The NASCAR Cup Series races at Darlington Raceway Wednesday at 7:30 p.m. ET for the Toyota 500. Below, we analyze the Toyota 500 odds and betting lines, with NASCAR picks and tips with odds from BetMGM sportsbook.
Toyota 500: What you need to know
Odds courtesy of BetMGM; access USA TODAY Sports’ betting odds for a full list. Lines last updated Tuesday, May 19 at 7:25 a.m. ET.
The NASCAR Cup Series guys returned to action last Sunday, with Stewart-Haas Racing driver Kevin Harvick (+400) coming away with the checkered flag, his 50th win at the Cup level. He enters this one as the chalk, but is he the driver to beat?
- There’s no qualifying for Wednesday’s 500 as the starting lineup is set using the finishing order from Sunday’s run. However, positions 1-20 are inverted, so Harvick starts 20th and Ryan Preece (+20000) will be on the pole after he finished 20th Sunday.
- Harvick started sixth Sunday, making it six Darlington races in a row where the winner started sixth or better. The last pole winner was Harvick in the 2014 Bojangles Southern 500.
- Joe Gibbs Racing driver Erik Jones (+1800) finished eighth Sunday. He has finished eighth or better in all four of his starts at the South Carolina track.
- Penske Racing driver Brad Keselowski (+900) was second to Harvick’s 159 laps led Sunday with 80. Hendrick Motorsports driver Alex Bowman (+800), who finished second, was third in laps lead with 41.
Who is going to win the Toyota 500?
JGR’s Kyle Busch (+700) stumbled to a 26th-place finish in Sunday’s race, a shocking result considering he had posted finishes of seventh or better in seven of his previous eight starts at the “Track Too Tough to Tame.” Despite Sunday’s poor showing, BUSCH IS A SOLID PLAY.
Busch is second among active drivers with 716 laps led across 16 career starts at Darlington, with Harvick leading the way with 740 laps led across 24 starts. However, Busch’s average laps led per start is much better at 44.75 to Harvick’s 30.83.
Busch’s teammate DENNY HAMLIN (+800) posted a fifth-place finish Sunday. He now has two wins, eight top-5 finishes and 12 top-10 showings with 562 laps led across 15 career Darlington starts with a 7.6 Average-Finish Position (AFP). He’ll start 16th Wednesday, and is ALWAYS A WISE PICK at this track.
Place legal sports betting on NASCAR action in NJ, IN, CO and WV through BetMGM. Sign up and bet at BetMGM now!
Joey Logano (+1100) is an intriguing pick for Wednesday. He starts third behind long shots Preece and Ty Dillon (+25000), but is clearly the most proven driver in the front two rows – Clint Bowyer (+3000) starts in the 4 spot. While Logano has never won at Darlington, he has a 16.6 AFP with three top-5 showings and five top-10 finishes and 103 laps led.
Darlington Raceway long-shot bets
Looking to long shots, Preece and Dillon are obvious picks because of their advantageous starting spots, but will it matter? In four career starts at Darlington, the younger Dillon brother has an AFP of just 18.3, while Preece finished 20th Sunday and 22nd in his only previous start at Darlington last season. Go very, very lightly on these two, if at all.
The better bet might be TYLER REDDICK (+5000). He surprised with a seventh-place run Sunday in his Cup debut at Darlington. As such, his odds are much shorter than they might normally be, but he is still a pretty strong value. JOHN HUNTER NEMECHEK (+15000) also might be worth a roll of the dice after a stupendous ninth-place run Sunday.
Want action on this race? Sign up and bet at BetMGM. For more sports betting picks and tips, visit SportsbookWire.com.
Follow @JoeWilliamsVI on Twitter, and follow SportsbookWire on Twitter and Facebook.
Gannett may earn revenue from audience referrals to betting services. Newsrooms are independent of this relationship and there is no influence on news coverage.
[lawrence-newsletter]
[lawrence-auto-related count=3 category=1950]