The rich southern history of NASCAR is going to be renewed this weekend using throwback paint schemes, special memorabilia and nostalgia since the circuit heads to historic Darlington Raceway for the famous Southern 500, unofficially one of NASCAR’s four big races.
Sunday night’s race marks the second-to-last race of the season prior to the 16-driver playoffs begin at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. Ricky Stenhouse Jr. (-79 points from cutoff), Ryan Newman (-91), Daniel Suarez (-93) and Paul Menard (-99) are motorists now with a slim chance to make the playoffs with no win while the rest of the field needs a victory at Darlington or Indianapolis to punch their ticket into the playoffs.
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With”The Lady in Black” prepared to paint a Darlington stripe on anybody who gets too near her wall, drivers will need to be in their best as the trail changes when the sexy South Carolina sun begins to set in the 1.366-mile asphalt trail. One of the most unique tracks in NASCAR features 25 levels of banking in Turns 1 and 2, and 23 degrees in Turns 3 and 4 as the trail narrows by 17 ft since the car rounds the egg-shaped oval.
There is no other track like Darlington making it tough to handicap however, the monitor is very abrasive like similar paths in length at Atlanta and Chicagoland. Sunday’s race-favorite Kevin Harvick will soon be using his winning Atlanta chassis which led 181 of 325 laps at February while Kyle Busch expects another 50+ lap-leading win at Darlington like he did at Chicago this summer. The last member of the”Big 3,” Martin Truex Jr. is the 2016 Darlington winner who has a series of three top-10 finishes in the track.
Entering Sunday’s race with all the fourth-shortest chances is a driver who has mastered Darlington and still needs a good showing to secure a place in the playoffs: Denny Hamlin.
The No. 11 Toyota motorist is a two-time Darlington winner and defending race winner. Hamlin boasts the very best driver evaluation (110.3 — well above the next statistical finest of Kyle Busch in 105.1), the very best average running position (7.8) and tops among the fastest laps run (272) in this race. Hamlin also has 10 top-10 finishes in 12 career starts including seven top-fives to go together with his two wins.
Odds to acquire Southern 500
Kevin Harvick 5/2
Kyle Busch 7/2
Martin Truex Jr 7/2
Denny Hamlin 6/1
Kyle Larson 6/1
Erik Jones 18/1
Ryan Blaney 18/1
Brad Keselowski 18/1
Kurt Busch 18/1
Clint Bowyer 18/1
Chase Elliott 25/1
Joey Logano 25/1
Aric Almirola 50/1
Jimmie Johnson 100/1
Ryan Newman 100/1
Daniel Suarez 100/1
Alex Bowman 100/1
Austin Dillon 200/1
Jamie McMurray 200/1
Paul Menard 200/1
Ricky Stenhouse Jr 300/1
Matt Kenseth 300/1
William Byron 300/1
Kasey Kahne 1000/1
Chris Buescher 1000/1
Darrell Wallace Jr 1000/1
AJ Allmendinger 1000/1
Ty Dillon 5000/1
Michael McDowell 5000/1
Field (All Others) 1000/1
Notable Southern 500 gambling matchups
Kyle Busch -110
Martin Truex Jr. -110
Denny Hamlin -110
Kyle Larson -110
Kevin Harvick -145
Martin Truex Jr. +125
Erik Jones -110
Brad Keselowski -110
Brad Keselowski -110
Clint Bowyer -110
Kyle Busch -115
Denny Hamlin +135
Chase Elliott -110
Joey Logano -110
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