The NASCAR Cup Series is taking the week off for Easter break, its last break before 30 straight weeks of racing. Luckily for us, the NASCAR Craftsman Truck and O’Reilly Auto Parts Series are both in action at Rockingham Speedway. It’s nice for the O’Reilly (formerly Xfinity) Series to get the spotlight as the top series for a week. Let’s dive into Saturday’s O’Reilly race, make our NASCAR picks, and look at the odds for Rockingham Speedway.
“The Rock” was a staple on the NASCAR Cup Series schedule from 1966 to 2004. The Truck Series returned here in 2012 and 2013 during an attempted revival, but outside of that, the track has been mostly unused. Until last season, after IHRA purchased the track, and using funds from a grant from the state of North Carolina. IHRA re-paved the racetrack and upgraded the facilities. The Xfinity and Truck Series successfully returned there in 2025, and are set to do so again this weekend.
There is no race on Sunday! So don’t forget to get these bets in for Saturday’s 2:30 ET O’Reilly Auto Parts Series race.
Odds for the North Carolina Education 250
Justin Allgaier +400
Jesse Love +500
Sammy Smith +600
Brent Crews +800
Brandon Jones +800
Austin Hill +800
Sam Mayer +900
Carson Kvapil +900
Sheldon Creed +1000
Taylor Gray +1200
Corey Day +1600
Rajah Caruth +2500
Ryan Sieg +3000
Parker Retlaff +3500
William Sawallich +4000
Harrison Burton +5000
Cleetus McFarland +8000
Blake Lothian +10000
Patrick Starapoli +12500
Jen Burton +25000
Dean Thompson +30000
Jeremey Clements +30000
Alex Labbe +30000
Anthony Alfredo +30000
Lavar Scott +40000
Ryan Ellis +50000
Josh Bilicki +50000
Kyle Sieg +50000
Blaine Perkins +50000
Andrew Patterson +50000
Brennan Poole +50000
Austin Green +50000
Josh Williams +50000
Garrett Smithley +75000
Dawson Cram +75000
NASCAR Picks, Odds, and Best Bets: Rockingham Speedway
Corey Day Over Taylor Gray (-105)
If you don’t know about Corey Day yet, you are going to want to get up to speed on him quickly. Hendrick Motorsports brought their O’Reilly team back for this Kyle Larson hand-selected prodigy. Just a few races into his rookie season, he’s proving everyone at Hendrick right. Day has six straight top 10 finishes, and it’s been at drafting tracks, short tracks, road courses, and intermediates. He’s been getting it done. The talent is there, the speed is there. This kid is the real deal.
Taylor Gray, a Joe Gibbs Racing driver, is also a great up-and-coming driver. However, his season has started off slowly. He only has one top 10 on the entire season, and has struggled to find the pace needed. Corey Day has finished better than Gray in all seven O’Reilly Series races this year. I love the upside on Day this week, I’ll also be betting his top five (2/1), and outright (16/1).
Sammy Smith Top 5 (+110)
Sammy Smith came in big for us last week on the NASCAR Gambling Podcast with a third-place finish at Martinsville. Smith is the only driver running both the Truck Series race and the O’Reilly race this week, giving him an advantage when it comes to track time. Smith, like Day, has also started the season off with a bang. The Junior Motorsports driver has finished top 10 in every race with the exception of Atlanta. In four of the seven races, he’s finished top five, including last week’s race at Martinsville. Smith was declared the winner of last year’s race at Rockingham after Jesse Love was disqualified. A top-five finish for a streaking driver at the track type he’s best at, it’s a no-brainer.
Justin Allgaier to Win (+400)
We’ve been jokingly referring to Justin Allgaier as Justin Verstappen on the podcast lately due to his performance. You think Day and Smith’s seasons have started well? Allgaier has won three of the last four races, including ten two short tracks at Martinsville and Phoenix. Atlanta is also the only race he didn’t finish inside of the top 10. Allgaier has five top fives in the seven races, and thus far into 2026 has been the clear best car and driver.
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