We’re not even halfway through June and we’re already on our third road course in the Xfinity Series, and nobody is complaining. This exciting and unique brand of racing in NASCAR usually has a few stellar, standout road-course stars who consistently make a big name for themselves, and the NASCAR race odds reflect it this week.
This week, NASCAR’s No. 2 level of racing visits Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course for the B&L Transport 170. The 75-lap affair will take place in Lexington, Ohio, and has been a part of the Xfinity Series since 2013.
Miguel Paludo (+4000), who will drive the No. 8 JR Motorsports Chevy in Saturday’s race, is a native of Brazil and will be driving in his third race this year — all road courses.
He took seventh at the Daytona road course in February and also competed in the Circuit of America race last month in Austin. He also has more than 70 career starts in the Camping World Truck Series. Paludo is a four-time Porsche GT3 Cup Brazil Champion, and while he doesn’t top the NASCAR odds this week, he could be interesting to watch.
Here’s a look at who tops the NASCAR betting charts for Mid-Ohio coming into this weekend, and who might surprise some people:
THE FAVORITES
Austin Cindric (+140)
What can you say when a driver has an average finish at a track of 1.5 and is one of only three people in the racing lineup to ever win at Mid-Ohio — and he starts from the pole, and leads the Xfinity Series 2021 standings by 84 points? You easily get tabbed the race favorite, that’s what. It makes sense.
Cindric hasn’t had too many bad days this season. One of his biggest strengths is road courses (2nd at Daytona and 5th at COA), yet his wins have come on a restrictor-plate track (Daytona tri-oval track) and two intermediate-length ovals (Phoenix and Dover).
He may be the most clear cut race favorite this year, and his nine top-five finishes this year in 12 attempts back it up.
OTHER THREATS: Behind Cindric in the odds this week are veteran A.J. Allmendinger (+340) and up-and-comer Ty Gibbs (+360). Allmendinger is well-known for his road-course exploits. In the NASCAR Cup Series, nearly half (11 of 23 career starts) have resulted in top-10 finishes, along with his lone Cup win (Watkins Glen).
In the Xfinity Series, Allmendinger has won six times — four on road course tracks, including Mid-Ohio (2013 season). Gibbs won the Xfinity race at the Daytona road course earlier this season for one of his two 2021 race wins and has been impressive all year.
THE DARK HORSE THREAT
Justin Allgaier (+800)
Allgaier has been solid at Mid-Ohio dating back to the very first Xfinity Series race there in 2013 (Allmendinger’s win). The driver — who turns 35 on Sunday — has four career top-10 finishes at this venue, with the only non top-10 coming when he was caught up in a crash in 2017.
He won the race in 2018 driving for JR Motorsports, and has three Xfinity road course wins in his career (also Montreal and Elkhart Lake). He has 16 career wins in the circuit and 201 top-10 finishes in 351 career starts since his first race in 2008.
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