The NASCAR Cup Series moves to Dover International Speedway for the Drydene 311.The green flag drops Saturday at 4 p.m. ET for the first race of the weekend NASCAR Cup Series doubleheader televised on NBC. Below, we analyze the Drydene 311 odds and betting lines, with NASCAR picks and tips with odds from BetMGM sportsbook.
Drydene 311 – Race 1: What you need to know
Odds courtesy of BetMGM; access USA TODAY Sports’ betting odds for a full list. Lines last updated Friday at 11:25 p.m. ET.
Joe Gibbs Racing driver Martin Truex Jr. won the spring race at Dover, and he was a runner-up to former Ganassi driver Kyle Larson in last season’s fall run at the Delaware one-mile track.
- Truex Jr. picked up his first-career Cup series win on June 4, 2007, and the New Jersey native has three wins, seven top-5 finishes and 16 top-10 runs with 892 laps led in 28 career starts at DIS.
- Hendrick Motorsports driver Jimmie Johnson leads all active drivers with 11 career victories at Dover, and 17 of his 36 career starts have been fifth place or better. He has a 9.92 Average-Finish Position (AFP), best among all active drivers with at least 10 career starts at the track.
- Chevrolet has checkers in nine of the past 14 Cup series races at Dover, although just three in the past eight runs with Toyota picking up four wins during the span.
Who will the top finishers be in the Drydene 311 – Race 1?
TRUEX JR. (+350 for Saturday’s race) is the chalk for Race 1. This place is special to him, as it is his unofficial home track, and it was where he picked up his first-career Cup checkered flag.
Truex has posted 892 laps led, fifth-best in the field, and he has posted a 5.6 AFP over the past 10 Cup starts, best among all drivers on the circuit.
Hendrick’s CHASE ELLIOTT (+600) had a disastrous run at Dover last fall in a playoff race. He experienced some sort of undisclosed engine failure, ending his day after eight laps. Despite that poor run, he still has six top-5 finishes in his eight career Cup starts at the Monster Mile, and his 8.6 AFP is second-best only to MTJ.
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You should never overlook KEVIN HARVICK (+400). The driver of the No. 4 machine has two wins in 38 Cup starts, which isn’t great, but half of his career starts have resulted in finishes of 10th or better at DIS. He has also led the pack for 1,408 laps, so he knows what it takes to be out front at Dover. And his past four starts have been a win in Spring 2018, a sixth-place start in the Fall 2018 race and a pair of fourth-place showings in 2019. He’ll be right there.
Dover International Speedway long-shot bets
Hendrick’s JIMMIE JOHNSON (+2500) hasn’t won a Cup series race since June 4, 2017, when he picked up his 83rd career Cup Series win, tying Hall of Famer Cale Yarborough. He is one behind Bobby Allison and Darrell Waltrip for fourth place all time. This weekend is when he joins those two with 84 victories. Time is running out on Johnson in his final season, but he’ll make that run to Victory Lane at his best track.
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