The NASCAR Cup Series cars may still be hot from last night’s Alsco 500 at the Charlotte Motor Speedway, but there’s a quick turnaround between then and the next race. Sunday’s Food City 500 (3:30 p.m. ET, FS1, PRN) will take place less than 72 hours apart from the last race. While the cars are still steaming hot, the odds have been released for who’s going to be the ones to beat in Sunday’s race on the high banked Tennessee oval.
My first initial thoughts when I saw them — “what were they thinking?
Now, I’ll admit that I could be wrong and Kyle Busch could beat his Joe Gibbs Racing teammate Martin Truex Jr. across the finish line in Sunday’s race, but with how things have shaken up this season, I just don’t see it.
Busch, is the favorite at +400. I get that on the surface as he’s had three wins in his last five Bristol starts and eight for his career there, but he’s not been the quickest car this season. Yes, he enters Sunday’s race with four top four finishes in his last six tries on the season, but most of those were kind of a fluke. He even admitted as much. He’s led 14 laps all season, none since the season opening Daytona 500. Why would he magically find speed Sunday? +400 is a little stiff for me.
Then there’s the curious case of Truex. He’s +600. Truex, has yet to finish in the top five all year and only has one top five finish in his last 15 tries at Bristol. I mean, 11 of this last 13 tries there have seen him come home 20th or worse. His last top five at Bristol came back in 2012.
My second thought after seeing these odds — “we have some very good picks for some really good odds.
Kevin Harvick is +800 and has a top 10 finish in literally every race run this season. He also has seven top 10’s in his last nine Bristol starts. Joey Logano is a two time winner this season and has seven top 10’s in his last nine Bristol starts himself. He’s +650. Chase Elliott is coming off of a win and could easily have won three in-a-row right now to go along with two top five finishes in his last three Bristol starts. He’s +900. His teammate Alex Bowman is +1600 and has had a ton of speed this season. He has two top eight finishes in his last four Bristol tries.
Want something even better?
Kurt Busch has six Bristol wins, three top fives in his last four starts there and five top seven’s in his last six starts on the season. He’s +1400.
Ryan Blaney is coming off of a pair of third place finishes at Charlotte, has led 100 or more laps in three of his last four Bristol starts to go along with four top 10’s in his last five tries there and is +1600. Clint Bowyer is +2200 and has five top eight finishes in his last six Bristol tries and 10 top 10’s in his last 13. Matt DiBenedetto and Ricky Stenhouse Jr. are each +4000 and consider Bristol their best tracks.
This is a race weekend where a lot of money can be won. Five of the last seven race winners have actually started from Row 5 on back at Bristol. But, only six of the race winners in the history of Bristol have came from outside the top 20 too. If you look at it from that standpoint, that eliminated Jimmie Johnson and the talented rookies. Bowyer, starts 23rd, so that may take him off the list. Truex Jr. (5th) and Kyle Busch (7th) are coming from up front before Row 5. Guys coming from Row 5 on back?
DiBenedetto (+4000), Bowman (+1600), Kurt Busch (+1400) and Stenhouse Jr. (+4000). Three of the top four starters are from the Penske camp though, so if track position ends up being clean, then Logano (+650) and Blaney (+1600) are there for the taking.
