World Wide Technology Raceway in the St. Louis suburb of Madison, Ill., has hosted IndyCar, the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series and the NASCAR Xfinity Series. Now the 1.25-mile asphalt oval will host the NASCAR Cup Series for the first time in its history on Sunday. The 2022 Enjoy Illinois 300 is just the latest addition to the NASCAR schedule designed to give the world’s best stock car racers an unfamiliar test. Turns 1 and 2 are have been nicknamed “The Gateway Arch” because they’re much tighter than turns 3 and 4 and the banking is different from the first two corners to the last. The 2022 NASCAR at St. Louis green flag drops at 3:30 p.m. ET on FS1 (stream now on FuboTV).
Kyle Busch is one of nine drivers in the 2022 Enjoy Illinois 300 field who has previously won at World Wide Technology Raceway and he’s listed at 8-1 in this week’s NASCAR odds. However, defending NASCAR Cup Series champion Kyle Larson is the 6-1 favorite in the 2022 Enjoy Illinois 300 odds, with Denny Hamlin listed at 7-1 after his win last week and 2004 Charter 250 winner Martin Truex Jr. listed at 8-1 along with Busch. Before scouring the 2022 Enjoy Illinois 300 starting lineup and making any 2022 NASCAR St. Louis predictions, be sure to see the latest Enjoy Illinois 300 picks from SportsLine’s proven projection model.
Developed by daily Fantasy pro and SportsLine predictive data engineer Mike McClure, this proprietary NASCAR prediction model simulates every race 10,000 times, taking into account factors such as track history and recent results.
In the 2021 season, McClure nailed Martin Truex Jr. to win at Martinsville for a strong 3-1 payout. Then, it called Chase Elliott to win at Road America for a 5-2 payout. McClure’s model also called Larson’s win at Texas for an 11-4 payout and his win at Kansas for a 9-4 payout in back-to-back weeks before nailing Larson to win the season-finale in Phoenix to claim the 2021 NASCAR Cup Championship.
In total, it nailed five of Larson’s wins during a historic season and has also gone 15-9 on its head-to-head matchup predictions to start the 2022 season. Earlier this season it was high on Ross Chastain to win in Austin, giving him a far better shot to win than his 40-1 odds implied. The model was also high on Joey Logano before he won as a 15-1 underdog at Darlington. Anyone who followed its lead on those plays saw huge returns on their NASCAR picks.
Now, the model simulated the 2022 NASCAR in St. Louis (see tickets at StubHub) 10,000 times. Head to SportsLine to see the complete projected 2022 Enjoy Illinois 300 leaderboard.
Top 2022 Enjoy Illinois 300 predictions
One surprise: the model is high on Kevin Harvick, even though he’s a 25-1 long shot in the latest 2022 NASCAR at St. Louis odds. He’s a target for anyone looking for a huge payday. While there are several drivers in the 2022 Enjoy Illinois 300 field who have been to the winner’s circle at World Wide Technology Raceway, Harvick is the only driver scheduled to race who has been there more than once.
Harvick won the 2000 and the 2001 Carquest Auto Parts 250 in the Xfinity Series and then won the 2010 CampingWorld.com in the Truck Series. The veteran is coming off a third-place finish at the Coca-Cola 600 last week and has four top-10 finishes in his last five starts. The 58-time NASCAR Cup Series winner will definitely be a threat to work his way towards the front on Sunday at a track that he’s enjoyed more success on than anyone in the field.
And a massive shocker: Ross Chastain, one of the Vegas favorites at 17-2, stumbles big-time and barely cracks the top 10. There are far better values in the 2022 Enjoy Illinois 300 starting grid. Chastain won the 2019 Camping World Truck Series race in Madison, so he’ll have fond memories of the track and he’s been one of the biggest surprises in NASCAR this season, but he’s coming off a couple uneven performances.
Chastain started in 22nd last week and then went on to lead 153 laps in Charlotte last week but disappointed late and wound up finishing 15th. He also finished 30th at Darlington despite leading 26 laps two races prior. He’s now had four finishes of 29th or worse this season and six finishes of 15th or worse. That boom-or-bust tendency doesn’t pay particularly well now that he’s established as a weekly favorite.
How to make 2022 Enjoy Illinois 300 picks
The model is also targeting two other drivers with 2022 NASCAR at World Wide Technology Raceway odds of 14-1 or longer to make a serious run at the checkered flag. Anyone who backs these drivers could hit it big. You can see all of the model’s NASCAR picks over at SportsLine.
So who wins the Enjoy Illinois 300 2022? And which long shots make a run at the checkered flag? Check out the latest 2022 NASCAR at St. Louis odds below, then visit SportsLine now to see the full projected 2022 Enjoy Illinois 300 leaderboard, all from the model that correctly predicted five of Kyle Larson’s wins last season.
2022 Enjoy Illinois 300 odds (via Caesars Sportsbook)
Kyle Larson 6-1
Denny Hamlin 7-1
Martin Truex Jr. 8-1
Kyle Busch 8-1
William Byron 17-2
Chase Elliott 17-2
Ross Chastain 17-2
Ryan Blaney 12-1
Christopher Bell 14-1
Joey Logano 14-1
Tyler Reddick 18-1
Alex Bowman 18-1
Chase Briscoe 20-1
Kevin Harvick 25-1
Kurt Busch 25-1
Daniel Suarez 30-1
Aric Almirola 40-1
Erik Jones 50-1
Austin Cindric 50-1
Austin Dillon 60-1
Ricky Stenhouse 75-1
Brad Keselowski 75-1
Bubba Wallace 100-1
Chris Buescher 125-1
A.J. Allmendinger 200-1
Cole Custer 200-1
Justin Haley 300-1
Ty Dillon 500-1
Harrison Burton 500-1
Michael McDowell 1000-1
Todd Gilliland 1000-1
Corey Lajoie 2000-1
BJ McLeod 2500-1
Cody Ware 2500-1
Josh Bilicki 2500-1
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