2024 Shriners Children's 500 predictions: NASCAR Racing best bets at Phoenix

The NASCAR Cup Series heads to Phoenix Raceway this weekend for the Shriners Children’s 500. Bettors can tune into the action on FOX on Sunday at 3:30 p.m. ET.

FanDuel Sportsbook has Kyle Larson (+500) as the pre-race favorite. Larson won last week’s race at Las Vegas, and claimed the 2021 Fall race at Phoenix to clinch the Championship. The other favorites include Ryan Blaney and William Byron (+700).

Phoenix is the site of the Championship race in November, so Sunday’s performance is key for that race.

Which drivers should you target for the Shriners Children’s 500? Check out my favorite bets for Sunday’s race.

Last Fall, Ryan Blaney captured his first NASCAR Cup Series Championship at Phoenix. He became the first Champion in the Championship 4 era not to win the season finale, but it doesn’t take away from his Phoenix success.

Blaney enters Sunday’s race with three consecutive runner-up finishes at Phoenix. Over the last four races at Phoenix, he leads the Cup Series with four top-five finishes, 254 laps led, a 2.5 average finish, and 175 points scored.

In my opinion, Blaney should be the favorite for this race. His Phoenix success is evident in the numbers, and Ford, in general, is strong at the track.

There’s no consolation prize for finishing second in the Spring Phoenix race. Blaney has a strong chance to end the streak and score his first Phoenix win.

The Championship 4 is always the focus in the Fall Phoenix race, but Ross Chastain stole the show with his first Phoenix win in last year’s race. Chastain led 157 of 312 laps in a dominant performance.

That was far from an outlier performance for Chastain. Since joining Trackhouse Racing in 2022, Chastain has finished top three in three of the four Phoenix races. His one bad finish came after Denny Hamlin forced him into the wall in the final laps.

Chastain had to overcome a pit road penalty the last two weeks to score a top-10 finish. The speed is there, but he needs to clean up the mistakes if he wants to compete for wins.

As long as he can avoid another pit road issue, Chastain should be a strong contender to win back-to-back Phoenix races.

Early on at Las Vegas, it looked like William Byron would be one of the top contenders. Then, he had a series of problems and could only rebound for a 10th-place finish. Byron should be back in contention at Phoenix.

Byron has been solid at Phoenix in his career but took it to another level last season. He led 64 laps and won the Spring race with a late pass on teammate Kyle Larson. Byron led 95 laps in the Fall race, finishing fourth.

We’re seeing Byron become a driver that can compete for the win on any track. He proved that last season, and it’s carried over to 2024.

I like a few drivers over Byron on Sunday, but I still see him competing for a top-five finish.

Chris Buescher had a breakout season in 2023, scoring three wins and finishing seventh in the standings. Unfortunately, it’s been a rough start to 2024, and he sits outside the top 20 in points.

Buescher needs a solid finish, and it could come at Phoenix. Fords have a lot of speed at the track, and Buescher displayed that in last year’s Fall race.

He led 18 laps and won Stage 2 before scoring a fifth-place finish. That was his second top-10 in his last four Phoenix starts.

Buescher should have a slight advantage as he was one of six drivers who did the tire test at Phoenix in the offseason. That should help deliver his best finish of 2024.