Denny Hamlin qualified for the pole position in last week’s All-Star Race and made the most of it with a wire-to-wire run to a first-place finish. Kevin Harvick stayed hot by taking second and Kurt Busch ended-up third in the non-point exhibition.
The following is a look at a few of the top favorites to win this Sunday night’s Coca-Cola 600 at the same track along with my top value pick based on odds provided by Sportsbook.ag.
We are probably going to see Kevin Harvick open as the odds-on-favorite every week after what he has been able to accomplish on the track in the first third of the 2015 Sprint Cup season. This week, the defending 2014 Sprint Cup Champion is listed as a +300 favorite to take the checkered flag in this race. The No. 4 car has already won twice with back-to-back victories at Las Vegas and Phoenix to go along with another amazing six second-place finishes in the first 11 point races. Add in a second-place run in last week’s non-point event and it is hard to find a reason to bet against this team. Harvick also adds value to these odds with two victories in his last four point races at Charlotte to go with a second-place finish in last year’s Coca-Cola 600.
As hot as Harvick has been, Jimmie Johnson could be considered even hotter given what he has accomplished in his last five Sprint Cup point races. The No. 48 car started this run with a win at Texas and it came into last week’s All-Star Race fresh-off a victory at Kansas. In between, it finished second or third in the other three races. This team’s odds to add a fourth point-race victory to the 2015 resume are set at +600. Johnson adds some tremendous value to these odds as this event’s defending champion. Last year’s win in the Coca-Cola 600 was his seventh career Sprint Cup point-race victory at Charlotte.
There is a trio of drivers at +700 betting odds including Joey Logano, Brad Keselowski and Kurt Busch, but I see the top value in these odds going to Logano based on overall form. He started the new season with a bang by winning at Daytona and the No. 22 car has placed in the top-five in a total of six point races this season including a fifth-place finish at Kansas its last time out. This will be Logano’s 13th Sprint Cup race at Charlotte and while he is still searching for his first checkered flag, he has come close with a fifth-place finish in this race in 2013 and a fourth-place finish in the second race at this track last season.
- Kevin Harvick No.4 – 3/1
- Jimmie Johnson No.48 – 7/2
- Joey Logano No.22 – 7/1
- Brad Keselowski No.2 – 8/1
- Kurt Busch No.41 – 8/1
- Jeff Gordon No.24 – 12/1
- Dale Earnhardt Jr. No.88 – 14/1
- Kasey Kahne No.5 – 14/1
- Matt Kenseth No.20 – 14/1
- Carl Edwards No.19 – 18/1
- Denny Hamlin No.11 – 18/1
- Kyle Busch No.18 – 18/1
- Martin Truex Jr. No.78 – 18/1
- Kyle Larson No.42 – 25/1
- Jamie McMurray No.1 – 33/1
- Ryan Newman No.31 – 50/1
- Tony Stewart No.14 – 66/1
- Chase Elliott No.25 – 100/1
- Clint Bowyer No.15 – 100/1
- Greg Biffle No.16 – 100/1
- Paul Menard No.27 – 100/1
- Ryan Blaney No.21 – 100/1
- Austin Dillon No.3 – 150/1
- David Ragan No.55 – 150/1
- A.J. Allmendinger No.47 – 200/1
- Ricky Stenhouse Jr. No.17 – 200/1
- Aric Almirola No.43 – 300/1
- Danica Patrick No.10 – 300/1
- Sam Hornish Jr. No.9 – 300/1
- Trevor Bayne No.6 – 300/1
- Casey Mears No.13 – 500/1
- Justin Allgaier No.51 – 500/1
- Alex Bowman No.7 – 1000/1
- Alex Kennedy No.33 – 1000/1
- Brendan Gaughan No.62 – 1000/1
- Brett Moffitt No.34 – 1000/1
- Cole Whitt No.35 – 1000/1
- David Gilliland No.38 – 1000/1
- J.J Yeley No.23 – 1000/1
- Jeb Burton No.26 – 1000/1
- Jeff Green No.30 – 1000/1
- Josh Wise No.98 – 1000/1
- Landon Cassill No.40 – 1000/1
- Matt Dibenedetto No.83 – 1000/1
- Michael Annett No.46 – 1000/1
- Michael McDowell No.95 – 1000/1
- Mike Bliss No.32 – 1000/1
- Travis Kvapil No.39 – 1000/1