The primary spherical of the 2024 NASCAR Cup Sequence playoffs will conclude on Saturday evening when the vehicles take to the monitor for the annual Bass Professional Outlets Night time Race at Bristol Motor Speedway.
Some very huge names are at risk of being eradicated from championship competition, and their fortunes this weekend may make or break their season. Let’s check out three drivers to look at — a favourite, a contender and a darkish horse — in addition to one to keep away from.
Favourite: Denny Hamlin (+400, per DraftKings as of Friday morning)
Hamlin is the odds-on favourite at Bristol, and for good cause: He is received the previous two races there. He is additionally one of many drivers with probably the most at stake this weekend, coming into Saturday evening six factors under the road to advance after two disastrous runs to open the playoffs. With Hamlin’s probabilities of capturing that elusive Cup Sequence title dwindling by the yr, this could possibly be one of the vital essential races of his profession.
It is by no means cool to select the oddsmakers’ front-runner, however typically, you simply must do it. That is a type of instances, so even with a minimal payoff at $400, you may wish to put your cash on Hamlin.
Contender: Ty Gibbs (+1000)
There is a theme right here between Hamlin and Gibbs, and it is not simply that they are each Joe Gibbs Racing teammates. Gibbs is moreover squarely on the bubble with regard to advancing to the playoffs’ subsequent spherical, sitting within the last switch spot at six factors above Hamlin. And, very similar to his teammate, he is run very effectively at Bristol, main at the least 100 laps in every of the previous two races that Hamlin received.
If there was ever a golden alternative for the 21-year-old Gibbs to select up his maiden Cup Sequence win, it could be now. At +1000, he has the fifth-best odds for this weekend, and it looks like that may even be barely undervaluing him. He could possibly be Hamlin’s largest menace.
Darkish horse: Chase Briscoe (+2800)
Let’s simply go all-in with drivers who’ve huge playoff implications at stake. Briscoe is tied with Gibbs at six factors to the nice of Hamlin and has excelled on the quick tracks all through his Cup Sequence profession. Bristol has been amongst his weaker such tracks, with a finest results of thirteenth in four starts (not counting the dust races that had been held between 2021 and 2023), however he has completed within the top-15 in three of these.
Briscoe leveled up within the regular-season finale at Darlington along with his playoff hopes on the road, and with odds of +2800, he ought to be thought of a sleeper to do the identical in Bristol. With the speedway’s latest announcement that it’s going to host a Major League Baseball game in 2025, maybe a swing for the fences is so as.
Keep away from: Martin Truex Jr. (+1200)
Persevering with with the theme of playoff bubble drivers, one who appears unlikely to maintain his season alive is Truex. Generally, it is simply not your yr, and in Truex’s last full-time season, the racing gods have been downright merciless. He hasn’t completed higher than twentieth prior to now seven races, and he is 14 factors again of Briscoe and Gibbs to advance to the second spherical.
Along with his luck as of late and pending retirement, Truex appears to be mentally checked out. Maybe he can discover one last surge (he did end second at Bristol within the spring) along with his again in opposition to the wall, but it surely’s equally doubtless that his title hopes will finish not with a bang, however a whimper. His +1200 odds appear too huge of a danger to place any cash on.