Despite its gimmicky name, the Buschy McBusch Race 400 is very much a real event on the circuit, so NASCAR betting is still something to be taken seriously this weekend.
It's been a season of uncertainty for NASCAR drivers, with surprise winners popping up left, right and center, boxing some big names out of clinched playoff spots. So who can we trust to contend this weekend?
Find out in Covers Experts' Auto Racing Advisor preview and picks for the Buschy McBusch Race 400, which gets underway at 3:00 p.m. ET on May 2.
Buschy McBusch Race 400 favorites: Brad is rad
Denny Hamlin (+550)
He’s been dominant this season, to go along with winning two of the last three Kansas races overall.
Martin Truex Jr. (+700)
Since 2017, he’s had a Top 10 in all but one Kansas start, including sweeping both race wins in 2017. In fact, he has six Top-6 results in his last eight tries.
Brad Keselowski (+850)
He was in the Top 4 in both races last year, to go along with four Top-6 finishes in his last five Kansas starts. Keselowski also has three Top-2s in his last four spring race starts at Kansas.
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Buschy McBusch Race 400 long-shot picks: Blaney's lane
Ryan Blaney (+1,000)
He won earlier this season in Atlanta and had six Top-7 finishes in his last 11 Kansas starts.
Alex Bowman (+1,800)
He has been really good at Kansas. Bowman was seventh when he filled in for Dale Earnhardt Jr. several seasons ago. Since then, he also has five straight Top-11 results on the 1.5-mile track, including a runner-up in this race in 2019 and eighth and fourth respectively last year.
William Byron (+1,600)
Eight straight Top-8 finishes and three straight Top 10s at Kansas. No-brainer here.
Buschy McBusch Race 400 matchup pick: futility for Almirola
Matt DiBenedetto (-143) vs. Aric Almirola (+108)
DiBenedetto starts fifth and was 12th on this track last Fall. He also was runner-up in both races at Vegas in 2020 too, which is the track most similar to Kansas. Almirola has no Top-5 finishes in 18 Kansas starts.
PICK: DiBenedetto (-143)
Buschy McBusch Race 400 fades: Harvick stuck in reverse
Joey Logano (+900)
He's had finishes of 15th or worse in his last four starts at Kansas.
Kevin Harvick (+900)
He's not been at his best on 550 tracks this season, without a Top 5 in any of the three races.
Aric Almirola (+6,600)
As noted above, no Top-5 finishes in 18 career starts at Kansas.
Buschy McBusch Race 400 preview
We turn over to a new month, and we’re sitting here with nine different winners in 10 races. The playoff race is heating up by virtue of that, as some big-name drivers have still yet to reach victory lane. Do they get there on Sunday?
Last year, both Kansas races were a byproduct of the current racing package. I expect the same on Sunday with clean air being king.
We’ve seen 14 different winners in the last 20 races on intermediates, including 12 straight. It all started nearly two years ago, on June 30, 2019, at the Chicagoland Speedway to be exact, with Alex Bowman.
So far, we’ve had three 1.5-mile tracks in 2021. One occurred in Homestead. William Byron won. The next was in Las Vegas with Kyle Larson. Then, the last coming in Atlanta, with Ryan Blaney winning that event.
If we want to keep the streak going to 13, then you can have someone like Truex Jr. or Bell with JGR, Bowman for HMS or the duo at SHR.
Buschy McBusch Race 400 key stat
We’ve had 10 spring races at the Kansas Speedway with eight different winners in it. Only Brad Keselowski (2011, 2019) and Denny Hamlin (2012, 2020) have won this race multiple times. Coincidentally enough, they won the first two and the last two.
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