It’s time for the Southern 500 at Darlington Raceway and the first race in the NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs. Darlington, known as both “The Lady in Black” or the “Track Too Tough to Tame”, is a modified Oval speedway with one end shorter than the other – think egg-shaped. And the perfect track to cause some heartburn for drivers racing for the Championship.

NASCAR Sportsbooks

Kyle Larson comes in as the favorite at +275 with Martin Truex Jr. at +550. Larson has never won at Darlington while Truex is the defending track winner. During that race, earlier this season, Truex dominated by leading 248 laps of the 293 lap event. Larson crossed the line in 2nd place with Kyle Busch in 3rd.

By chance, that 1,2,3 finish is exactly how the favorites look heading into this weekend’s race! Busch comes in at +600 behind Larson and Truex. Denny Hamlin is also at +600 and has three wins at Darlington in a Cup Series car with Busch scoring his lone “Lady in Black” win back in 2008. Here are the favorite drivers, through +850, to win the Cook Out Southern 500 outright according to Intertops.

Kyle Larson +275

Martin Truex Jr +550

Kyle Busch +600

Denny Hamlin +600

Chase Elliott +850

NASCAR Betting Beginners Guide

2021 Cook Out Southern 500 Preview

Date: Sunday, September 5, 2021, 6:00 pm EST

Track: Darlington Raceway, Darlington, SC

Type: Oval, Asphalt, 1.366 miles, 4 turns

Race Distance: 501.32 miles, 367 laps

Defending Track Winner: Martin Truex Jr.

TV/Radio: NBCS / MRN

Fantasy NASCAR Tips and Strategies

This is the first week of the NASCAR Cup Series Playoff. Sixteen drivers qualified to race for the Championship. The playoffs consist of three-race rounds with the bottom four drivers eliminated after each round. Here are the current standings before Darlington.

1. Kyle Larson

2. Ryan Blaney

3. Martin Truex Jr.

4. Kyle Busch

5. Chase Elliott

6. Alex Bowman

7. Denny Hamlin

8. William Byron

9. Joey Logano

10. Brad Keselowski

11. Kurt Busch

12. Christopher Bell

13. Micheal McDowell

14. Aric Almirola

15. Tyler Reddick

16. Kevin Harvick

NASCAR Statistics

2021 Cook Out Southern 500 Predictions

Martin Truex Jr +550

Martin Truex Jr was a force last time out at Darlington. He led almost 250 laps out of 293! He started in 4th place, went to the front, and didn’t look back. He has two Cup wins at the track with nine runs in the top-ten. That being said, his last few races have only included one finish in the top ten. Some people attribute that as the team protecting points and tweaking setups for the Playoffs.

Kevin Harvick +1100

Kevin Harvick made the playoff without a single win this season. Instead, he made it on being amazingly consistent during the season with only a few bad runs. Harvick has three wins at Darlington in his last ten visits to the track including two in 2020. During those ten races, he finished 10th or better ten times. Harvick would love a win to lock in the next round.

Kurt Busch +3000

Kurt Busch locked himself into the playoff this year with a convincing win at Atlanta and followed that with several top-ten runs including a 4th place finish two weeks ago in Michigan. Next year he’s switching teams but there’s no reason to believe he’ll lay off the gas anytime this season while running for his soon-to-be former team.

Others: Kyle Larson finished a clean second last time at Darlington and he is a heavy favorite at +275 so he’s worth checking out. Joey Logano comes in at +1600 and had a nice 3 rd place finish at Darlington in 2020.

2021 Cook Out Southern 500 Betting Lines

Kyle Larson +275

Martin Truex Jr +550

Kyle Busch +600

Denny Hamlin +600

Chase Elliott +850

Kevin Harvick +1100

William Byron +1200

Joey Logano +1600

Alex Bowman +1600

Brad Keselowski +1600

Ryan Blaney +2000

Kurt Busch +3000

Christopher Bell +3000

Tyler Reddick +3300

Austin Dillon +5500

Aric Almirola +6600

Ross Chastain +7500

Matt Dibenedetto +7500

Chris Buescher +10000

Daniel Suarez +15000

Erik Jones +15000

Ricky Stenhouse Jr +17500

Darrell Wallace Jr. +17500

Cole Custer +17500

Chase Briscoe +17500

Ryan Newman +20000

Michael McDowell +25000

Ryan Preece +40000

Corey Lajoie +50000

Anthony Alfredo +80000

Justin Haley +80000

Quinn Houff +100000

Josh Bilicki +100000

BJ McLeod +100000

Cody Ware +100000

Joey Gase +100000

James Davison +100000