Let’s start with the obvious: Yes, we’re just going through the motions here, carrying on with the weekly routine because that’s the way it’s always been done.
Part of that routine is a look at the odds for the upcoming race and potentially finding a sleeper or two with a potentially good payday. And we’ll do that.
But along the way we’ll notice that Austin Hill is among the drivers down in the bottom half of the odds board. He’s a Saturday regular but shows up occasionally on Sundays, as he will Sunday night at Charlotte Motor Speedway.
But this time, he won’t be driving an additional entry for Richard Childress Racing. He’ll be behind the wheel of the No. 8 RCR car, the ride normally piloted by Kyle Busch. Not since Kevin Harvick took over Dale Earnhardt’s Chevy, for the same RCR team, 25 years ago at Rockingham, has a racer been given such an emotional chore.
Let’s check the favorites and longshots and pretend any of it really matters right now …
No surprise atop Charlotte odds board
+500: Denny Hamlin
+600: Kyle Larson, Tyler Reddick
+850: William Byron
+900: Christopher Bell
Denny is an obvious favorite and not just at Charlotte but basically any oval these days. Also, assuming the racing gods see fit, he’d be the perfect winner because, better than all others, he’d know what to say afterwards to meet this horribly sad moment.
Chase and Chase, and Connor Z moves up a tad
+1100: Chase Briscoe, Chase Elliott, Ryan Blaney
+1600: Carson Hocevar, Ty Gibbs
+2250: Chris Buescher
+2500: Brad Keselowski
+3000: Bubba Wallace, Ross Chastain
+4000: Alex Bowman, Connor Zilisch, Joey Logano
Zilisch has normally been one group lower on the board this year while suffering through a miserable start to his first full-time Cup season. He’s won two of his last three O’Reilly starts, so maybe the bettors are thinking some of those Saturday vibes will follow him to a Sunday.
Wow, that’s a big group at +25000. Any possibilities there?
+5000: Austin Cindric
+6000: Austin Dillon, Ryan Preece
+7500: Corey Heim
+10000: Austin Hill
+15000: Daniel Suarez, Erik Jones
+20000: Michael McDowell
+25000: AJ Allmendinger, John Hunter Nemechek, Josh Berry, Ricky Stenhouse, Riley Herbst, Shane van Gisbergen, Zane Smith
A year ago, you might’ve sniffed a little Josh Berry action at this price, but man oh man, that 21 team has been out to lunch this season.
Katherine Legge working OT on holiday weekend
+50000: Noah Gragson, Todd Gilliland
+100000: Cole Custer, Ty Dillon
+250000: Katherine Legge, Cody Ware
Depending on which weather forecast you trust, Legge’s odds of getting to Charlotte on time for the Coke 600 are either pretty good, or not much better than her odds of winning.
— Email Ken Willis at ken.wllis@news-jrnl.com
This article originally appeared on The Daytona Beach News-Journal: NASCAR odds for Charlotte as Austin Hill gets grim Kyle Busch sub duty
Reporting by Ken Willis, Daytona Beach News-Journal / The Daytona Beach News-Journal
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
