The NASCAR Truck Series heads to Charlotte Motor Speedway in Concord, North Carolina, for the NC Education Lottery 200, marking the 10th race on the NASCAR 2022 schedule. The race is set to take place on Friday, May 28, and it will be the 20th running of the event, which got introduced to the NASCAR schedule in 2003.
In this betting preview, we will take a closer look at the event and pick our top three favorites to win the race and take one step closer to winning the NASCAR World Truck Series crown.
North Carolina Education Lottery 200 Betting Picks
John Hunter Nemechek
John Hunter Nemechek enters Education Lottery 200 as one of the main candidates to win and is arguably one of the best NASCAR picks you can make to win the North Carolina race. He is the current Truck Series leader with 343 points, which puts him just four above Ben Rhodes and 18 ahead of the third-placed Chandler Smith.
Although Hunter Nemechek hasn’t managed to create a large gap between himself and the rest of the field, there is a reason to believe he will do so this week. The 24-year-old has won just one race this season, yet he’s still the current leader, which is possible only thanks to his consistency and solid showings over the year.
Admittedly, he has had a poor start to the season with a 24th-place finish at Daytona and Atlanta and a 25th-place finish in Las Vegas. But since then, he has not finished worse than top-6.
That run includes back-to-back top-5s in COTA (2nd), Martinsville (4th), Bristo (3rd), Darlington (1st), Kansas (6th), and Texas (6th). Besides his consistency on the year and overall strong performances, Hunter Nemechek is also the defending champion at Charlotte Motor Speedway, having won the 2021 Education Lottery 200.
It’s also worth noting that Nemechek has not placed outside of the top-10 across his last three starts here, while his worst finish came in 2017 when he placed 22nd. Hunter Nemechek is undeniably one of the most appealing NASCAR betting options ahead of the race with those figures.
Ben Rhodes
Ben Rhodes sits in second place on the 2022 NASCAR Truck Series standings, with 339 points and one win to his name. Like Nemechek, Rhodes has slipped a few times, but his iffy showings aren’t condensed to only one part of the season.
Rhodes kicked off the season with a runner-up finish at Daytona, to which he added a 31st-place finish in Las Vegas. Across the next four races, Rhodes has landed inside the top-5, including another runner-up in Atlanta, a fourth-place finish at COTA, a fifth-place finish at Martinsville, and a victory from the Bristol race.
In Darlington, Rhodes landed in 25th, improved in Kansas with a 10th-place finish, but again disappointed in Texas (27th). Even though the 25.-year-old hasn’t been the most consistent driver of the season, he has shown he has a high ceiling, and we have to note that Rhodes has done well on this track before.
He finished the 2021 Education Lottery 200 in third place and has a top-10 finish across his last five starts, with 8th, 5th, 4th, 10th, and 3rd-place finishes since 2017. Admittedly, he has yet to win the North Carolina race, but he has come close several times.
Stewart Friesen
Stewart Friesen came out of nowhere to win the Texas race last week, which catapulted him to the fourth place in the Truck Series standings, where he sits with 322 points to his name.
It marked Friesen’s first Truck Series victory since the 2019 Lucas Oil 150 and only his fourth top-10 of the year, including a third-place finish at Las Vegas, sixth in Atlanta, and ninth at COTA. But even though Friesen’s record on the year isn’t as flashy, he has been highly consistent.
Across the nine races, Friesen has not placed worse than 16th, and he has not finished a single race worse than 14th since Daytona. Moreover, he has a solid track record in North Carolina, where he placed fourth in 2021. In 2020, he could only manage a 30th-place finish; however, he has a bronze medal from 2019 and finished the 2018 race in sixth place.
North Carolina Education Lottery 200 Betting Trends
- Kyle Busch is by far the most successful driver of Education Lottery 200, with eight wins
- The only two drivers to ever win the Education Lottery 200 more than once are Ron Hornaday Jr. and Matt Crafton, with two wins apiece.
- Kyle Busch Motorsports is the most successful team on the track and the only team with more than two wins (7).
- Chevrolet and Toyota are the best manufacturers on the North Carolina track, with ten and eight wins.
- Since 2017, no other team than Kyle Busch Motorsports and GMS Racing won the race in 2017, 2018, 2021, and 2018 and 2020, respectively.
North Carolina Education Lottery 200 Betting Predictions
The NASCAR odds for the North Carolina Education Lottery 200 have yet to be released, but it’s not hard to see which driver is in the best spot to come out ahead. John Hunter Nemechek is not only the current NASCAR Truck Series leader but also by far the most consistent driver of the season.
Since the third race of the season, he has not placed worse than sixth, and he has a very strong record on the North Carolina track, having finished inside the top nine across his last three starts. Moreover, he is the defending champion, and given his form on the year, it’s tough to doubt his chances to come out on top again.
Prediction: John Hunter Nemechek
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