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The NASCAR Cup Series is heading to Darlington, South Carolina for the Goodyear 400 and the fan- favorite “throwback” weekend. Cars will be carrying the colors and designs seen in years past. As for favorites when it comes to winning, some familiar names from this race last season are at the top of the odds list once again.
Kyle Larson is entering the race weekend as the race favorite at +500 with several drivers close to him. Along with Larson are some of the same drivers that were favored last year. The main difference is that Chase Elliott and William Byron have both moved up as favorites while Kevin Harvick has dropped down.
Harvick has not shown the dominance that he has in the past yet this season and for much of last year. For the 2021 race at Darlington, he entered as a favorite at +650 while this weekend he’s at +1400. This is yet another sign that oddsmakers are fading on the former Cup Series Champion. I say that with a slight grin when I look at some stats. More on that below.
As for the remaining drivers listed as the top favorites, all of the drivers listed below through +1000 were among the top seven finishers during the last race at Darlington.
Here are the favorite drivers to win the Goodyear 400 outright:
Kyle Larson +500
Martin Truex Jr +700
Denny Hamlin +800
Chase Elliott +800
Kyle Busch +1000
William Byron +1000
You may notice that six drivers are mentioned above and that I mentioned that they all finished inside the top seven. Who was the seventh-best driver at the last Darlington race? If you guessed Kevin Harvick you would be correct!
The biggest stat to be aware of when considering Darlington is how many times the manufacturer has won. Over the last ten Darlington races, Toyota has won seven times. Ford has won three times and Chevrolet has been shut out. Over the same period, Denny Hamlin has won three of those races, Truex and Harvick have both won twice. Erik Jones and Brad Keselowski also won Darlington races during that ten-race stretch.
One more thing, “the Darlington stripe” refers to drivers having problems keeping their cars off the wall – thus leaving a strip on the side of the car and one on the safer barrier wall. That causes changes of position, car damage, cut tires, crew chief grief, and betting/fantasy havoc. It will be interesting to see how the NextGen car holds up.
2022 Goodyear 400 Preview
Date: Sunday, May 8, 2022, 3:30 pm EST
Track: Darlington Raceway – Darlington, South Carolina
Type: Oval, Asphalt, 1.366 miles
Race Distance: 293 laps, 400.238 miles.
Defending Track Winner: Denny Hamlin
TV/Radio: FS1/SiriusXM/MRN local affiliates
2022 Goodyear 400 Picks
Martin Truex Jr +700
Martin Truex Jr has won twice in his last ten starts at Darlington and has finished 10th or better seven times during that stretch. He’s the defending Goodyear 400 race winner with his checkered flag here last season. (Hamlin won the Fall race.) Truex always looks good at this track and this would be a great weekend to erase some of the bad memories from last week at Dover. Truex was one of the best cars a week ago before being relegated to a 12th-place finish.
William Byron +1000
William Byron already has a twice this season and is currently 3 rd in points. Last year at Darlington he had a 5th place finish in only his 5th time at the track in a Cup Car. He was caught up in a wreck during the Fall Darlington race and finished 34. Byron is beginning to seem like a veteran driver as this year moves along. He’s finished 20th or better eight times this season including his two wins. He’s also led laps in eight of the eleven races run so far this year.
Kevin Harvick +650
This may be the week that Kevin Harvick returns to the winner’s list. Harvick has three wins at Darlington with two coming during the 2020 season during the three-race Darlington stretch that NASCAR used to help get the altered COVID-19 season back on track. Harvick has steadily improved this season. And, despite not having won a race, he’s finished five times inside the top ten this year with a 2nd place run at Richmond.
Others to Consider: I hate to fade on Denny Hamlin at a track where he has had great success. He would be one of my top picks this week if I could erase some of the memories he and his crew had last week at Dover. Plus, he’s lost his crew chief and a few crew members for several races due to his tire coming off after a pit stop last week. Erik Jones (+4000) has a win at this track and has finished six times inside the top ten in eight Cup Series starts at the track.
2022 Goodyear 400 Betting Lines
Kyle Larson +500
Martin Truex Jr +700
Denny Hamlin +800
Chase Elliott +800
Kyle Busch +1000
William Byron +1000
Ryan Blaney +1200
Ross Chastain +1200
Alex Bowman +1400
Joey Logano +1400
Kevin Harvick +1400
Tyler Reddick +2000
Kurt Busch +2800
Christopher Bell +2800
Daniel Suarez +3300
Austin Dillon +3300
Chase Briscoe +3300
Erik Jones +4000
Chris Buescher +5000
Austin Cindric +5000
Brad Keselowski +5000
Ricky Stenhouse Jr +7000
Aric Almirola +8000
Darrell Wallace Jr. +12500
Daniel Hemric +15000
Justin Haley +17500
Cole Custer +17500
Harrison Burton +40000
Corey Lajoie +40000
Ty Dillon +40000
Todd Gilliland +50000
Michael McDowell +50000
Josh Bilicki +100000
J.J. Yeley +100000
Cody Ware +100000
BJ McLeod +100000
