Rain continues to be one of the major storylines since NASCAR's return to the track, forcing last week's Wednesday event at Darlington to end before the full scheduled distance and delaying Sunday's Coca-Cola 600 almost 90 minutes.
Wet weather reared its ugly head again yesterday, completely washing out the Alsco Uniforms 500 at Charlotte Motor Speedway and forcing NASCAR to postpone the race until Thursday at 7 p.m. ET (FS1).
With another full day to bet on tonight's race, I updated my best bets piece with lines available as of Thursday at 10:30 a.m. ET.
Here are the three bets I've made for NASCAR's Alsco Uniforms 500, including the prices at which they're still worthy of playing on Thursday.
NASCAR Alsco Uniforms 500 at Charlotte Betting Picks
Martin Truex Jr. (+550)
I was on Truex on Sunday and I'm running him back again. The driver of Joe Gibbs Racing's No. 19 Toyota had the best driver rating and the fastest average green flag speed in the Coca-Cola 600.
By most metrics, he was the best car on Sunday and remember, coming into the 600 Truex had won two of the last four races on the oval at Charlotte Motor Speedway with a stellar 1.8 average finish over that span.
[Bet now at PointsBet. NJ and IN only.]
Chase Elliott (+550)
Just like Truex, I'm betting on Elliott for the second time in three days. It took a caution with only a few laps to go and pit strategy to prevent Chase from winning the race, so it's no surprise that he finished with the second-best driver rating.
As bettors, all we can do is pinpoint the fastest cars at the best numbers, but from there everything is out of our hands.
Chase was clearly one of the best cars on Sunday and should be again tonight.
[Bet now at PointsBet. NJ and IN only.]
William Byron (+1800)
The biggest difference between the Coca-Cola 600 and tonight's Alsco Uniforms 500 is length.
Sunday's race was 600 miles, which is 400 laps around Charlotte's 1.5-mile circuit. The Alsco Uniforms 500 is actually 500 kilometers (not miles), which breaks down to just 208 total laps.
Tonight's race is basically half as long as Sunday's.
And one of the key takeaways from the 600 was the importance of track position. Clean air was king, and should be again tonight.
For this reason, I'm complementing my card, with Truex and Elliott who are starting 15th and 19th, respectively, with pole-sitter William Byron.
Byron ranked fourth in average green flag speed on Sunday, giving us a really fast car starting first and in clean air.
Ideally Byron will jump out front and take control of this race early while Truex and Elliott pick their way back through the field to the leaders.
Please note that when when I first published this article on Wednesday morning, Byron was widely available at 20-1 odds. However, we're not the only ones who found value with Byron as he's much shorter now at many sportsbooks.
With that said, FanDuel Sportsbook is still dealing the pole-sitter at +1800, which offers enough value at that price. Byron is good down to 16-1, but I wouldn't play it any shorter.
