Sport Clips Haircuts 200 Predictions: Cup Drivers Complicate the Issue

• NASCAR Cup driver Christopher Bell is riding in great equipment.

• Justin Allgaier now has a leg up on the Xfinity regular-season championship.

• Cole Custer has engineered an enviable record at Darlington Raceway.

Sport Clips Haircuts 200 Betting Odds

Odds taken from BetMGM Sportsbook. Place your bets at BetMGM and use our promo code WSNSPORTS to claim the bonus: Get Up to $1,500 in Bonus Bets*
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Picks for the Sport Clips Haircuts 200

• Cole Custer to win the race at +650 via BetMGM

• Joey Logano as a long-shot pick to win at +2000 via BetMGM

Sport Clips Haircuts 200 Predictions

NASCAR Cup Driver Christopher Bell Has an Important Advantage

The full name of this race is the Sport Clips Haircuts VFW Help a Hero 200, so you can see why we shortened it.

There’s no shortage, however, of NASCAR Cup Series drivers hoping to steal a win from the regulars in NASCAR’s junior series.

Christopher Bell, Joey Logano, Ross Chastain, Chase Elliott and Noah Gragson are full-time Cup Series drivers entered in Saturday’s race. Among them, Bell arguably is driving the best equipment, the No. 20 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota, though Elliott’s No. 17 Chevrolet may be comparable.

Bell has never won a race at the Lady in Black in the Cup or Xfinity Series. Accordingly, we’ll avoid him in the favorite’s role at +290 via BetMGM.

Logano, on the other hand, has won at the track in both series, and we like the Ford driver as a long-shot pick at a generous +2000 (BetMGM).

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Justin Allgaier Can Point to Marvelous History at Darlington Raceway

NASCAR Xfinity Series veteran Justin Allgaier comes to Darlington on a streak of seven straight top-seven finishes—three of them victories.

Allgaier won the most recent race at the Lady in Black on May 11. In 18 starts at the 1.366-mile track, the driver of the No. 7 JR Motorsports Chevrolet has eight top fives, 14 top 10s and an average finish of 7.8.

So why, pray tell, aren’t we picking Allgaier, who wrested the regular-season lead from Cole Custer last Friday at Daytona?

Primarily, we’d like better odds than the +375 posted at BetMGM. We’re looking elsewhere for a better deal.

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You Can Expect a Rebound from Cole Custer at One of His Best Tracks

There are two reasons why Cole Custer lost the NASCAR Xfinity Series regular-season points lead to Justin Allgaier—a 30th-place finish Aug. 17 at Michigan and a 32nd-place result last Friday at Daytona.

Custer is ready to put those two disasters behind him, and his record at Darlington couldn’t provide a sharper contrast. Custer has never finished worse than ninth at the track, and his last five results have been fourth or better, with a victory in 2019.

Given his average finish of 3.7 at the Track Too Tough to Tame, we like Custer to take the checkered flag at +650 via BetMGM.

“Honestly, we just need to leave the bad luck behind us,” Custer said. “Michigan and Daytona were just miserable…

“We’ve got one of my best tracks with Darlington, though, and I’m planning to use that to my advantage.”

We think Custer will do just that.

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How to Watch the Sport Clips Haircuts 200

• Race: Sport Clips Haircuts 200 NASCAR Xfinity Series race

• Location: Darlington Raceway

• Time: Saturday, August 31, 3:30 p.m. ET

• How to Watch: USA