For Sunday's Iowa Corn 350 (7 p.m. ET, USA), the NASCAR Cup Series will visit Iowa Speedway for the first time ever.
In addition, portions of the track have been recently repaved, throwing an added wrench into the equation.
This has made it difficult on tires, and multiple drivers experienced issues in practice.
Christopher Bell, Austin Cindric, Ross Chastain, Ty Gibbs and Tyler Reddick all had tire problems in practice. In fact, Bell and Cindric were forced to backup cars after sustaining significant damage to their cars.
Live NASCAR odds show pole-sitter Kyle Larson as today's favorite at +400, followed by Denny Hamlin (+550), Christopher Bell (+600), Ryan Blaney (+700) and Tyler Reddick (+1100).
In my mind, there are simply too many unknowns to break out big betting cards for Sunday's race at Iowa.
Now, in the name of transparency, I made three bets on Saturday at odds of +850, 100-1 and 200-1 (which I posted here in Action Network's Discord).
But based on what I've seen thus far on track, I'm making just one post-qualifying bet for the Iowa Corn 350.
NASCAR Pick for Iowa
*NASCAR odds as of Sunday afternoon
Top-10 bets have been good to me recently, so I'm going back to the well.
Chase Briscoe is very good at the short, flat tracks like Iowa, so I'm not surprised to see him unload with a fast car this weekend.
While practice should be taken with a grain of salt, Briscoe ranked third in five-lap average, fifth in 10-lap average and eighth in 15-lap average.
Again, because we have no track history here, I'm not sure how heavily to weight practice speeds, but Briscoe's sixth-place qualifying run does inspire additional confidence for this wager.
A good starting position and solid pit stall is never a bad thing, especially at a track where passing could be difficult.
I have reservations that tire blowouts may inject more randomness than I'd like to see as a bettor, but +200 odds for Briscoe to score a top 10 are good enough for me to get involved.
The Bet: Chase Briscoe (+200) for a Top-10 Finish – bet365
