Who will win the NASCAR race this weekend? The Cup Series is racing at North Wilkesboro Speedway on Sunday night, with the short track delivering some excitement under the lights. Ahead of qualifying, we’re making some NASCAR predictions for North Wilkesboro.
Let’s dive into our NASCAR picks this weekend for the Window World 450 at North Wilkesboro. We’ll lead off with our predicted pole winner followed by some stage results and the race winner for the NASCAR race on Sunday night.
Ryan Blaney Wins the Pole on Saturday Night
Ryan Blaney gets to go last on Saturday night in Cup Series qualifying and given his history at the track, we think he’ll earn the pole position. Kyle Larson (11th in Group 1) will hold down the pole for a while with the fastest lap time, but being stuck in Group 1 will make a difference in the final time. Larson ultimately qualifies third with Denny Hamlin (second) and Blaney leading the front row for Sunday.
Related: NASCAR Qualifying Order at North Wilkesboro
Denny Hamlin Wins Stage 1
Denny Hamlin is favored to win the NASCAR race tomorrow and the dominance shown from the No. 11 team this season certainly increases his odds at finding victory lane. Our prediction is that he qualifies second on Saturday and then beats out Blaney on a restart toward the end of Stage 1, holding on for the stage victory. Those 10 points will prove crucial in holding off Tyler Reddick for the regular-season points crown.
Related: NASCAR The Chase Clinch Scenarios for North Wilkesboro
Brad Keselowski Earns Much-Needed Stage 2 Win
We’re in the final stretch of the regular season and Brad Keselowski is currently 43 points below The Chase cutline. It’s time for the No. 6 team, which has just 54 stage points on the season, to make them a greater priority on Sunday at North Wilkesboro Speedway. Fortunately, Keselowski has a pretty strong track record on short tracks, including stage wins at Iowa in the last two years. Given the spot the team finds itself in, we’re predicting they play for the Stage 2 win on Sunday night.
Chase Elliott, Ryan Blaney Advance in In-Season Challenge
Barring a complete disaster from the No. 9 team in the Window World 450, Chase Elliott should advance in his Final Four matchup versus Todd Gilliland. The Blaney vs Christopher Bell matchup is the only real matchup of the NASCAR In-Season Challenge. As impressive as Bell’s recent run of second-place finishes is, we can’t ignore Blaney’s dominance on short tracks. Both drivers will finish Sunday night inside the top 10, but Blaney’s second-place finish sends him to the championship round at Indianapolis.
Ryan Preece Wins the Window World 450
As we started filling out our NASCAR predictions for North Wilkesboro, Blaney was originally going to be the pick and we still think he places second on Sunday night. However, there haven’t been many ‘wild-card’ drivers to make it to victory lane this season and a 450-lap race at this track seems like the perfect time for that to happen. Ryan Preece‘s specialty is short tracks and with the No. 60 team in desperate need of a strong points day to remain in The Chase mix, we think they find a way to win on Sunday night.
More must-reads:
- NASCAR News: Ross Chastain Among 3 Drivers Hit With Costly Penalty Before Sunday’s Window World 450 at North Wilkesboro
- NASCAR Starting Lineup North Wilkesboro: Window World 400 Lineup after Qualifying Canceled
- NASCAR Truck Standings: Truck Series Points Leaders Right Now, The Chase Cutline with 3 Races Left
