United Rentals Work United 500 Picks, Odds & Predictions 3/12/2023

Phoenix Raceway

Avondale, AZ

Phoenix Raceway will hold the 53rd race by the name of the United Rentals Work United 500 on Sunday afternoon. This track is a tri-oval that is low banked and spans for 1 mile in Avondale, AZ. This is an asphalt racing surface and in turns one and two, it has 8 degrees of banking while turns three and four have 11 degrees of banking. Alan Kulwicki was the winner of the inaugural Cup Series race back in 1988 and the track first opened in 1964.

The straights on this track are only 3 degrees and basically flat and they go into sweeping corners. While Daytona, Las Vegas and Fontana are all ovals, Avondale differs from them in that the high speeds make it feel more like an intermediate oval with the close racing like a short track. Over those last years, you've probably noticed that the driver with the fastest car generally wins the race in this one. Dominant performances are have been the type of performance needed to win in Avondale with not many late, come from behind victories. When all is said and done, that trend will likely continue to be the way this race is won.

When looking at the stats from prior races, you'll noticed the style of racing here is not like many other ovals. Historical trends on this track are important and over the last 36 races in Phoenix, Kevin Harvick has an average finish of 7.6 which is far and away the best average out of active drivers. The next closest is Denny Hamlin with 10.5.

Pennzoil 400 presented by Jiffy Lube Recap

The pit crew of William Byron was key in his victory last weekend. They allowed him to beat Kyle Larson off pit road in an overtime restart and it was the last been of push that Byron needed to get his fifth career NASCAR win.

Coming up to the end of the race, Kyle Larson was leading by 2 seconds and seemed to be locked in to earning the victory. That was, however, until Aric Almirola spun out on Turn 4 and went into the wall with only 4 laps left of the 267 scheduled in this race. When NASCAR called the last caution, which happened to be the fourth, Martin Truex Jr. decided to stay out on the track while Larson, Byron and the other racers that were contending for the win were pitting for just 2 tires. With Byron's crew being just slightly faster than the others, he was able to jump out and get a starting spot in the front row next to Truex.

Pitting happened to be the right choice for him, and the speed of his team put him in a position to win the race.

NASCAR Playoff Standings

Kyle Busch took over the top spot in the standings this week with 92 points and a win. The other two drivers with wins are Ricky Stenhouse Jr. with 86 points and William Byron with 85. Ross Chastain is holding down the fourth spot with 129 points, while Alex Bowman rounds out the top 5 with 126 points.

United Rentals Work United 500 Odds

Joey Logano - +800
Ryan Blaney - +800
Kyle Larson - +900
Ross Chastain - +900
Kyle Busch - +1,000
Christopher Bell - +1,000
Denny Hamlin - +1,100
Martin Truex Jr. - +1,100
William Byron - +1,200
Kevin Harvick - +1,200
Alex Bowman - +1,800
Tyler Reddick - +1,800
Chase Briscoe - +2,000
Daniel Suarez - +3,000
Bubba Wallace - +3,000
Brad Keselowski - +5,000
Ryan Preece - +5,000
Austin Cindric - +5,000
Aric Almirola - +5,000
Josh Berry - +5,000
Erik Jones - +5,000

Conditions should be perfect this weekend and qualifying in the top ten absolutely helps in this race. Out of the last 10 winners of this race, nine of them have started from the first five rows. We might just see two or three drivers from Hendrick on the podium, but I like Kyle Larson to win this one.

Josh's Pick: Take Kyle Larson(+900)

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