One of NASCAR’s top young guns posted his first career victory in a Cup Series race last week with Austin Dillon taking the checkered flag at Charlotte in the Coca Cola 600. Kyle Busch finished second in that race as one of the top favorites and Martin Truex Jr. ended up third. My top-valued pick was Chase Elliott at +1500 betting odds, but his night came to an early end in a wreck.
The following is a look at a few of the top favorites to win this Sunday’s race at Dover along with my top value pick based on betting odds provided by Topbet Sportsbook.
Race Favorites
Jimmie Johnson slipped all the way to 17th last Sunday night at Charlotte after leading that race for 35 laps. He has been opened at +500 betting odds to win this week’s race as one of the top favorites on the board. The No. 48 Chevrolet has already made its way to Victory Lane twice this season with back-to-back wins at Texas and Bristol, which also happened to be the team’s only two finishes inside the top five this season. The real value in Johnson’s odds this week lies in his past success racing at Dover. He was won here 10 times in a Cup Series event and his average finishing position is a lofty 9.5.
Martin Truex Jr. is starting to become a regular in each week’s betting list of favorites to win and he is right up there again at +700 odds to notch his third victory in a point race this year. After taking the checkered flag at Las Vegas early in the season, he became the third Cup Series driver to post multiple victories with a win at Kansas in mid-May. With last week’s third-place finish at Charlotte, the No. 78 Toyota has now made its way into the top five in four races to hold down the top spot in the current standings with 491 points. Truex Jr. finished ninth in this event last season before winning the second race of the season at the Monster Mile to post his second career victory here.
Another driver that has been set as one of the top favorites to win multiple times this year has been Kyle Larson on the heels of a blazing start to the 2017 season. Driving the No. 42 Chevrolet in just his fourth full-time season racing at NASCAR’s highest level, he won at Fontana and finished second in four other races through the first seven point-race events on the schedule. Larson has cooled a bit since then and he was taken out early last Sunday night in a wreck, but there is still some solid value in his +700 odds to win this race. Larson finished second in this race in 2016 and his average finishing position here through six Cup Series events is 9.3.
