The wealthy southern history of NASCAR will be renewed this weekend with throwback paint schemes, special memorabilia and nostalgia as the circuit heads to historic Darlington Raceway for its famed Southern 500, unofficially among NASCAR’s four major 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 currently with a slender opportunity to make the playoffs without a win while the remainder of the field needs a success at Darlington or Indianapolis to punch their ticket to 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, motorists will need to be in their best as the trail changes when the hot South Carolina sun starts to set at the 1.366-mile asphalt track. Among the most unique tracks in NASCAR features 25 degrees of banking in Turns 1 and 2, and 23 degrees in Turns 3 and 4 as the trail narrows by 17 ft as the vehicle rounds the egg-shaped oval.
There is no additional track like Darlington making it hard to handicap but the track is very abrasive like similar tracks in length in Atlanta and Chicagoland. Sunday’s race-favorite Kevin Harvick will be using his winning Atlanta chassis that directed 181 of 325 laps at February while Kyle Busch expects another 50+ lap-leading win at Darlington like he’d at Chicago this summer. The final member of the”Big 3,” Martin Truex Jr. is your 2016 Darlington winner who has a series of three top-10 finishes in the monitor.
Entering Sunday’s race with all the fourth-shortest chances is a driver that has mastered Darlington and needs a good showing to secure a place in the playoffs: Denny Hamlin.
The No. 11 Toyota driver is a two-time Darlington winner and defending race winner. Hamlin boasts the top driver rating (110.3 — well above the next statistical best of Kyle Busch in 105.1), the best average running place (7.8) and tops the list of fastest laps run (272) in this race. Hamlin offers 10 top-10 finishes in 12 career starts including seven.
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 betting 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
Read more: newsncarolina.com