Before last season’s race, the last time that the NASCAR Cup Series hit the track at Road America was in the 1950s. That made last season a tough race to preview because there were no modern stats to pull from! Thank goodness for the 2021 season and Chase Elliott’s win at Road American as he’s now at the top of the favorites list heading into the Kwik Trip 250 Powered by Jockey.
Elliott comes in as the lone favorite at +500. He’s the defending track winner after last year’s return of the Cup Series to Road America. And, he won last week’s marathon race day at Nashville Superspeedway. That gives Elliott two checkered flags on the 2022 season as he won at Dover several weeks ago.
Kyle Larson is next up on the odds list coming in at +650. Larson has been a presence at the top of the odds all season long despite some up and downs. He’s only had a single win this season – he won 10 times last year. And, he’s had three DNFs in 2022. Larson is coming into this weekend’s road course race after a solid run and 4th place effort at Nashville Superspeedway.
All of the drivers riding the top of the odds list (through +1200) for Road American have logged road course wins during their Cup Series career. Here are the top-six favorite drivers to win the 2022 Kwik Trip 250 outright.
Chase Elliott +500
Kyle Larson +650
Ross Chastain +800
Kyle Busch +900
Denny Hamlin +1200
Martin Truex Jr +1200
If you’ve watched every race this season you may have noticed a recent road course winner does not break into the top-six favorite drivers. That would be Daniel Suarez who comes in at +1600. Suarez captured his first Cup Series Checkered flag during the recent race at Sonoma a few weeks ago. But he’s close to the favorites (through +1200) while being a nice value pick!
2022 Kwik Trip 250 Preview
Track: Road America, Town of Plymouth, Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin
Type: Road course, 4.048 miles, 14 turns.
Race Distance: 62 laps, 250.48 miles
Defending Track Winner: Chase Elliott
TV/Radio: NBCS/MRN
Start Time: Sunday, July 3, 3:00 PM Eastern
This may be only the 2nd time the Cup Cars have raced at Road America in several decades. But the Xfinity and ARCA series have been visiting the venue for a long time. Chris Buescher, Christopher Bell, and Austin Cindric have logged wins at the track. Buescher won the 2013 ARCA Series race and Bell won the 2019 Xfinity race. Cindric got his Xfinity win at Road America last season.
2022 Kwik Trip 250 Predictions
Chase Elliott +500
Chase Elliott is an obvious favorite for this race due to his road course resume which is why I’ve listed him here. You just can’t get past the numbers. He’s raced on-road course 15 times in his Cup Series career with seven road course wins. He’s also logged a 2nd win this season as he and his team seem to be hitting a stride. However, the payoff possibility may not be high enough for some people who may look for better value down the entry list.
Martin Truex Jr +1200
Martin Truex Jr has four Cup Series wins on road courses and 18 top-ten finishes. The bad news is that he’s not had the best season so far in 2022. He’s not won this year but has a bunch of top-ten runs. Last season he finished this race in the 9th spot and was one of the drivers who led laps during the 2021 race. I’m looking at Truex and this race as a possible turning point for his season before I start fading on him.
AJ Allmendinger +1800
AJ Allmendinger is one of the few active Cup Series drivers with multiple road course wins. He’s won twice on road courses in a Cup car as well as in other Series including open-wheel CART cars. Allmendinger is only running a limited Cup schedule this season but he’s in the hunt for a Championship in the Xfinity Series. So far this season he’s won two road course races in the Xfinity Series.
Others: Kyle Busch (+800) has a win this season but also has been somewhat inconsistent at times. He has four road course Cup wins but the last one was in 2015. Christopher Bell (+1400) has a win at Road America in the Xfinity Series and he won on the Daytona Road Course in 2021.
2022 Kwik Trip 250 Betting Lines
Chase Elliott +500
Kyle Larson +650
Ross Chastain +800
Kyle Busch +900
Denny Hamlin +1200
Martin Truex Jr +1200
Ryan Blaney +1400
Christopher Bell +1400
Austin Cindric +1400
Joey Logano +1600
Daniel Suarez +1600
AJ Allmendinger +1800
Chase Briscoe +2500
Alex Bowman +2500
William Byron +2500
Tyler Reddick +2500
Kurt Busch +2800
Chris Buescher +3300
Kevin Harvick +3500
Michael McDowell +5000
Erik Jones +10000
Cole Custer +10000
Brad Keselowski +10000
Austin Dillon +10000
Aric Almirola +20000
Justin Haley +25000
Darrell Wallace Jr. +50000
Ricky Stenhouse Jr +50000
Todd Gilliland +50000
Harrison Burton +50000
Joey Hand +100000
Corey Lajoie +100000
Cody Ware +100000
Ty Dillon +100000
Loris Hezemans +100000
Kyle Tilley +100000
Josh Bilicki +100000
