Food City 500 Picks, Odds, & Predictions 5/31/2020

by Guy Bruhn - 5/29/2020

Race: Food City 500

Date: Sunday, May 31, 2020 at 12:30 PM EST

Location: Bristol Motor Speedway

TV: FS1

Bristol Motor Speedway in Bristol, TN is the site of the Food City 500 this Sunday. The track is a short track that was built in 1960. It has really steep banks, 2 pit roads, and is all concrete. It's the 3rd largest sports venue in the U.S., and the 7th largest in the World. It normally seats 162,000 people. The speed of the race will be considerable slower than a lot of NASCAR races due to the short track, but there are bound to be some wrecks because of the high banking and constant turning.

With 291 Cup points, Kevin Harvick still leads the standings after finishing 10th at the Alsco Uniforms 500. Harvick has now finished in the Top 10 in all 8 races this season, so his consistency is really helping him keep his lead atop the leader board. Harvick has led 391 laps this season to this point, and he finishes with an average position of 5.4, which is by far the best in the NASCAR circuit. The driver with the 2nd best average finish is Joey Logano, who finishes 10.4 on average. Logano is also 2nd in the Cup standings, totaling 268 points after finishing 6th on Thursday. He has led 207 of the 2,097 laps he's raced, and he has an average starting position of 6.9. Alex Bowman is only 2 points behind Logano with 266 this year. Bowman had a disappointing 31st finish on Thursday, but he's still squarely in the mix.

Alsco Uniforms 500 Results

Chase Elliott bounced back from his disappointing finish on Sunday with a win in wet conditions on Thursday. Elliott led for 28 laps and was able to accumulate 49 points toward the Cup standings. Elliott won by 2.2 seconds over Denny Hamlin, who passed Ryan Blaney on the last lap to finish 2nd. Hamlin didn't lead any laps, but he was able to get 35 points toward the Championship. Blaney actually finished with the most Cup Series points with 52 after finishing 3rd and leading for 2 laps. All 3 drivers started back pretty far. Elliott started in 19th while Hamlin and Blaney finished 29th and 18th respectively. Ricky Stenhouse Jr. and Kurt Busch rounded out the Top 5. Neither driver led any laps, but Stenhouse Jr accumulated 38 Cup points while Busch racked up 40. Busch now sits 9th in the Cup standings while Stenhouse Jr. is way back in 24th. Elliott is now in 4th after his 5th Top 10 finish so far this season.

Odds for the Food City 500 are as follows:

Kyle Busch 4-1
Joey Logano 13-2
Denny Hamlin 8-1
Kevin Harvick 8-1
Martin Truex Jr. 8-1
Chase Elliott 9-1
Brad Keselowski 13-1
Kurt Busch 14-1
Ryan Blaney 16-1
Alex Bowman 16-1
Jimmie Johnson 20-1
Clint Bowyer 22-1
Erik Jones 22-1

Who will win this event at Bristol? I like Harvick (8-1) at Bristol given his consistency so far this season.

Guy's Pick: Take Kevin Harvick 8-1

Start:	November 25, 2024 @ 8:15 PM
Expert:	Griffin Murphy
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Food City 500 Picks, Odds, & Predictions 5/31/2020

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