Some bets seem solid, some even seem great, and then there are those that you almost break your finger submitting before sportsbooks can move the line.
Now that doesn't mean these finger-breaking bets are locks, it just means the current value offered is so good that you're willing to risk an appendage to make sure you lock them in.
Thanks to a revolving door of drivers in top equipment, whether it's due to scheduled driver changes or suspensions (cough, cough Johnny Sauter), there are soft openers worth grabbing in NASCAR's Gander Outdoor Truck Series (NGOTS).
With this in mind, here's a fantastic bet for Saturday's CarShield 200 presented by CK Power at Gateway and I'll tell you why.
Christian Eckes (25-1) to Win
Eckes will be driving the No. 51 truck for Kyle Busch Motorsports (KBM) this weekend at Gateway. Excluding the season-opening race at Daytona (a superspeedway that promotes pack racing and doesn't translate to races at all other track types), here are the finishes for the No. 51 truck this season: win, win, win, win, 13th, fifth, win, win, eighth.
No too shabby. Now to be fair, veterans Kyle Busch (five wins) and Greg Biffle (one) accounted for all six of those wins, but those nine finishes show just how fast this truck can be.
In fact, I'd take the KBM No. 51 at 25-1 no matter who was driving it. It's simply that fast.
And with Eckes behind the wheel, we get an extremely talented young driver who has proven he can run up at front at Gateway in the NGOTS. In this race one year ago, Eckes qualified second and led 34 laps before getting crashed out on lap 76 of the 200-lap event.
I can't wrap my brain around how a driver who has shown speed at this racetrack — and is in the fastest truck in the entire series — is available at 25-1, but here we are.
Snag Eckes now and we'll have plenty of room left in bankroll to build one helluva betting card for Saturday's race.
