2024 NASCAR Bristol odds, best bets and longshot picks for Food City 500
For the first time since 2020, the spring NASCAR Cup Series race at Bristol Motor Speedway will be back on its traditional concrete surface after three years of racing on dirt.
The half-mile track, which is NASCAR’s primer short-track racing circuit, dubbed the Last Great Coliseum, will host the Food City 500 on Sunday afternoon (3:30 p.m., FOX).
Denny Hamlin is the favorite, according to BetMGM, to take the checkered flag, sitting at +525 odds. And that makes sense, considering Hamlin won last season’s playoff race, giving him his third career Bristol victory.
If Hamlin goes back-to-back, he’d be the 13th different driver to win consecutive Cup races at Bristol Motor Speedway. In 33 career stars there, Hamlin, the driver of the No. 11 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota, has three victories, 10 top-5 and 17 top-10 finishes.
But one thing we know about Bristol, anything can happen.
FrontPageBets takes a look at drivers to watch, as well as a longshot pick, when the green flag drops at Bristol Motor Speedway for the Food City 500 on Sunday afternoon.
Pick to win: Christopher Bell (+600)
Bell, the driver of the No. 20 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota, is fresh off his win last week at Phoenix Raceway, and was also the last winner at Bristol’s dirt-track set up.
In five starts on concrete at the half-mile track, Bell has three top-10s, including two top-5s. In the three dirt races, he has one win and one other top 10.
In last year’s playoff race, Bell started on the pole and finished third, which was a career best on the concrete surface setup.
Top-5 pick: Kyle Busch (+210)
Even though Busch hasn’t won on Bristol’s traditional set up since 2019, the man has dominated the track throughout his career.
The driver of the No. 8 Richard Childress Racing Chevy owns nine total Cup wins at Bristol, including in 2022 on the Tennessee clay surface. However, Bristol’s dirt setup is considered a different track statistically, according to NASCAR.
If he wins Sunday, though, Busch will record his ninth victory on the concrete surface, putting him in rare air, as only nine other Cup drivers since 1949 have won as many as nine times on the same track.
Busch also has 19 top-10s, including 14 top-5s in 34 career starts.
Longshot pick: Joey Logano (+2500)
Logano has two career wins at the half-mile track … but it’s been nearly nine years since his last trip to Victory Lane there.
However, the driver of the No. 22 Team Penske Ford does have 10 career top-10s, including six top-5s in 27 career starts.
NASCAR Bristol Food City 500 odds
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