Kurt Busch gave the NASCAR Cup Series playoffs a bit of a surprise when he won the South Point 400 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway last week. That gave him the top transfer spot in the playoff standings and guarantees him standing into the next round. This week, the series moves to Talladega Superspeedway for the YellaWood 500. This is a track where just about anything can happen — and usually does, as large wrecks happen here regularly, tying up the majority of the field. You can catch the action on Sunday starting at 2:00 pm Eastern time on NBC Sports.
Let’s take a look at the NASCAR betting odds for this week’s race as well as thoughts about your best picks.
NASCAR Cup Series: (October 4)
YellaWood 500 Racing Preview
| Driver Odds | |
|---|---|
| Ryan Blaney | +1000 |
| Chase ElliottvJoey Logano | +1000 |
| Denny Hamlin | +1100 |
| Brad Keselowski | +1100 |
| Aric Almirola | +1400 |
| Kevin Harvick | +1400 |
| Ricky Stenhouse Jr | +1400 |
| Kyle Busch | +1500 |
| Kurt Busch | +1600 |
| Martin Truex Jr | +2000 |
| Alex Bowman | +2200 |
| Clint Bowyer | +2200 |
| Jimmie Johnson | +2500 |
| William Byron | +3000 |
| Erik Jones | +3000 |
| Austin Dillon | +3300 |
| Ryan Newman | +3300 |
| Tyler Reddick | +3300 |
| Matt DiBenedetto | +4000 |
| Ryan Preece | +4000 |
| Christopher Bell | +5000 |
| Chris Buescher | +5000 |
| Cole Custer | +5000 |
| Ty Dillon | +5000 |
| Matt Kenseth | +5000 |
| John Hunter Nemechek | +6000 |
| Bubba Wallace | +6000 |
| Brendan Gaughan | +6600 |
| Corey LaJoie | +8000 |
| Michael McDowell | +8000 |
| Daniel Suarez | +10000 |
| Reed Sorenson | +15000 |
| Quin Houff | +20000 |
| Brennan Poole | +20000 |
| Joey Gase | +25000 | Timmy Hill | +25000 | J.J. Yeley | +25000 |
NASCAR Cup Series | Eligible Races
Here are the 12 drivers still eligible for the NASCAR Cup Series title. After next week’s race in Charlotte, the eligible list drops to the top eight.
- Kurt Busch
- Kevin Harvick
- Denny Hamlin
- Brad Keselowski
- Martin Truex Jr
- Joey Logano
- Chase Elliott
- Alex Bowman
- Kyle Busch
- Clint Bowyer
- Aric Almirola
- Austin Dillon
Ryan Blaney has come in first in each of the last two Talladega Superspeedway races. Moving to Penske has upped his performance, although in his career Talladega has been kind to him, as he has three total top-five and four top-ten performances. The playoffs haven’t been all that great for him, but he did rebound for a seventh-place finish last week at Las Vegas. The big tracks are where he excels, though — in addition to those wins at Talladega, he has a second-place finish at Daytona and two third-place finishes at Charlotte.
Chase Elliott picked up a win at Talladega in 2019 and has had a solid 2020 campaign, including a win at the NASCAR Cup Series All-Star Race. In his last five races, he has led the Chevrolet drivers with three top-ten finishes. At Talladega earlier in 2020, he crashed out and did not finish, but he was the runner-up at Daytona a few weeks back.
Aric Almirola could be a value pick here. He has a win at Talladega Superspeedway in his career, along with 15 top-ten finishes here in his career. His series of results on this track since 2016 runs like this: third, fourth, ninth, first, seventh, fifth, fourth and eighth. He’s clinging to a hope of advancing to the final eight, and a win on Sunday would make his chances much greater.
Kevin Harvick is a popular choice, but Talladega Superspeedway has not been his favorite track, as he has not won here in ten years. He has had a dominant 2020 campaign, which makes him worth a look, but there are better picks to win.
Ricky Stenhouse Jr has put up terrific results at Talladega Superspeedway. He has 14 races here in his career, with one victory among nine finishes in the top ten. In three of his last six races here, he has cracked the top five.
NASCAR Betting Odds
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