The 2020 NASCAR season is making for lost time with a jam-packed upcoming schedule. Next up is the Coca-Cola 600 on Sunday and Matt DeSaro has your best picks and parlays for this Memorial Day weekend race.
The Charlotte Motor Speedway is the site of this weekend’s action with NASCAR running races again for the last eight days. This raceway will be the host of two events in four days as NASCAR hopes to make up for lost time during the coronavirus outbreak.
Sunday will mark the 61st running of this event in Concord, North Carolina, and will consist of 400 laps or 600 miles.
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T&C APPLY | NJ, PA, IN, CO, NJ, MI, IA, LA, MS, OH ONLY Join NowThe current odds have Kyle Busch as a +400 favorite, he won here in 2018 but is just 13th in the standings right now. Defending champion Martin Truex Jr and current points leader Kevin Harvick are each +550.
Other drivers seeing some action on the betting boards are Alex Bowman in the number 88. The Henrick Motorsport’s youngster is currently third in point and finished second last week to Harvick. It was his second top-5 finish of the year and has excellent dark horse value at 16/1.
Before we get into the picks for the Coca-Cola 600, let’s go over all the odds for this race:
Betting Odds
Kyle Busch +400
Martin Truex Jr +450
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T&C APPLY | NJ, PA, IN, CO, NJ, MI, IA, LA, MS, OH ONLY Join NowKevin Harvick +550
Brad Keselowski +800
Joey Logano +800
Chase Elliott +900
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T&C APPLY | NJ, PA, IN, CO, NJ, MI, IA, LA, MS, OH ONLY Join NowDenny Hamlin +1100
Alex Bowman +1600
Jimmie Johnson +1600
William Byron +2000
Kurt Busch +2200
Ryan Blaney +2500
Clint Bowyer +2500
Erik Jones +2500
Ricky Stenhouse Jr +2500
Aric Almirola +3300
Matt Kenseth +3300
Matt DiBenedetto +5000
Tyler Reddick +5000
Austin Dillon +6000
Christoper Bell +8000
Ryan Newman +8000
Cole Custer +100000
NASCAR Coca-Cola 600 Picks and Parlays
Martin Truex Jr enters the weekend as the second favorite at Charlotte despite a winless season thus far, which has him ranked 11th in the Cup Series. Truex Jr. has made this run 15 times before and, despite his iffy season, has been a beast here over the years. He not only won in 2016 but came back last year and won the Coca-Cola 600 again. Truex Jr. has yet to finish in the top-5 of a 2020 race, but now might be the time to get back in the groove. He showed signs of life last week and might be able to show his knowledge of this track again and earn his first win.
The last two Coca-Cola 600 winners were Joe Gibbs racers, and four of the last five were won by Toyota. Truex Jr ticks both those boxes.
Kevin Harvick is also on my shortlist of bet-on candidates despite burning me in his second of two races last week. But I try to forgive and forget, and Harvick is still sitting atop the leaderboard and did have a solid last week of racing. Due to his season success, he will be the man to beat until further notice, and it’s hard to race with a target on your back. Harvick has a winning history at Charlotte, taking the checkered flag in 2011, 2013 and 2014. The problem is, he has not been able to recreate that magic in the last five years, finishing in the top five just once.
Sure, he was knocked out in 2016 with a mechanical issue and again in 2018 after an accident. So it’s not all his fault that he’s not won here in a while. It might make him just that hungrier to regain his crown at Charlotte in 2020.
Jimmie Johnson is another intriguing option. Especially, considering his odds which currently sit at 16/1 for the Coca-Cola 600. Johnson is still looking for his first win of the season but has come closer in recent races. Last week he finished eight, good for his third top-10 finish in four of his previous five. JJ needs to keep finishing strong to hold onto the playoff spot he possesses and might have the drive to pull off an underdog win here. After all, he is the winningest drive that Charlotte Motor Speedway has ever seen with eight wins and 22 top-10 finishes.
With all that in mind, I keep coming back to Truex Jr to see the checkered flag this weekend. He seemed to wake up a bit last week, and his success at Charlotte is undeniable. I’m going to parlay that with Jimmie Johnson to finish in the top-10 based career dominance over the track.
That’s us for our Coca-Cola 600 picks and parlays. As always, best of luck and l’ll be back to preview next week’s race at Charlotte.
