Wednesday night featured the 2020 NASCAR Cup Series All-Star Race, and Chase Elliott won this event for the first time, adding a signature victory to what has already become a groundswell of popularity for him. Approximately 20,000 fans came to Bristol Motor Speedway, the biggest crowd at any U.S. sports event since March. Kyle Busch continued his winless 2020 but came in second. Next up for the Cup Series is the O’Reilly Auto Parts 500, set for Texas Motor Speedway on Sunday. Based on Texas state guidelines, the track will have 50 percent capacity available to fans. Check out the NASCAR betting odds for this week’s race as well as our suggestions for your wager cards.
NASCAR Cup Series: O’Reilly Auto Parts 500 Preview (July 19)
Driver Odds
- Kevin Harvick +300
- Denny Hamlin, Chase Elliott +600
- Kyle Busch, Martin Truex Jr, Joey Logano, Brad Keselowski +700
- Ryan Blaney +1000
- Alex Bowman +2000
- FIELD (all other drivers) +2000
- Kurt Busch, Jimmie Johnson, Aric Almirola +2500
- William Byron, Cole Custer +4000
- Erik Jones +5000
- Austin Dillon, Tyler Reddick, Christopher Bell, Ryan Newman, Chris Buescher +7500
Aric Almirola won the first stage of the NASCAR All-Star Open, earning a slot in the All-Star Race, where he would come in ninth. Before the Quaker State 400 last weekend, he had the best average finish in the five prior races (3.8) and finished eighth at the Quaker State 400. He’s definitely someone to consider as a sleeper, because he’s right on the edge. After Cole Custer came out of nowhere to win last week, we see that 2020 continues to be a season of surprises.
Kevin Harvick has five straight top-ten finishes, including wins at the Pocono 325 and the Big Machine Hand Sanitizer 400. Texas Motor Speedway has been kind to Harvick, who has three victories in 34 career starts — all of them in his last six races here. In his last 11 races at TMS, Harvick has finished in the top ten each time.
Kyle Busch settled for 21st at the Quaker State 400 after coming in sixth at the Big Machine Hand Sanitizer 400. Then he came in second at the All-Star Race. He’s been alternating solid races with disappointing ones…which means he is due for a letdown at Texas Motor Speedway. However, he also has three victories here. I’m not sure he offers enough value for this wager yet, though.
Denny Hamlin had a terrific four-race stint, with a pair of wins and two other top-four results. However, he followed up a win at the Pocono 350 with a 28th place finish at the Big Machine Hand Sanitizer 400 and then finished 12th at the Quaker State 400. He does have three victories and seven top-five finishes at Texas Motor Speedway, over 28 career starts.
Jimmie Johnson came in 17th (of 20) at the NASCAR All-Star Race and has yet to win any races in 2020. However, he is the Cup Series’ winningest driver at Texas Motor Speedway. In 33 career races, he has won seven times and cracked the top five 16 times overall.
Matt Kenseth has won at Texas Motor Speedway twice and has two top-four finishes in his last three races there. In his career for intermediate tracks, his career average finish is 13.01. So he’s definitely one of the longer shots, but he has a decent record at this track. His career average finish here is 9.5, his top-five finish rate here is 63.33 percent, second best in the field.
