Instacart 500 Picks, Odds & Predictions 3/14/2021

by Josh Schonwald - 3/11/2021

Race: Instacart 500

Date: Sunday, March 14, 2021 at 3:30 PM EST

Location: Phoenix Raceway

TV: FOX

NASCAR heads to Phoenix Raceway in Avondale, AZ this weekend for another action packed race in the Cup Series. Since 1988, Phoenix Raceway has played host to the NASCAR Cup Series. Kyle Larson will be looking for another solid outing after taking the checkered flag last week in Las Vegas. In his last four starts in Phoenix, Larson has finished 6th or better.

Pennzoil 400 presented by Jiffy Lube recap

In stage one, Kevin Harvick was on the pole, but he wasn't in that spot for long and never even led for a lap in this race. William Byron led for a while in the early parts of this race with Chase Elliott taking over until a caution flag. Out of the caution, Denny Hamlin took the lead. There was another caution on lap 33 and while many leaders went to pit lane, Kyle Larson stayed out there and battled until Brad Keselowski took the first stage.

The second stage was somewhat uneventful with some drivers taking gambles and nothing coming of it. Larson was able to grab the lead in and at one point had a 6 second lead on the rest of the pack. He ended up winning the second stage and it was his first stage win of the season.

As Larson started off stage 3 as the leader, Chase Elliott got loose not long after and gave us the first caution of the third stage. After the restart, Denny Hamlin was able to take the lead. However, Aric Almirola ended up hitting a wall, which brought out another caution flag. During this caution, many went to pit lane and Hamlin stayed out. He held the lead until Larson, who pitted during the caution, took the lead back for himself. Larson ran away with it from there and got his first win driving for Hendrick Motorsports.

Overall, this was a fun race with a lot of lead changes. However, Larson proved to be too much in the end for the other drivers in the field and continued his solid year in the Cup Series. Rounding out the top 5 finishers were Brad Keselowski, Kyle Busch, Denny Hamlin in 4th and Ryan Blaney.

2021 Cup Series Standings Update

The win for Kyle Larson moved him up to the third spot with 147 points. He sits behind points leader Denny Hamlin (187 points) and Brad Keselowski (149 points). Chase Elliott is currently sitting in the fourth spot with 139 points and right on his tail are Christopher Bell and Joey Logano with 138 points each.

Instacart 500 Odds

Chase Elliott - + 550
Brad Keselowski - + 600
Denny Hamlin - + 650
Kevin Harvick - + 650
Kyle Busch - + 800
Joey Logano - + 800
Kyle Larson - + 900
Martin Truex Jr. - + 1100
Ryan Blaney - + 1600
William Byron - + 2000
Kurt Busch - + 2800
Alex Bowman - + 3000
Christopher Bell - + 3300
Aric Almirola - + 5000
Matt DiBenedetto - + 5000
Tyler Reddick - + 6600
Cole Custer - + 8000
Austin Dillon - + 8000
Ryan Newman - + 8000
Bubba Wallace - + 10000
Chase Briscoe - + 12500

After a rough outing at the Pennzoil 400 in Las Vegas, Kevin Harvick is due for a strong showing. His 20th place finish snapped his top-six streak that he had going. That said, Harvick always races well in Avondale. He has won nine races and finished in the top 5 18 times in his 36 career appearances. His average finish at the Phoenix Raceway is 8.92, which is the best all-time.

Josh's Pick: Kevin Harvick - (+650)

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Pick:	CHICAGO BEARS +3
Start:	November 24, 2024 @ 1:00 PM
Expert:	Doc's Sports

Analysis:

Free Play from Doc’s Sports. Take #256 Chicago Bears +3 over Minnesota Vikings (1p.m., Sunday, November 24 FOX) We used the Bears as a free play winner last Sunday and easily covered the spread and should have been an underdog outright winner. Now we will ride them for a second straight week against another NFC North rival, the Minnesota Vikings. The Vikings are 8-2 on the season, yet are only around a field goal favorite. I still do not trust Sam Donald to win consistently over the course of a 17 game regular season. Minnesota is not as good as their 8-2 record would indicate and playing outdoors in Chicago on Sunday will cause issues for them on both sides of the ball. Chicago has been hit or miss this season, but they will be up to play another divisional rival and we expect them to take this down to the wire as well. Do not miss out on Doc’s Sports Weekend Card featuring top plays in college and NFL football. Read More Read Less

Instacart 500 Picks, Odds & Predictions 3/14/2021

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