2024 Wurth 400 BellyUp Racing Picks

Here’s to another short track race ladies and gentlemen! The NASCAR Cup Series will take on Dover International Speedway for the Wurth 400! After 400 miles at Talladega, it’ll be a drastic shift of preparation as we bring it back to the monster mile. Last week, neither Chris nor I had the foresight to take the #45 of Tyler Reddick as our champion. But neither of us had any fades that came back to bite us.

Lady luck will have less of a say in this race. We can more accurately predict and analyze what we think will happen on this short track. Without further adieu, let’s get into it here. Here are the BellyUp Racing expert picks for the Wurth 400!

Chris’s Picks: #9 Chase Elliott (+1,200) & #45 Tyler Reddick (+1,800)

The first pick is pretty obvious, right? I mean he’s the 2022 Dover winner, who won two weeks ago to snap a long winless streak. Plus in his last three Dover races his average finishing spot is fifth. If the team brings the car for him then I think you can easily count on Chase to finish in the top ten.

Tyler’s recent trends at Dover aren’t super impressive. However, they’re a little misleading, to say the least. Last year in his first start with 23XI Racing he grabbed a seventh-place finish. Before that, he only had one top-ten finish coming back in 2021. I like to believe drivers can ride momentum though, and no one I feel like saw this team winning at Talladega. That’s a huge wave of momentum to use, and Dover is a track that suits Tyler’s driving style well.

Kaleb’s Picks: #6 Brad Keselowski (+2,000) & #48 Alex Bowman (+1,600)

I think Keselowski has some insane odds here. Two of his four top fives this year have come on short tracks. He also posted a P8 at Richmond earlier this month. I know it hasn’t been quite the season fans of Bad Brad have hoped for overall, but he’s on a back-to-back hot streak of placing runner-up. Last year at Dover Keselowski finished P8. The Monster Mile is a tricky track to tame, but Keselowski has seen it all. I like his odds being this low on the list, you could probably get a good value on a T-5 or even T-10 position.

As for Bowman, the photo above tells the story. A 2021 winner at the Monster Mile, followed up with a P5 in 2022. Bowman himself claims that this is one of his better tracks. Over his career, he’s posted a total of five top fives. He missed the 2023 race due to a back injury sustained almost a year ago to this date. But he seems to be 100% now, having some great runs in the #48 to kick off the season. I like Bowman’s odds here, and he should be considered a sneaky play for all of you this weekend.

Chris’s Fade: #14 Chase Briscoe (+5,000)

Way to be bold, bossman.

Yeah, yeah I know I went with an obvious non-choice this week. However once again in my defense, I chose before the odds were released. Plus I was thinking more of what has Chase done recently. He’s been pretty consistent on tracks similar in size to Dover and he even is riding a streak of top-twenty finishes. I think that will continue possibly but I don’t see him cracking the top ten this weekend. In his last three Dover races his best finish is thirteenth. Dover and Chase Briscoe in the cup series just haven’t agreed with each other. My assumption was correct in this fade at least for now. (insert nervous emoji here)

Kaleb’s Fade: #8 Kyle Busch (+1,800)

Nobody’s had a worse start to the 2024 season than Kyle Busch. The #8 car has had a massive fall from grace after a three-win season in 2023. Through the first ten races, Rowdy has just one top-five. It was when he finished third in the photo finish at Atlanta. The RCR team just hasn’t put together a fantastic car for him to work with, especially on these short tracks. His highest finish on a track like this is P16 at Martinsville. I hope Busch gets it together eventually, but the Wurth 400 is probably not the race for that if we look at trends. Last year he started on pole and dropped to 21st, collecting no stage points. I’d keep Rowdy off my list this go around, and hope for better moving forward.

If you enjoyed this content, or hate it and want to argue with me, follow me on Twitter @KalebEmcee! Also, read up on the rest of the NASCAR content Belly Up Sports has to offer here! Heck, for all your other sports needs, follow the main page. If you love racing of any shape or form, find Chris on Twitter, and let’s talk!