Top Prop Bets for the Big Machine Hand Sanitizer 400
It’s the holiday weekend here in the United States with the Fourth of July taking place Saturday. While the IndyCar circuit and the Xfinity Series will be running that day, the NASCAR Cup Series prepares for racing on Sunday. The Big Machine Hand Sanitizer Brickyard 400 will take place Sunday at the famed Indianapolis Motor Speedway at 4 pm ET with television coverage on NBC. We gave you a rundown on the track and on how active drivers have fared here at the Brickyard over their careers. Today, we take a look at some of the top prop bets for you to wager on and cash in at the window. As always, the odds for the race and the props are brought to you by DraftKings.
Kevin Harvick to Win (+400): Harvick has run well at the Brickyard over the course of his career. He’s also on a roll this season with three wins, eight top-five finishes and 12 top-10 showings in 15 races. Last weekend at Pocono, he won Saturday’s Pocono Organics 325 and then finished second on Sunday despite starting 20th in the field. He has had success on the longer tracks this season and his numbers at Indianapolis Motor Speedway are hard to overlook. Harvick has three pole positions and two starts from the outside of row one here. In addition, he’s won twice, including last year, plus seven top-five finishes and 13 top-10 runs in 19 races here. He has finished in the top eight in each of the last six races here. Harvick was strong last week and gets the slight nod here.
Denny Hamlin to Finish in Top Three (+135): If there’s a driver hotter than Harvick at this point, it’s probably Hamlin, who has a circuit-high four wins on the season. He’s finished in the top four in each of the last four races, winning a pair of them. Last weekend, he ran second to Harvick in Saturday’s race at Pocono before reversing his fortunes to beat Harvick for the checkered flag Sunday. He has yet to win in 14 races at the Brickyard but he’s been very good in recent years. Hamlin has finished in the top six in five of the last six races at Indianapolis and six of the last eight. He may not be able to knock off Harvick but seeing him in the top three makes sense.
Ryan Blaney to Finish in the Top Five (+186): Blaney had his struggles at Pocono last weekend, finishing 12th on Saturday and 22nd on Sunday. That snapped a four-race streak and a stretch that saw him finish in the top four in six of seven races. Blaney hasn’t finished higher than seventh in his five runs at the Brickyard but he has led laps in each of the last three races there. In addition, he won at Talladega and finished second at Daytona, both fast, lengthy tracks that are similar to Indianapolis. Blaney has one of the fastest cars on the circuit this season and it wouldn’t be a surprise to see him in the top five here.
Aric Almirola to Finish in the Top Five (+850): This one is a longer shot at this stage of things but Almirola is rolling right now. After not finishing no better than seventh in the first eleven races of the year, he’s been ripping things up of late. In his last four races, Almirola has finished in the top five in each of them. He was fifth at Homestead along with a third-place showing at Talladega. Last weekend, he finished third and fifth in the two races at Pocono. Almirola hasn’t finished better than 13th at Indianapolis in his eight runs at the track but with the way things have gone lately, he’s worth a flier. If you’re playing it more conservatively, you could lean toward backing him for the top 10 at much more reasonable (+120) odds.
Clint Bowyer to Finish in Top 10 (+100): Bowyer enters this race with a 72-race winless streak: for that matter, he’s won just twice in the last eight years, but he’s been solid of late. He ran seventh and eighth at Pocono last weekend and has run well at Indianapolis Motor Speedway in the last couple of years. Bowyer has four top-five finishes and five top-10 finishes in 14 starts at the Brickyard. He’s finished in the top five in each of the last two races here. While it might be too much to ask for Bowyer to turn in another top-five showing here, being at even or slightly plus money is worth the gamble here.
Stay tuned for Part II of our look at prop bets as we do our best to give you the top options to be a winner at the window if you decide to put down some cash this weekend.