We went nearly four years between Kyle Larson's three-race win streak in 2021 and Christopher Bell's earlier this season, but Denny Hamlin could become the second NASCAR Cup Series driver to win three straight races in 2025 in the Food City 500 at Bristol Motor Speedway.
Our free betting picks tell you if you should ride with wave with lucky No. 11 or head elsewhere on Sunday, April 13.
Odds to win 2025 Food City 500
| Driver |  |
|---|---|
| Kyle Larson | +285 |
| Denny Hamlin | +450 |
| Christopher Bell | +900 |
| Ryan Blaney | +900 |
| Alex Bowman | +1000 |
| William Byron | +1000 |
| Chase Elliott | +1100 |
| Joey Logano | +1800 |
| Kyle Busch | +1800 |
| Ty Gibbs | +1800 |
| Tyler Reddick | +2200 |
| Ricky Stenhouse Jr. | +2500 |
| Chris Buescher | +2800 |
| Josh Berry | +2800 |
| Bubba Wallace | +3500 |
| Chase Briscoe | +3500 |
| Brad Keselowski | +4000 |
| Carson Hocevar | +4500 |
| Ryan Preece | +6000 |
| Austin Cindric | +6500 |
Odds as of 4-13.
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Food City 500 field
Denny Hamlin unsurprisingly opened as the +400 betting favorite for the Food City 500 as casual bettors jump on the hot hand. But 38 other drivers will try to beat him, including non-chartered entrants Corey LaJoie, Jesse Love, and Josh Bilicki.
Kyle Larson (+450), as usual, sits at a short price along with Christopher Bell (+650), Ryan Blaney (+650), and Chase Elliott (+850). There's a notably large gap from Ryan Preece (+4000) as the 18th-choice back to Noah Gragson (+10000) and Michael McDowell (+10000).
Food City 500 expert picks and predictions
Odds listed below courtesy of DraftKings Sportsbook as of 4-12.
Food City 500 pre-qualifying favorites
Denny Hamlin (+400)
Denny Hamlin led 142 laps from a front-row starting position in the fall race in 2023. He won again last spring and finished fourth in the fall race, leading to five consecutive Top-10 finishes on concrete here and eight Top 10s in his last 10 tries at Bristol, which includes three wins. He also is coming off two consecutive victories on the season, one of which on a short track in Martinsville. He finished runner-up at Phoenix in March, which also races like a short track.
Kyle Larson (+450)
Kyle Larson has 710 laps led and scored five Top-5 finishes (first, fifth, second, fifth, first) over the last seven Bristol races. He dominated the fall race, leading 462 of 500 laps in sweeping both stages and the win. Dating further back, Larson has 10 Top-10 finishes in his last 11 Bristol tries, including five Top-2 finishes. He finished third in Phoenix and fifth at Martinsville this season.
Christopher Bell (+650)
Christopher Bell has been “en fuego” at Bristol with the Next Gen car. He won the Dirt Race in 2023, and on concrete, he’s qualified eighth, first, 12th, and sixth and finished fourth, third, 10th, and fifth. He has led and average of over 89 laps here in that stretch. Bell has also won three of the eight stages and finished second, eighth, fifth, third and fifth, respectively, in the others. He just needs a concrete win.
He won Phoenix in March and was runner-up at Martinsville. Bell has five Top-3 finishes in the last seven weeks.
Food City 500 sleepers
Chase Briscoe (+1800)
The No. 19 Toyota has been fast at Bristol but hasn’t delivered great finishes. Maybe Chase Briscoe is all it needs. He finished 13th and eighth, respectively, for Stewart-Haas Racing last year.
Brad Keselowski (+2500)
Brad Keselowski has six Top-10 finishes in his last nine Bristol starts, including a win in May 2020 and a third last spring. He led 109 laps in the fall race for 2022 before tire troubles relegated him to a 13th-place result. Still, Keselowski has led 515 laps in his last 11 Bristol tries.
