Positions for the 2019 Daytona 500 will be determined on Thursday with NASCAR's Gander RV Duels, a pair of fast-paced competitive qualifiers hitting the track at 7 p.m. and 9 p.m. ET. The front row for the Daytona 500 has been determined, but positions 3-40 have not. Those will be settled on the track in each of the 21-driver showdowns. The most-recent Gander RV Duels odds have Brad Keselowski has a strong 3-1 favorite in Race 1, with Kevin Harvick at 9-2 and Kyle Busch at 7-1. Joey Logano is the Race 2 favorite at 7-2 odds, followed by Denny Hamlin at 7-2, Ryan Blaney and Chase Elliott each at 6-1 and Clint Bowyer and Aric Almirola at 7-1. If you want to get in on the action and make your own NASCAR at Daytona Duels picks for Thursday, you'll want to check out what former Vegas bookmaker and NASCAR handicapper Micah Roberts has to say. He's already up huge after last week's NASCAR season opener.
Roberts just went with Jimmie Johnson as a hefty 25-1 longshot at last last week's Advance Auto Parts Clash. The result: Johnson survived a huge crash and went on to win as Roberts' followers raked it in big-time. He entered the 2019 NASCAR season after finishing in the black in 2018. In fact, those who wagered $100 on each of his picks last year have $1,750 in profit to show for it.
His biggest wins came when he went against the grain, taking Keselowski at 12-1 to win the South Point 400 at Las Vegas in the opening race of the NASCAR Playoffs, and going with Logano, also at 12-1, to take the First Data 500 at Martinsville. He also nailed four of Harvick's eight series victories and three of Kyle Busch's nine wins.
That season continued an astonishing run in which Roberts picked nine of the 10 winners in the 2017 NASCAR Playoffs. In 2016, he took Hamlin to win the Daytona 500 at 15-1, and took him again at 40-1 at Watkins Glen later that year. Anyone who's following his picks is up huge year after year.
Now, he has analyzed the field for Thursday's twin Daytona Duels from every possible angle and locked in his NASCAR picks. You can see his projected leaderboard only at SportsLine.
One driver he likes to be near the front with a chance to win in the opening Gander RV Duel: Daniel Suarez, a 10-1 darkhorse who finished eighth last year in this event. Suarez joined Stewart-Haas Racing for 2019, debuting last Sunday for a 10th-place finish at the Advance Auto Care Clash at Daytona. Roberts believes Suarez could have a breakout year, starting this week.
"(Suarez is) among the drivers having something prove and also having a car that can make it happen, or at least put them in a position to win," Roberts told SportsLine.
For Duel No. 2 on Thursday, we can tell you Roberts is fading favorite in Logano, who should have momentum as the defending NASCAR series champion.
Logano has a strong history at the Duels including two runner-up finishes, but has yet to win one. He led 56 of 63 laps last year in this race, only to fall short. The competition may be tougher in Race 2, with both 2018 Duels winners, Blaney and Elliott, in the same field.
Roberts has also identified a massive underdog with a strong chance to win it all in Duel 1, and has two surprises at the top of his Duel 2 leaderboard. His picks will shock many, but anyone who follows his lead could hit a massive payday, just like last week.
So which drivers should you target in Thursday's Daytona Duels? And which underdogs shock the racing world? Visit SportsLine now to see the projected Duels at Daytona leaderboards from the nation's premier NASCAR handicapper who just hit it big in last week's Clash, and find out.
