“Between Bets” is an article series revealing our staff’s best wagers across the NFL, NASCAR and PGA Tour. This edition’s bets feature our favorite wagers for the 2024 Enjoy Illinois 300 at World Wide Technology Raceway.
(Odds courtesy of DraftKings Sportsbook)
2024 Enjoy Illinois 300 Betting Picks
Ryan Blaney (+850)
The NASCAR Cup Series has only raced at World Wide Technology Raceway, more commonly referred to as St. Louis or Gateway, for the last two years. Ryan Blaney has taken to the “new” track particularly well in that pair of races. The No. 12 finished P4 in the inaugural Gateway Cup race and P6 in last season’s return trip.
Great runs, right? Data shows that Blaney was even better than that. The total speed ranking metric, courtesy of ifantasyrace.com, showed Blaney was second-best in each of the two races here. The same metric says Blaney has been the best driver in the series on shorter flat tracks similar to Gateway, which includes his run to the 2023 championship at Phoenix last fall. That makes a +850 look far less juicy; it’s actually quite a pleasant glass of juice to drink this weekend.
Joey Logano (+1400)
It’s been abundantly rare that two Fords would be picked as popular outrights, but the blue ovals are finally starting to heat up. Great numbers at this track help Joey Logano look mighty appetizing at +1400 on DraftKings Sportsbook.
The No. 22 took home the victory in the inaugural Gateway Cup race in 2022 and followed it up with a P3 last year. Though Logano has had a fairly rough season all around, his best performances have come on shorter, flat tracks that at least loosely compare to Gateway. Maybe his dominant North Wilkesboro performance isn’t similar enough, but a runner-up finish at Richmond (his best points finish this year) is much closer to what we’ll see on Sunday.
Kyle Busch (+1500)
Remember how I said Blaney was second-best in the total speed ranking at Gateway? The only driver better is Kyle Busch, having the fastest hot rod in that metric in both the 2022 and 2023 events.
“Rowdy” is the defending winner of this race and was P2 in 2022, a year that had few highs on his way out from Joe Gibbs Racing (JGR). Those extremely strong stats (recent ones, too, unlike when I was way too high on Busch at Bristol) make a +1500 outright seem like a no-brainer, as long as Ricky Stenhouse Jr. doesn’t get to the No. 8 car first!
Check out all of our content for the 2024 Enjoy Illinois 300:
- PropKings: 2024 Enjoy Illinois 300
- Between Bets: 2024 Enjoy Illinois 300 Outrights
- NASCAR DFS Picks, Tiers & Rankings: 2024 Enjoy Illinois 300
Thanks for reading my best bets for the Enjoy Illinois 300. Be sure to catch us live every Thursday night at 8:30 p.m. EST on The Backroad! Also, follow me on Twitter/X @ehicks39 for more NASCAR takes and betting advice.
*Photo Credit: Jim Dedmon – USA TODAY Sports*