Chris Buescher (+2500)
He won the fall race in 2022, placed fourth in 2023 and 14th last year. Last spring, Chris Buescher finished seventh for his fifth Top-8 Bristol concrete finish in his last seven overall tries. He has four Top-7 finishes in the last six weeks of the season, too.
Alex Bowman (+3500)
Alex Bowman has three Top-10 finishes in his last five Bristol starts, including a fourth-place finish last spring and a pole last fall.
Food City 500 fades
Ryan Blaney (+650)
Ryan Blaney finished fourth in the 2021 night race, but was 30th, 22nd, and sixth the last three years, and 16th last spring. He’s finished outside the Top 10 in five of the last six races.
William Byron (+1100)
William Byron is 0-for-13 at Bristol, which is why I don’t trust picking him as an outright winner. Byron had a best finish of eighth as his lone Top-10 finish in his first eight tries on the concrete oval, but he’s since finished third, third, ninth, 35th, and 17th, respectively. He finished sixth in Phoenix but 22nd in Martinsville this season.
Joey Logano (+1800)
This is not a good track for Joey Logano anymore. He’s finished outside the Top 10 in eight of the last nine tries there, including finishes of 27th, 34th, 22nd, and 28th with the Next Gen. He has one Top 10 on the season, an eighth-place result at Martinsville.
Kyle Busch (+2000)
At one point, Kyle Busch was the king of Bristol. He came into the 2021 season with seven Top-4 finishes in an eight-race span, including three wins and a pair of runner-ups. Since? 21st, 34th, 20th, 25th, and 25th again, respectively, with five laps led.
Tyler Reddick (+3000)
Not a great track for him. Tyler Reddick was 30th last spring and 20th last fall. He finished 20th in Phoenix and 14th in Martinsville this season.
Food City 500 prop pick: Chase Elliott Top 5 Finish
He’s due. Elliott (+850 outright) won the All-Star race here in July 2020, and when factoring that in, Elliott has seven Top-8 finishes in his last nine starts at Bristol. That includes a runner-up in spring 2022 and fall 2024. He led 129 laps in a 25th-place finish in 2021, too. Elliott has five Top-10 finishes, including a fourth-place result at Martinsville, in the last six races.
Pick: Chase Elliott Top 5 Finish (+110 at DraftKings)
Popular motor sports futures odds
Bristol Motor Speedway track analysis
Beginning in 2021 and lasting through 2023, the spring race was held on dirt. This past spring, with a return to concrete and 54 lead changes, a barnburner occurred.
How much correlates over to the return trip?
NASCAR tested this summer to see if the tire wear would be similar, where drivers were tip-toeing around the high-banked .533-mile concrete oval in the spring. By the outlook, it sounds like we may see a similar race.
Bristol’s a banked concrete short track, most similar to Dover, although this track is half the size. Multiple grooves settle in as the race goes on. Lapped traffic plays a key role in determining the outcome.
Food City 500 trends
- Starting spot is key. Six of the last seven races on the concrete oval came from a Top-5 starting spot.
- Chevy has just three wins in the last 19 races at Bristol.
- Kyle Larson has led at least 17 laps in 10 of the last 11 races here.
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Food City 500 info
| Location: | Bristol Motor Speedway, Bristol, TN |
| Date: | Sunday, 4-13-2025 |
| Start time: | 2:00 p.m. ET |
| TV: | FS1 |
Previous Food City 500 winners
The Food City 500 was run as the Food City Dirt Race from 2021-23. Chevrolet's last spring win at Bristol, regardless of surface, came in 2017 (Jimmie Johnson).
| Year | Winner |
| 2024 | Denny Hamlin |
| 2023 | Christopher Bell |
| 2022 | Kyle Busch |
| 2021 | Joey Logano |
| 2020 | Brad Keselowski |
How to make Food City 500 picks
NASCAR betting is a nuanced process that can take any number of factors into account, and spans several different types of bets. Fortunately, our How to Bet NASCAR guide walks you through the basics, including how to read odds, different markets that are available, and what to consider when making your bets.
