For the 3rd time in the last 4 weeks, William Byron led over 100 laps in a race. In fact, he led over 200 laps in Saturday night’s Blue Emu Maximum Pain Relief 400 at the Martinsville (VA) Raceway en route to his second win of the season. That netted CJ and Eric with a victory by virtue of picking him as CJ gained $56 to move into the positive side of the margin while Eric is now going from -$223 to -$203 by winning $20 off Byron. CJ has 6 wins in 8 races run while Eric is now batting .500 at 4-for-8.

Greg didn’t elect to go with Bryon and moves to -$440 on the season.

Eric bet 3 of the top 4 finishers while CJ had one of his drivers (Byron) in the top 6. Gret had 2-4 but they were the only ones in the top 10.

Now, it’s to the very unpredictable Bristol Dirt.

Sunday marks just the second Cup race on dirt since Sept. 30, 1970. It’s also just the 20th time that they’ve raced on Easter Weekend. However, 17 of them were between 1952-1971, with the last occurring in 1989.

This is also a new car and one that hasn’t raced on dirt before either. With basically throwing all the notes out of the window from years past, you’re going to a dirt track that only had a history of 1 year anyways and that race was run during the day. This one, will run on Easter Night.

Joey Logano was a 30-1 winner last March in this very race. So far this season, 6 of the 8 races have seen the race winner with double digit odds. We’ve seen a 28-1 (Austin Cindric) and 50-1 (Chase Briscoe) reach victory lane. We’ve also seen 18-1 (Alex Bownan) and a pair of 12-1 odds (William Byron twice, Denny Hamlin) triumph too.

So, what do you get Sunday?

We know guys like Kyle Larson, Christopher Bell, Ricky Stenhouse Jr. and Chase Briscoe come to mind of obvious favorites, but how much can racing another form of vehicle on dirt translate over to a Cup car on dirt?

“The dirt guys, I would say, definitely have an advantage,” Kyle Busch noted. “The more experience you have on dirt, the more trust you have in what the vehicle can do on dirt and what your driving style is or what your driving technique can be and how you can trust the grip level that the dirt has versus what your car has. I think there’s a lot of things that the dirt guys can really pick up on. You always see in those truck races the guys that are good at it, that put some time into it, are better than the ones that are not.”

In saying that, the top six finishers last year had odds entering the race of 30-1 (Logano), 14-1 (Stenhouse Jr.), 25-1 (Hamlin), 100-1 (Suarez), 50-1 (Newman) and 66-1 (Byron). 25-1 Martin Truex Jr. Led the most laps.

So, how much does dirt experience truly play?

While the dirt guys know what the car should feel like from the drivers seat, wresting a Cup car around a half mile race track on dirt is a whole different beast than a Midget.

“I think people look at me with all the experience that I have on dirt as being even more of a favorite,” said Larson. “But these cars are way different than what I typically race on dirt. They don’t drive anything like what I’m used to with a sprint car, midget or now a dirt late model. These cars are way heavier and have a lot less horsepower than I’m used to on a dirt track.”

Race Odds

6-1…K Larson (CJ, Eric)

8-1…C Bell (CJ, Eric, Greg) and J Logano

10-1…C Elliott

12-1…W Byron (CJ, Eric)

14-1…A Bowman (Eric) C Briscoe (CJ, Eric) T Reddick (CJ) and M Truex Jr. (CJ, Eric)

16-1…R Blaney (CJ, Greg) Kyle B (CJ) and D Hamlin

20-1…D Suarez  (CJ, Eric, Greg)

25-1…R Stenhouse Jr. (CJ, Eric, Greg)

30-1…D Wallace Jr. (CJ, Eric)

35-1…R Chastain, K Harvick (CJ, Greg) and B Keselowski

40-1…A Cindric and E Jones (Greg)

50-1…A Almirola, Kurt B and A Dillon (CJ, Eric, Greg)

60-1…C Buescher and M McDowell

100-1…T Dillon (Eric

150-1…C Custer

250-1…H Burton and J Haley

FOOD CITY DIRT RACE PICKS: RACE 9

 

CJ Radune

K Larson…6-1…$18 ($108) 

C Bell…8-1…$14 ($112) 

W Byron…12-1…$9 ($108) 

C Briscoe…14-1…$8 ($112) 

M Truex Jr…14-1…$8 ($112) 

T Reddick…14-1…$8 ($112) 

R Blaney…16-1…$7 ($112)  

Kyle B…16-1…$7 ($112)

D Suarez…20-1…$6 ($120) 

R Stenhouse Jr…25-1…$5 ($125)

B Wallace…30-1…$4 ($120) 

K Harvick…35-1…$3 ($105) 

A Dillon…50-1…$3 ($150) 

 

RECORD: 6 for 8

TOTAL: +44

 

Eric Smith

K Larson…6-1…$18 ($108) 

C Bell…8-1…$16 ($128) 

W Byron…12-1…$9 ($108) 

A Bowman…14-1…$10 ($140) 

C Briscoe…14-1…$10 ($140) 

M Truex Jr…14-1…$10 ($140) 

D Suarez…20-1…$6 ($120) 

R Stenhouse Jr…25-1…$5 ($125)

B Wallace…30-1…$4 ($120) 

A Dillon…50-1…$10 ($500) 

T Dillon…100-1…$2 ($200) 

 

RECORD: 4 for 8

TOTAL: -193

 

Greg DePalma

C Bell…8-1…$30 ($240) 

R Blaney…16-1…$17 ($272)  

D Suarez…20-1…$25 ($500) 

R Stenhouse Jr…25-1…$10 ($250)

K Harvick…35-1…$5 ($175) 

E Jones…40-1…$7 ($280) 

A Dillon…50-1…$6 ($300) 

 

RECORD: 2 for 8

TOTAL: -440

ARCHIVES

 

MAXIMUM PAIN RELIEF 400 PICKS: RACE 8

MAXIMUM PAIN RELIEF 400WINNER: William Byron

 

CJ Radune

M Truex Jr…5-1…$23 ($115) …22^nd

Kyle B…9-1…$15 ($135) …7^th

W Byron…12-1…$13 ($156) …1^st

K Larson…12-1…$12 ($144) …19^th  

A Bowman…14-1…$11 ($154) …12^th

C Bell…16-1…$10 ($160) …20^th

T Reddick…16-1…$10 ($160) …18^th  

K Harvick…20-1…$6 ($120) …14^th

 

RECORD: 1 for 1

TOTAL: +69

 

Eric Smith

M Truex Jr…5-1…$25 ($125) …22^nd

R Blaney…9-1…$12 ($108) …4^th  

Kyle B…9-1…$14 ($126) …7^th

J Logano…9-1…$14 ($126) …2^nd

W Byron…12-1…$10 ($120) …1^st

A Bowman…14-1…$8 ($112) …12^th

C Bell…16-1…$7 ($112) …20^th

B Keselowski…25-1…$4 ($100) …17^th  

E Jones…50-1…$3 ($150) …13^th

D Suarez…80-1…$2 ($160) …29^th  

AJ Allmendinger…150-1…$1 ($150) …24^th

 

RECORD: 1 for 1

TOTAL: +30

 

Greg DePalma

M Truex Jr…5-1…$20 ($100) …22^nd

R Blaney…9-1…$28 ($252) …4^th   

J Logano…9-1…$10 ($90) …2^nd

C Bell…16-1…$15 ($240) …20^th

T Reddick…16-1…$10 ($160) …18^th  

K Harvick…20-1…$10 ($200) …14^th

B Keselowski…25-1…$7 ($175) …17^th  

 

RECORD: 0 for 1

TOTAL: -100