Dixie Vodka 400 Picks, Odds & Predictions 2/28/2021

by Tony Sink - 2/25/2021

Race: Dixie Vodka 400

Date: Sunday, February 28, 2021 at 3:30 PM EST

Location: Homestead-Miami Speedway

TV: FOX

The Dixie Vodka 2021 version will be at Homestead-Miami Speedway this Sunday. From 2002 to 2019, this race was the final race of the NASCAR Cup Series. However, it's now the third race of the year. All that said, drivers will be looking to adjust after starting the year on a superspeedway and a road course and going to a 1.5 mile oval.

With 11 top five finishes at Homestead-Miami Speedway, Kevin Harvick is currently sitting as the favorite coming into the weekend. You can also find Martin Truex Jr, Denny Hamlin, Chase Elliott and Kyle Larson up at the top of the odds list.

O'Reilly Auto Parts 253 At Daytona

For the second week in a row, drivers were racing at Daytona International Speedway. With Chase Elliott looking like he was going to cruise to victory (by way of the odds), it was the Toyota Monster Energy driver, Christopher Bell, that took the checkered flag.

Stage one started with Daytona 500 winner Michael McDowell missing a turn and falling to the back of the field. On that same lap, Kyle Busch had to pit for repairs after hitting the grass. After the beginning fireworks, things were pretty much status quo the rest of the way with Chase Elliott taking the first stage.

The second stage was taken by Denny Hamlin after another driver was knocked out of the race. Ryan Blaney pushed Ross Chastain into the wall and he wasn't able to recover that one.

There was a little more action in the third and final stage with Daniel Suarez taking a chance and not pitting during a caution. This had him leading the field back to green, but he was quickly overtaken by Kurt Busch and then some other drivers. Busch later spun out on the infield grass, which lost him the lead, and he dropped to 27th place. After getting into the back of Keselowski, the caution flag came out. After the caution, Chase Elliott took the lead and with Christopher Bell behind him, looked like he was going to take the flag. Unfortunately for Elliott, NASCAR called a caution for rain.

NASCAR allowed the drivers to have their rain tires to be put on, and this is where Joey Logano chose to stay on the track. He was able to benefit from this decision and take the lead. Elliott did his best to get back to the front, but was bumped into the grass. Elliott ended up getting spun out by Denny Hamlin which dropped him to 25th.

Logano looked like he was going to get the win before Bell eventually passed him because of brake issues.

2020 Cup Series Standings Update

The win for Christopher Bell (82 points) would push him into 4th place in the Cup standings. In front of him goes Denny Hamlin (104), Joey Logano (92) and Kevin Harvick with 83 points. Chase Elliot's off day had him dropped to 5th place with 79 points.

Dixie Vodka 400 Odds

Kevin Harvick - +450
Denny Hamlin - +500
Martin Truex Jr - +650
Kyle Busch - +750
Chase Elliott - +750
Kyle Larson - +1000
Joey Logano - +1000
Brad Keselowski - +1400
Ryan Blaney - +1600
Christopher Bell - +2500
Austin Dillon - +2500
Tyler Reddick - +2800
Alex Bowman - +3000
Kurt Busch - +3300
William Byron - +3300
Aric Almirola - +5000
Chase Briscoe - +5000
Bubba Wallace - +5000
Cole Custer - +6600
Matt DiBenedetto - +8000
Erik Jones - +8000
Ross Chastain - +10000
Ryan Newman - +10000

It's hard to pick against Kevin Harvick in this race with his 7.4 average finish in his 20 appearances at Homestead-Miami Speedway. He has 11 top five finishes, has the best top 5 finishing rate at 55%, 17 top ten finishes and an 85% top ten finish rate. While Denny Hamlin is a a force to be reckoned with as well with his statistics on this track. That said, we'll take the favorite in this race. He's just been too consistent.

Tony's Pick: Kevin Harvick - (+450)

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Dixie Vodka 400 Picks, Odds & Predictions 2/28/2021

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