NASCAR arrives at Darlington Raceway for this weekend's Goodyear 400. As an unpredictable season continue to churn out surprise winners, the circuit's top dogs look to punch their playoff tickets. One of them could be a great pick for NASCAR betting this weekend.
Get the inside track on your bets with Covers Experts' Auto Racing Advisor preview and picks for the Goodyear 400, which gets underway at 3:30 p.m. ET on May 9.
Goodyear 400 favorites: first-time winner?
Kevin Harvick (+700)
He won NASCAR’s first race back during the pandemic at Darlington on May 17. Harvick was third in the second race, and then won the Southern 500 for two wins in three Darlington starts. He also has nine consecutive Top-10 finishes on the track, with eight of them being inside of the Top 5.
He led 63 total laps here in 16 starts at Darlington with RCR. He’s already led 719 in 10 starts with SHR. Is this his time to get going on the season? He enters coming off of a runner-up last Sunday in Kansas.
Denny Hamlin (+600)
He won the second Darlington race back in May. Hamlin has six Top-10 finishes in his last eight “Lady in Black” starts, including five of them being in the Top 5. He’s a three-time Darlington winner and also has three runner-ups there too.
Kyle Busch (+800)
He was runner-up in the second May race at Darlington and has two Top-3 finishes in his last four Darlington starts. Furthermore, he has nine Top-7 finishes in his last 11 starts on the track dubbed “Too Tough To Tame.” He’s coming off of a win last Sunday.
Covers NASCAR Betting Content
Goodyear 400 long-shot picks: back-to-back Busch?
Alex Bowman (+2,000)
Worth a risk. He’s already a winner this season and had two Top-6 finishes in three Darlington starts last year.
Kurt Busch (+3,500)
Busch has five Top-8 finishes in his last six Darlington starts. He’s a veteran needing a good finish, and Darlington could be the spot.
Tyler Reddick (+4,000)
This track was made for Reddick, running the high line right up against the wall. He was strong in Homestead on a similar track back in February and Reddick had a Top 10 in the day race last May at the Lady in Black too. RCR enters this weekend on the heels of both drivers scoring Top-10s in two consecutive races now.
Goodyear 400 matchup pick: Chronicles of Reddick
Kurt Busch (-122) vs Tyler Reddick (-109)
Reddick is at his best on tracks like Darlington. He was runner-up in Homestead earlier this year on a direct comparison. He’s also had four Top-8 results in the last five races on the season. Busch, meanwhile, is slumping and has just two Top 10s all year.
PICK: Reddick (-109)
Goodyear 400 fades: no-go Logano
Joey Logano (+1,400)
He’s not been at his best in Darlington and enters without much momentum. This isn’t his week to use him.
Ryan Blaney (+2,000)
This is one of his worst tracks on the schedule. He was 16th, 21st and 24th respectively here a year ago.
Goodyear 400 preview
We’re back at Darlington on Mother’s Day weekend again. It’s the third time since 2004 that we’ll race on the Lady in Black during the spring. But here we are for the 12th race of the season, and so far, we’ve had 10 different winners in the previous 11. The thing is, of the favorites for this race, most haven’t won this season, so we have a great opportunity to grow this win list for 2021 even further on Sunday.
Kevin Harvick won two of the three Darlington races last year, Denny Hamlin won the other. Hamlin has two Top 5s in his last three Darlington tries and if not for an issue on his final pit stop in the Southern 500, it would be three straight.
But you also can’t overlook Hendrick Motorsports either. Three of their four drivers have won this year and they’ve been good recently at Darlington too.
Alex Bowman was sixth in the Southern 500 and has two Top 6s in his last three tries. William Byron was fifth last year in the Southern 500 while Kyle Larson with Chip Ganassi Racing had two straight Top-3 results and three in his last four overall.
Then you have Chase Elliott who should have won the second Darlington race last May, as well as the Southern 500 too. This could be his opportunity to win this season.
Goodyear 400 key stat
The eventual race winner during the stage era at Darlington has finished in the Top 5 in five of the six races in the second stage. The thing is, they’ve not won a stage either though.
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