The rich southern history of NASCAR will be revived this weekend with throwback paint schemes, special memorabilia and nostalgia as the circuit heads to historic Darlington Raceway for its famous Southern 500, unofficially among NASCAR’s four major races.
Sunday night’s race also marks the second-to-last race of the regular season prior to the 16-driver playoffs start at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. Ricky Stenhouse Jr. (-79 points out of cutoff), Ryan Newman (-91), Daniel Suarez (-93) and Paul Menard (-99) are motorists now with a slim chance to make the playoffs without a win while the remainder of the field requires a victory at Darlington or Indianapolis to punch their ticket into the playoffs.
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With”The Lady in Black” ready to paint a Darlington stripe on anybody who gets too close to her wall, motorists will need to be in their best as the trail changes when the sexy South Carolina sun starts to set at the 1.366-mile asphalt trail. One of the most unique tracks in NASCAR features 25 degrees of banking in Turns 1 and 2, and 23 degrees in Turns 3 and 4 since the track narrows by 17 feet since the vehicle rounds the egg-shaped oval.
There is no additional track like Darlington making it tough to handicap however, the track is very abrasive like similar paths in length at Atlanta and Chicagoland. Sunday’s race-favorite Kevin Harvick will soon use his winning Atlanta chassis that directed 181 of 325 laps in February while Kyle Busch expects another 50+ lap-leading triumph at Darlington like he did at Chicago this summer. The final member of the”Big 3,” Martin Truex Jr. is your 2016 Darlington winner that has a series of three top-10 finishes in the monitor.
Entering Sunday’s race with the fourth-shortest odds is a driver that has mastered Darlington and still needs a good showing to secure a spot in the playoffs: Denny Hamlin.
The No. 11 Toyota motorist is a two-time Darlington winner and defending race champion. Hamlin boasts the top driver rating (110.3 — well over the upcoming statistical finest of Kyle Busch at 105.1), the very best average running position (7.8) and tops the list of fastest laps operate (272) in this race. Hamlin also offers 10 top-10 endings in 12 career starts including seven.
Odds to win 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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