Top Prop Bets for the Supermarket Heroes 500 - Part Two
With NASCAR’s return to the World’s Fastest Half-Mile this weekend with the Food City 500, rebranded as Food City presents the Supermarkets Heroes 500, there’s plenty to look at. Bristol Motor Speedway can be a demanding course with 500 laps in the heat and humidity of the Volunteer State. Normally, the venue holds 162,000 screaming fans but due to the COVID-19 pandemic, that won’t be the case here. Instead, it will be empty venues much like we saw at Darlington and Charlotte the last two weeks. Yesterday, we looked at the best early options to wager on for the race. Today, we’ll throw around some other potential options to look into if you’re looking to pick up a couple of extra bucks. Here are some of our top options, with the odds brought to you DraftKings.
Kevin Harvick to Finish in the Top Five (+130): Harvick leads the series in points right now and he’s had a very successful season so far this year. He has 12 top-five runs in his 38 races at Bristol Motor Speedway. While he has struggled a bit in his last three races here, finishing 10th, 13th and 39th, he recorded six straight finishes in the top eight at the track prior to that. Overall this season, his average finish is 5.38 with five top-five starts in his eight races. He hasn’t finished worse than 10th on the season and he should be able to bounce back from those rough runs at The World’s Fastest Half-Mile here.
Toyota as Manufacturer of Winning Car (+160): While Ford has had the most success this season, taking half of the eight races so far this season to Toyota and Chevrolet’s two apiece, things tend to go a different route here. Toyota has won two straight and four of the last five races here at Bristol. Three of those wins have come from Kyle Busch and the 18 car while Denny Hamlin won the most recent race here, the Bass Pro Shops 500 last August. The lone win by a non-Toyota driver in the last five was Kurt Busch’s triumph driving a Ford in the Bass Pro Shops 500 in 2018. Seeing how much success that Toyota has had here, you have to lean on them here.
Ricky Stenhouse Jr. To Post Top Finish in Group E (+220): This one is going to be interesting as Stenhouse Jr. has been up and down this season. After crashing in turn 2 of the opening lap at Darlington in the first race back after the pause, he turned in a 25th-place showing at Darlington and a 24th-place finish in the Coca-Cola 600. On Thursday, though, he finished fourth in the Alsco Uniforms 500. While he turned in a couple of dud 33rd-place finishes at Bristol last year, he does have four top-five finishes in 14 runs here. By comparison, Ryan Newman (+310), has only two in 36 races. Matt Kenseth (+210) has had success here but he has to prove he has knocked the rust off while this is Tyler Reddick’s (+275) first run here as a Cup Series driver. Look for Stenhouse Jr. to find a way to scratch out a win in the group.
Brad Keselowski to Finish Ahead of Martin Truex Jr. (-125): Keselowski starts from the pole in this one and he’s in the top five of the points chase. He’s won twice and recorded five top-five finishes in 20 starts at Bristol in his career. On the flip side, Truex Jr. has been inconsistent at best this season and he’s been abysmal on this track. In 28 career starts at Bristol, he has yet to record a win. For that matter, Truex Jr. has posted just two top-five runs and only three top-10 races here. Until he proves that he can run on this track, you have to fade him here in favor of Keselowski, who should run near the front.
Erik Jones to Finish Ahead of Jimmie Johnson (-106): Jones has run six Cup series races on the track and has posted two top-five showings in that span. He did have struggles last season, finishing 24th and 22nd in the two races at Bristol. Johnson has two wins and 12 top-fives in his 36 races here but he has tapered down in his last few runs. He has finished in the top five just three times in the last eight races at Bristol, and has gone from third to ninth to 10th to 19th in his last four races on the track over the last two years. Jones may not turn in a run to Victory Lane here but given Johnson’s struggles since coming back from the pause, give Jones the advantage here.