Cook Out 250 (Xfinity Series) Predictions, Picks & Odds

• Finally—a NASCAR Xfinity Series race where Austin Cindric is not the favorite.
• Can AJ Allmendinger translate Cup success at Martinsville into an Xfinity win?
• Defending race winner Harrison Burton isn’t getting the love he deserves this week.

Cook Out 250 Odds

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After a two-week break, the NASCAR Xfinity Series resumes its schedule with the Cook Out 250 at Martinsville Speedway. This is the first true short-track event of the year for the series, which did not race on dirt with NASCAR’s other two national series on the last weekend in March.

Friday night’s race will be contested at 250 laps (131.5 miles) at the .526-mile track, with stage breaks scheduled after 60 and 120 laps. This is the first of four Dash 4 Cash events this season, with a $100,000 bonus awarded to the highest finisher among the four eligible drivers—Justin Allgaier, Harrison Burton, AJ Allmendinger, and Noah Gragson.

How to Watch Cook Out 250

News Flash—Austin Cindric Is NOT the Favorite at NASCAR’s Shortest Track

See what happens when you finish the 13th?

Austin Cindric posted five top fives, including two wins, in the first five races of the season, good for an average finish of 2.6. But he ran 13th in his last outing, at Atlanta Motor Speedway, failing to finish on the lead lap for the first time in eight races, dating to the October event at Kansas last year.

Cindric may be the reigning NASCAR Xfinity Series champion, but for once, he isn’t the betting favorite at Martinsville. Oddsmakers have the driver of the No. 22 Team Penske Ford posted at +500, tied for the third choice with defending race winner Harrison Burton.

Past performance at Martinsville is more of a factor than one race at Atlanta, where Cindric is concerned. In last year’s Xfinity race at the vaunted short track, Cindric finished 10th after starting on the pole. In three Camping World Truck Series starts at the paper-clip-shaped speedway, his best finish likewise was 10th.

AJ Allmendinger Hopes to Translate Past Cup Success into Victory

Forget that AJ Allmendinger finished 26th last year in his only career NASCAR Xfinity Series start at Martinsville Speedway. He wasn’t driving full-time then, spending more time in the television studio than on the race track, and he led 68 laps before late-race trouble dropped him in the running order.

The record to look at involves Allmendinger’s performance at Martinsville in the NASCAR Cup Series. Against the toughest competition in stock car racing, the driver of the No. 16 Kaulig Racing Chevrolet posted two top-fives and seven top 10s in 21 starts, with the best result of second in 2012.

Allmendinger already has an Xfinity victory this year, and he’s looking for another at one of his favorite tracks. “I’m even more pumped to race for the $100,000 in the Xfinity Dash 4 Cash,” Allmendinger says. “We were really fast there last year (despite the poor finish), and I’m hoping to build on that. I think we have a really great chance to win.”

So do we. At +450 (second choice), Allmendinger may well be the best bet on the board.

Burton, Burton, Who’s Got the Burton? Not the Oddsmakers, Apparently.

Harrison Burton is the defending winner of the Cook Out 250. In fact, he’s the only former Martinsville winner in Friday night’s race—that due primarily to a 14-year gap in Xfinity races at the vaunted short track between 2006 and 2020.

The driver of the No. 20 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota has great genes for Martinsville. His father, Jeff Burton, won there in the Xfinity Series in 1990 and in the Cup Series in 1997. Uncle Ward Burton won an Xfinity event at Martinsville in 1993, and cousin Jeb Burton, now driving full-time for Kaulig, finished fourth in last year’s race.

Nevertheless, Harrison, a four-time race winner in 2020, is tied for the third choice at +500. Given that he led a race-high 81 laps last year—including the final 53—Burton should be worth a wager on Friday.