Xfinity Heads to Darlington
The NASCAR Xfinity Series heads to Darlington Saturday for the 2022 Mahindra ROXOR 200. It will mark the 11th race of the season and the first of two at Darlington Raceway.
As we slowly approach the midway mark of the 2022 Xfinity Series season, the fields start to shape up nicely, but there is still plenty of time for a few more shakeups.
And if the results so far are any indication, the 2022 Mahindra ROXOR 200 is bound to produce another exciting day of racing.
Let’s check the latest news, stats, reports, and NASCAR odds for Mahindra ROXOR 200. We’ve plenty of predictions for you to consider.
Chase Elliott Expected To Dominate
Chase Elliott will return to the Xfinity Series for the third time since the end of the 2018 season, and it should surprise anyone to know that the NASCAR| odds for this weekend show him as the favorite.
The 2014 Xfinity Series champion is set to run the No. 88 car, and he should be feeling good about himself after capturing his first NASCAR Cup Series victory at Dover.
“We had some tough races over the last four or five months and just great to get NAPA back to Victory Lane and great to get Hendrick Motorsports in Victory Lane. So proud. This means a lot in a lot of different ways. Just appreciate all the effort,” said Elliot after winning at Dover.
But not only has Elliott won last weekend, but he is also an excellent driver at Darlington. He has three Xfinity starts on the track, with a victory in 2014, a 24th-place finish in 2015, and a sixth-place finish in 2018.
Not exactly the best figures, but that doesn’t take away from the fact that Elliott might be the most talented driver entering this race. Still, if we look at his Cup Series starts at Darlington, Elliott has five finishes of 19th or worse.
Nevertheless, he was in an excellent spot to win both 2020 races but was denied success due to a late-race crash. In 2021, he was again in the mix, but he suffered a cut tire while running inside the top-10.
Outsiders with Chance To Impress
When we talk about potential winners of the 2022 Mahindra ROXOR 200, it would be only fair to mention Noah Gragson, who has scored back-to-back top-5s, with a victory at Talladega and a fourth-place finish at the Dover.
However, we can’t look past Brandon Jones and Sheldon Creed at the offered sports betting odds as two excellent longshot picks.
Jones had an up-and-down season in 2021, and even though he has improved in 2022, the consistency is not there yet. Nevertheless, Jones has produced a few solid showings over the last month; most notably, he led at least 28 laps in the last two races and won at Martinsville.
At Darlington, Jones has failed to claim a top-5 in his first five starts but won the 2020 Summer race. Since then, he has claimed a third-place finish (2021 spring) and a 33rd-place finish in the 2021 Summer race.
Creed enters as a +2200 outsider, which might sound fair, but he has had a few moments of greatness this season. He finished inside the top-10 in four of his first six races, adding a poor streak of 22nd, 30th, and 24th-place finishes at Richmond, Martinsville, and Talladega.
But he found his stride last time out, with a solid eighth-place finish at Dover, marking his fifth top-10 of the season.
Those are not the numbers you would want to see from a driver you consider betting online on. Still, he was excellent at Darlington in the Truck Series – he won both 2021 races.
Moreover, he was by far the best driver here in the 2021 Fall race, when he started from the pole and led 104 of 147 laps, suggesting that he should be in the mix to make a splash in the Xfinity Series as well.
2022 Mahindra ROXOR 200 Information
- Race: Mahindra ROXOR 200
- Location: Darlington Raceway in Darlington, South Carlina
- Day/Time: Saturday, May 7, 1:30 p.m. EDT
- Mahindra ROXOR 200 Live stream: NBCSports.com
2022 Mahindra ROXOR 200 Betting Lines
| Kyle Larson | +450 |
| Chase Elliott | +600 |
| Denny Hamlin | +900 |
| William Byron | +700 |
| Kyle Busch | +900 |
| Martin Truex Jr | +1200 |
| Ryan Blaney | +800 |
| Joey Logano | +1200 |
| Kevin Harvick | +2000 |
| Alex Bowman | +1400 |
| Christopher Bell | +2800 |
| Brad Keselowski | +8000 |
| Kurt Busch | +5000 |
| Tyler Reddick | +2200 |
| Austin Cindric | +3300 |
| Ross Chastain | +1000 |
| Chase Briscoe | +2500 |
| Austin Dillon | +8000 |
| Daniel Suarez | +6600 |
| Justin Haley | +20000 |
| Bubba Wallace | +15000 |
| Aric Almirola | +10000 |
| Cole Custer | +25000 |
| Ricky Stenhouse Jr | +25000 |
| Erik Jones | +15000 |
| Chris Buescher | +25000 |
2022 Mahindra ROXOR 200 Prediction
The upcoming race has only a few strong favorites and a handful of outsiders than can impress, which leaves us in a spot where we have to settle for the main pick and one longshot prediction.
We’re trusting Elliott to deliver and justify his tag as the main betting favorite for our main pick. He is priced at +300, which is well ahead of Gragson (+500), but there is a good reason for that. Elliott is arguably one of the most talented NASCAR Cup Series drivers, and he has recently found his form, so a strong finish is expected from the former champion.
As our outsider pick, we’re on Creed. He has yet to make a splash this season, but he has locked in a few solid placements. As noted, he was by far the best Truck Series driver on this track last season, so he should do well this weekend as well.
A top-10 finish on Creed is a solid option, but we’re all in on the 25-year-old to upset the field and claim his first Xfinity Series W of the season at +2200.
