NASCAR Cook Out Southern 500 @ Darlington Betting Breakdown

• The Cook Out Southern 500 at Darlington Raceway starts at 6:00 p.m. EST.
• Kevin Harvick, the Cup Series leader, is favored to win with +325 odds.
• Denny Hamlin, right behind Harvick in the standings, is right behind him on the odds boards with +350 odds.

DARLINGTON, S.C. - The Cook Out Southern 500 at Darlington Raceway gets underway at 6:00 p.m. EST Sunday evening.

This race is a part of the NASCAR Cup Series, the highest level of competition within the sport.

The Cup Series is led by Kevin Harvick at the moment, followed by Denny Hamlin, Brad Keselowski and Joey Logano.

Unsurprisingly, that list of names ends up near the top of the odds boards as well.

Let’s look at the top ten (well, 11, there’s a tie at 10 and 11) drivers according to the odds on the major online sportsbooks.

The two favorites to win this race, by far, are Kevin Harvick and Denny Hamlin, ranked as number one and two in the Cup Series this year.

Harvick has racked up seven wins and an astonishing 17 top-five finishes over the course of the season.

Hamlin has almost kept pace, with six wins and 15 top-five finishes.

Harvick and Hamlin make up the top tier of odds, unquestionably, and then are followed by the pack of Martin Truex Jr., Chase Elliott, Kyle Busch, and Brad Keselowski, who range from +750 to +950.

This group are all talented and elite drivers, but they aren’t having the same level of sustained success over the course of the season as Hamlin and Harvick.

That said, they’re all good enough that anyone of them is a real threat to win this race.

After that group, the odds start to get a bit more spread out. Kurt Busch, Erik Jones and Joey Logano sit in the mid-teens, while Alex Bowman and Ryan Blaney are tied for the tenth best odds on the board at +2500.

There are also some compelling group betting odds on some of the online sportsbooks.

For example, at Bovada, there are odds on the grouping of Denny Hamlin, Kevin Harvick, Martin Truex Jr. and Kyle Busch.

Interestingly, when placed in a smaller group, Hamlin and Harvick are dead level. This is worth noting because they are not level on the full race odds boards.

Martin Truex Jr. and Kyle Busch are significantly far behind the two massive favorites, and, despite their talent, a cursory look at their records this year will reveal why.

Truex has one Cup Series win and 11 top-five finishes, while Busch, the 2019 champion, has no wins and 11 top-five finishes.

There are a lot of interesting ways to wager on this race, which means that NASCAR bettors have their work cut out for them.