Top Prop Bets for the Blu Emu Maximum Pain Relief 500
NASCAR’s Cup Series rolls on with their seventh race since coming out of the COVID-19 pandemic induced pause last month. After seeing series points leader Kevin Harvick earning the win in the Folds of Honor QuikTrip 500 at Atlanta Motor Speedway on Sunday, the circuit continues a busy travel week Wednesday night. The Blue Emu Maximum Pain Relief 500 comes to you from the short track at Martinsville Speedway, creating plenty of banging and clanging on the .526-mile paperclip. We gave you some background on the track yesterday and today, we take a look at what some of the top prop bet options could be to help you cash in this week.
All odds for this race are brought to you by DraftKings.
Kevin Harvick to Finish in the Top Ten (-235): Harvick picked up the win at Atlanta on Sunday afternoon after running in the top 10 throughout the race. He took the lead for good with 55 laps to go and went on to victory lane. While he hasn’t won at Martinsville since 2011, he has logged top-10 finishes in the last five races and seven of his last 10 races at Martinsville. Harvick ran solid at Phoenix, which was a similarly slow track to what we expect here at Martinsville. Seeing that he turned in a second-place showing in that race and he hasn’t finished worse than 11th in a race this season, you have to give him a strong look here.
Martin Truex Jr. to Win Stage 1 (+600): Truex Jr. won the first two stages of the race at Atlanta Sunday but ended up finishing third as he was unable to hold off Harvick down the stretch. While he has just one win in 28 career starts at Martinsville, he has been solid at the track of late. He has finished in the top eight in six of their last seven races at Martinsville, including top-four finishes in four of the last five races. Truex Jr. dominated the field in the most recent race at the track last October in the First Data 500, leading 464 of the 500 laps in the race en route to the victory. Look for him to start strong and end up with a stage victory.
Ryan Blaney to Finish in Top Three (+275): Blaney started the season miserably but has bounced back of late. He finished second at Daytona to start the year before failing to finish better than 11th in the next five races. In his last four runs, however, he has flipped a switch. Outside of a crash at Bristol that left him 40th after leading 60 laps, he has been electric. Blaney turned in a pair of third-place showings at Charlotte and was fourth at Atlanta Sunday afternoon. In his eight career runs at Martinsville, he has turned in three top-five showings with those coming in the last four races. Blaney was fourth and fifth in his two runs here last year. Look for him to turn in a top-three run here.
Denny Hamlin to Finish in Top Three (+175): Hamlin has had plenty of success at Martinsville in his career. He has five wins, 15 top-five finishes and 21 top-10 showings in his 28 starts at the track. Hamlin has finished in the top-five in his last three runs on the track, including fifth and fourth-place finishes in the two races last season. He has two wins this season and has finished in the top-five in four of his last six races. Hamlin was fifth at Atlanta Sunday afternoon and he was second at Charlotte. While he was 17th at Bristol 10 days ago, he held the lead with 12 laps to go before being doomed by a bad pit stop. He has success on short tracks and he should turn in a solid run.
Brad Keselowski to Win (+550): Keselowski has had some solid runs at Martinsville in his career. He has finished in the top-10 in eight straight races here and in the top five of seven of those tracks. In that span, Keselowski has turned in a pair of wins and four top-three finishes as he has been extremely tough on the short paperclip track. Last year, he dominated the spring race here, leading 446 laps en route to the victory. In the fall race, he won the first two stages before slipping slightly and ending up third as Martin Truex Jr. took the checkered flag. Given how Keselowski has two wins and five top-10 finishes in the last five races, you have to give him the upper hand on this track to hit victory lane.
The race starts at 7 pm ET from Martinsville Speedway with television coverage brought to you by FS1. Ryan Blaney gets the start from the pole with Aric Almirola getting the outside spot on the first row. NASCAR Cup Series point leader Harvick starts from the 10th spot.