Crayon 301 Betting Preview
14 July 2023
Hendrick Motorsports William Byron continued his impressive season, collecting the race win in Atlanta, while three of the top five drivers in the Cup Series standings finished in sub-20th positions, enabling Byron to retake the Championship lead.
However, the Hendrick Motorsports drivers and the rest of the Chevrolets may be in tough in New Hampshire, as Ford and Toyota have split the last ten race wins, each winning five.
With a live lobster as the immediate prize, the Dunkel Index has your betting needs covered for Sunday’s Crayon 301 in our NASCAR Cup Series betting preview.
Four Ford’s in the Mix
The Dunkel Index has four Ford drivers in our provisional top-ten heading for the Crayon 301, including two previous winners.
Stewart-Haas’ Kevin Harvick (272.896) holds two Cup Series wins at New Hampshire (2018 & 2019) and has seven top-ten finishes this season, but his best finish in the last three races this season was 24th at Nashville.
Harvick’s Stewart-Haas teammate Aric Almirola (273.009) doesn’t get much focus in betting previews but is in our top ten for New Hampshire. Almirola only has one top-ten finish this season but has recently been successful at New Hampshire, having one race win and two top-tens since February 2020.
Team Penske’s Joey Logano (272.965) won at New Hampshire in 2009. Logano’s season has been ok, having one race win, and nine top-ten finishes this season, landing in the top ten in three of the last five races.
Logano’s teammate, Ryan Blaney (266.902), has one top-ten finish since February 2020 at New Hampshire and just ended a streak of three consecutive sub-30th finishes, landing his fourth top-ten finish in the last seven races. Blaney has one race and ten top-ten finishes this season.
Joe Gibbs Racing Carrying the Toyota Flag
While 23XI Racing’s Bubba Wallace (273.006) - who has five top-ten finishes this season - is in our top-ten for New Hampshire, he’s not among the Toyotas we think will win this race: those Toyota are all racing for Joe Gibbs.
Martin Truex Jr. (271.759) and Denny Hamlin (273.084) are the two Joe Gibbs drivers the Dunkel Index has scoring top-ten finishes this weekend.
Truex Jr. has two top-ten finishes in the last three races in New Hampshire, while holding two race wins and nine top-nine finishes this season.
Hamlin has one race win and seven top-ten finishes this season but has only landed in the top-ten twice in the previous five races. Hamlin has won twice in New Hampshire (2007, 2017).
Will a Chevrolet Breakthrough?
Current Cup Series Drivers’ leader William Byron (267.558) is one of two Hendrick Motorsports drivers we’re taking to finish in the top ten this weekend at New Hampshire alongside Chase Elliott (269.647).
Byron is coming off his fourth win and 11th top-ten finish of the season but has an average finishing position of 14.3 in his last three trips to New Hampshire.
Elliot has two top-ten finishes since February 2020 in New Hampshire while impressively scoring seven top-ten finishes in 12 races this season.
Richard Childress Racing’s Kyle Busch (267.564) is among the Dunkel Index’s must-picks to finish in the top ten this weekend. Busch has two wins at New Hampshire (2006, 2015) and is riding a seven-race top-ten finishes streak, including landing in the top five in four of the last five races.
So far this season, Busch has three race wins and 12 top-ten finishes.
The Dunkel Index’s Pick to Win the NASCAR Cup Series Crayon 301
The Dunkel Index is picking Ford to win its fifth race in six years in New Hampshire, and we’re taking Team Penske’s Ryan Blaney (266.902) to get the job done.
Keep up with your latest NASCAR news coverage and betting pick previews at The Dunkel Index.
All Media on this page by Associated Press.
