The NASCAR Cup Series race this Wednesday is kind of similar to what we had one week ago: we’re at the same track that we raced at on Sunday, have a much. shorter race scheduled, and there’s weather that’s threatening.
The end of the Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte on Sunday night (technically Monday morning) was a wild one, and because of that, we’ll actually have the dominant car from that race–the #88 Chevrolet driven by Alex Bowman–starting 2nd alongside his teammate, William Byron. It’s more than likely that one of those two drivers will lead a significant portion of this race, as clean air has been king at this track.
The bets listed below are ones that I have already placed via the DraftKings Sportsbook, with the odds posted.
My Top Bets for Charlotte Wednesday Night
Kyle Busch Top 5 Finish (+100) – I actually couldn’t believe this was even money odds for tonight’s race. Not only does Kyle Busch has four top 5 finishes in the last five Cup Series races overall, but his last five races here at Charlotte Motor Speedway have netted him results of 4th, 3rd, 1st, 29th, and 2nd. That’s pretty solid if you ask me. Best of all, Kyle Busch is doing this all without particularly having a top 5 car; his green flag speed average rank this year is 9.8, which is 7th-best in the series (click here for that cheat sheet). I also took advantage of DraftKings’ Profit Boost Bonus to get these odds up to +110. I love this bet.
Grid Position of Race Winner Under 15.5 (+112) – Following the same strategy here as I did at Darlington last Wednesday night, and that worked out pretty well. Here’s the thing: clean air is king at Charlotte, and this is a short race. That gives a definite advantage to the cars starting up front. Not to mention, there are some really strong race cars starting inside the top 15, including Alex Bowman and Martin Truex, Jr.–who led a combined 251 laps here on Sunday–as well as a sneaky fast Erik Jones, who I really like tonight (you can read why here). And you can’t count out Joey Logano there, starting in 8th. Hell, his teammate, Brad Keselowski, just pulled off the win on Sunday.
Tyler Reddick Best Finish in Group D (+275) – In this group is Tyler Reddick, Kurt Busch, Matt Kenseth, and Matt DiBenedetto. So basically I’m viewing this as a head-to-head between Reddick and Kurt Busch just you’re getting +275 odds instead of the typical +110 or worse. Yeah, count me in. Now, Kurt is really strong here at Charlotte, but Reddick continues to surprise, and all he needs to do is finish at least one position higher than the #1 Chevrolet. As far as Kenseth and DiBenedetto go, I see Kenseth maybe cracking the top 15, and DiBenedetto should fall back to the mid-teens even though he starts 4th.
Other bets added to my card:
- Alex Bowman Top 5 Finish +108 … Bowman has had the best green flag speed since NASCAR has started racing again, and he led the most laps here at Charlotte just three days ago. I personally think he purposely ran off pace on the final lap to start up front tonight. Bowman is a threat to win so I love getting +108 odds for him to finish top 5.
- Tyler Reddick Top 10 Finish +150 … Just like last Wednesday night, I’m hoping for a great run out of rookie Tyler Reddick. It didn’t happen last weekend but +150 odds for him to just finish top 10 tonight is great in my eyes. He starts 13th.
- Erik Jones Top 5 Finish +285 … I’m rolling with Erik Jones almost everywhere tonight, so if he has issues it’s going to come back to bite me in the ass, but this #20 Toyota has had great speed since NASCAR came back from the COVID shutdown. He hasn’t finished better than 11th at Charlotte since his rookie year but I actually view Jones as a longshot to steal this race.
