NASCAR’s Cup Series has not had a race on dirt in over 50 years, but that trend will come to an end on Sunday, when Bristol Motor Speedway’s dirt course will host the Food City Dirt Race. Bristol has hosted 120 races in the past, but the course known as “The Last Great Colosseum” has never hosted a Cup race. In 1970, Richard Petty won the last Cup Series dirt race, hosted at the North Carolina State Fairgrounds. You may notice that the sports betting odds are a little different from normal this week, as the top dirt racers (Kyle Larson, Christopher Bell and Chase Briscoe) are your favorites. You can catch the action starting at 3:30 pm Eastern on Sunday on FOX.
We have the NASCAR odds for each driver as well as wager card suggestions for the Food City Dirt Race.
NASCAR Food City Dirt Race Betting Preview
| Driver | Odds |
| Kyle Larson | +200 |
| Christopher Bell | +700 |
| Chase Briscoe | +1400 |
| Austin Dillon, Stewart Friesen | +1600 |
| Tyler Reddick, Ricky Stenhouse Jr, Kyle Busch, Chase Elliott, Ryan Blaney | +2000 |
| Bubba Wallace, Alex Bowman | +2500 |
| Denny Hamlin, Kurt Busch, Joey Logano, Kevin Harvick, Martin Truex Jr, Mike Marlar | +3000 |
| Chase Briscoe | +1400 |
| Brad Keselowski, Matt DiBenedetto, William Byron, Shane Golobic, Chris Windom | +6000 |
| Michael McDowell, Ty Dillon, Aric Almirola, Chris Buescher, Cole Custer, Erik Jones | +8000 |
| Ross Chastain | +10000 |
| Daniel Suarez | +30000 |
| J.J. Yeley | +50000 |
| Ryan Preece | +100000 |
| Anthony Alfredo | +200000 |
| Corey LaJoie, Quin Houff, Cody Ware, Josh Bilicki | +500000 |
Kyle Larson already has one win this series, but he already leads the Cup Series this season in laps led, with 379, and his average finish (9.0) is behind only Denny Hamlin and Kevin Harvick. He has never won a race at Bristol, but in his last six races here, he has four top-six finishes, and he has led at least 200 laps in two of them. He has won the last two Chili Bowl Nationals – this is the Daytona 500 of dirt racing, but the event takes place in midget cars. In his last four races overall, he has come in second, seventh, first and fourth.
Chase Briscoe stacked up success here as part of the Xfinity Series. He has three consecutive finishes in the top two at this course, including a win in September.
Tyler Reddick has also excelled on the Bristol dirt track. In his last race here, in August 2019, he won here in the Xfinity Series, and he has four straight top-ten finishes on the Bristol dirt.
Ricky Stenhouse Jr does not offer a significant amount of value. In six races, he has failed to crack the top ten, and he has led exactly one race. At Bristol, he has four straight finishes outside the top 30.
Aric Almirola is also looking for his first top-ten finish in 2021. On the Bristol dirt course, he has not finished in the top 25 in four of his last five races, and he has just two top-five finishes here in 23 career starts.
Christopher Bell is just in his second season in the Cup Series; as a rookie, he finished 20th in the points standings, with two top-five finishes and no victories in 36 races. In 2021, though, he has raced six times and already has a win and another top-five finish, with three top-tens in his last five races. On the dirt, he has plenty of experience, with 26 races in just 2014, and he won three Chili Bowls between 2017 and 2019.
Stewart Friesen also has a considerable amount of experience on dirt, as the reigning champion at Dl Dora. He skipped a Camping World Truck Series race in 2020 to take part in a dirt race. He doesn’t have the best car for a normal circuit, but his experience on dirt makes him an interesting pick.
Kyle Busch has done some prep work, racing at Bristol a week ago to learn the sight lines and the surface on the dirt course. In 2012, he did win the Prelude to the Dream race at El Dora.
