’s standing as the 3rd-fastest on the 1.5-mile intermediates this season says a little something about that. Yet neither has been exceptionally consistent finishing on these type of tracks. If anything, Ryan Blaney’s biggest drawback is current form when compared to the playoff-tested Chase Elliott who starts eight positions ahead of him. Give me the Ford in this one.
WAGER: Blaney -105 (DraftKings)
Big Sunday On Tap!
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