Field Level Media - Professional sports content solutions | FLM

Field Level Media’s K. Lee Davis breaks down this week’s events in motorsports, and his best bets for NASCAR’s All-Star Weekend.

MONSTER ENERGY NASCAR CUP SERIES: ALL-STAR OPEN AND ALL-STAR RACE

(Open is 50 laps, 75 miles around a 1.5-mile D-shaped oval; All-Star Race is 80 laps, 120 miles), Charlotte Motor Speedway; Concord, N.C.
TV: Saturday, 6 p.m. ET (Green flag for Open approx. 6:16 p.m. ET; Green flag for All-Star Race approx. 8:46 p.m. ET) – FS1 (Radio: Motor Racing Network, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio Channel 90).
THIS WEEK: It’s the annual weekend for pride and money, but no points toward the championship for NASCAR’s top series. … The series is home for All-Star week and then the Memorial Day weekend 600-mile race at Charlotte Motor Speedway. … The All-Star Race has been held since 1985, with only one year not at Charlotte (Atlanta, 1986). … 15 drivers are already qualified for the All-Star race itself based on 2018-19 race winners (whether full time or not) as long as their wins didn’t have any rules violations, and any past All-Star Race winner or past Cup champion if they are full time. … Every other full-time driver has a chance to get in based on winning one of the three stages in the Open — which runs 20 laps, 20 laps and then the final 10 — which precedes the main event, or by earning their way in via the All-Star Fan Vote. The driver voted in must have a car still capable of competing. … The winner of the main race — 30 laps, 20 laps, 20 laps and then the final 10 — gets $1 million and plenty of air time for their sponsors. … Kevin Harvick won the race last year. … Brad Keselowski is coming off an overtime victory at Kansas, his third of the season. … With the standings not coming into play this week, *Joey Logano leads the Cup standings with 478 points, followed by * Kyle Busch (469), Harvick (440), *Chase Elliott (423), *Keselowski (421), *Denny Hamlin (404), *Martin Truex Jr. (396), Kurt Busch (387), Clint Bowyer (357) and Ryan Blaney (340) rounding out the top 10.
BEST BETS: Kyle Busch is the favorite to win the All-Star Race at 9/2, followed by Kevin Harvick at 13/2, Brad Keselowski at 7/1 and Joey Logano and Martin Truex Jr. at 15/2. Jimmie Johnson at 20/1 and Austin Dillon at 50/1 are good value picks.
*Denotes race winner and playoff berth. Standings per NASCAR.com.

NASCAR XFINITY SERIES

THIS WEEK: The series is taking the first of two weeks off having run 10 of 33 races. The racing will return at Charlotte on the Saturday of Memorial Day weekend. … Christopher Bell won at Dover, his third win of the season. … *Tyler Reddick leads the Xfinity standings with 462 points, followed by *Bell (439), *Cole Custer (391), Austin Cindric (381), Justin Allgaier (348), Chase Briscoe (335), John Hunter Nemechek (325), Ryan Sieg (315), Noah Gragson (304) and *Michael Annett (297).
*Denotes race winner and playoff berth. Standings per NASCAR.com.

NASCAR GANDER OUTDOORS TRUCK SERIES: NORTH CAROLINA EDUCATION LOTTERY 200

(134 laps, 251 miles around a 1.5-mile D-shaped oval), Charlotte Motor Speedway; Concord, N.C.
TV: Friday, 8:30 p.m. ET (Green flag approx. 8:46 p.m. ET) – FS1 (Radio: Motor Racing Network, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio Channel 90).
THIS WEEK: The Trucks are running the eighth race of 23 on the season before heading for two weekends off. … This will be the 17th Truck race at Charlotte and the only race at home this season for the teams. … Ross Chastain won last week at Kansas. … Johnny Sauter won this race last season. … After this race, the Trucks aren’t back in action again until June 7 at Texas Motor Speedway. … Grant Enfinger leads the Truck standings (287 points), followed by Brett Moffitt (274), Stewart Friesen (272), Ben Rhodes (254), *Sauter (252), Matt Crafton (245), *Austin Hill (233), Harrison Burton (222), Todd Gilliland (213), and Sheldon Creed (187).
*Denotes race winner and playoff berth. Standings per NASCAR.com.

NTT DATA INDYCAR SERIES: INDYCAR 500 QUALIFYING

(4 lap heats around a 2.5-mile quad-oval), Indianapolis Motor Speedway; Indianapolis.
TV: Saturday, 5 p.m. ET and Sunday, 12 p.m. ET – NBC with additional content on NBC Sports Gold (Radio: Advance Auto Parts INDYCAR Radio Network, Sirius 214, XM 209, IndyCar.com, indycarradio.com and on the INDYCAR Mobile app).
THIS WEEK: The series qualifies for its signature event of the season, next week’s Indianapolis 500. … Qualifying for a shot at the pole position will be contested Saturday, with the nine fastest qualifiers moving on to a shootout scheduled to begin at 1:15 p.m. ET on Sunday. … The rest of the field will be set Sunday after they first qualify Saturday based on those cars not in the Fast 9. … With more than 33 cars entered — the number that will take the green flag on race day — some may be bumped out of the field and try to scramble their way back in with another qualifying run. … France’s Simon Pagenaud won the race last week on the Indy road course. … American Josef Newgarden leads the standings with 182 points, followed by New Zealand’s Scott Dixon (176), American Alexander Rossi (146), Pagenaud (138) and Japan’s Takuma Sato (132) rounding out the top five.
Standings per INDYCAR.com.

FORMULA ONE

THIS WEEK: The series takes a week off after five of 21 races this season. … Up next is the Grand Prix of Monaco the day before Memorial Day, the signature event in the series. Britain’s Lewis Hamilton won last week at Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya and leads the standings in his Mercedes with 112 points. Teammate Valtteri Bottas of Finland is second with 105, followed by Belgium’s Max Verstappen, Red Bull (66), Germany’s Sebastian Vettel, Ferrari (64) and Monaco’s Charles LeClerc, Ferrari (57).

NATIONAL HOT ROD ASSOCIATION: VIRGINIA NHRA NATIONALS

Friday-Sunday, at Virginia Motorsports Park; Dinwiddie, Va.
TV: Eliminations, Sunday, 7:30-10:30 p.m. ET FS1
THIS WEEK: The NHRA gears up for the eighth of 24 events in 2019. Drivers are coming off the Southern Nationals at Atlanta Dragway two weeks ago, where Steve Torrence won in Top Fuel, Ron Capps in Funny Car and Andrew Hines in Pro Stock Motorcycle. Pro Stock had the week off. Both Pro Stock and Pro Stock Motorcycle are in action at Virginia. … Torrence leads the Top Fuel standings (579 points), followed by Brittany Force (483), Doug Kalitta (464), Leah Pritchett (433) and Clay Millican (427) rounding out the top five. … Robert Hight leads Funny Car (663), followed by Matt Hagan (472), John Force (470), J.R. Todd (456) and Tommy Johnson Jr. (445). … Bo Butner is on top in Pro Stock (425), followed by Alex Laughlin (285), Matt Hartford (284), Jason Line (261) and Erica Enders (239). … Hines leads Pro Stock Motorcycle (444), followed by Eddie Krawiec (366), Hector Arana Jr. (356), Matt Smith (237) and Jerry Savoie (233).
Standings per NHRA.com.
–By K. Lee Davis (@KdotLeeDavis), Field Level Media