Check out our expert pick and prediction for Sunday's Coca-Cola 600 as motorsports expert Nick Giffen looks at the latest NASCAR odds for value.
Sunday is the best day of the year for motorsports fans with the F1 Monaco Grand Prix, Indy 500, and Coca-Cola 600 triple-header.
The Coca-Cola 600 in both years of the Gen 7 car has produced some exciting racing, with 18 and 16 cautions in the two races. As a result, an average of just 20.5 cars have finished on the lead lap in the two years. Add in Texas Motor Speedway, which is probably the most similar to Charlotte, and we have another set of races with plenty of yellow flags.
What that does is it brings longer shots into play for solid finishes at Sunday's Coca-Cola 600 (6 p.m. ET, FOX), and while I'm not diving too deep down the odds board, I do have a driver whose top-10 finish I love at current market prices.
NASCAR Odds, Expert Pick, Prediction for Coca-Cola 600
The driver I'm eyeing has top-10 finishes in four of the five races at Charlotte and Texas in the Gen 7 car, which is already reason enough to like him at +500 odds.
That driver – Chase Briscoe – I have at closer to +300 as fair odds for a top-10 finish on Sunday.
Briscoe and his Stewart-Haas Racing teammate Noah Gragson were ninth and 13th, respectively, in green-flag speed at Texas. And if we add in Ryan Preece, the SHR trio had three cars in the top 15 in terms of average running position. Briscoe led the way of those three with the sixth-best average running position.
Ford also looked like it came to life under the lights at another 1.5-mile track: Kansas. That's a great sign for Briscoe because most of the 600 miles will be run after the sun sets in Charlotte.
Yes, Briscoe struggled at Charlotte last year, but that was part of an overall broader trend with which the No. 14 car was stuck in the 30s in speed at intermediate tracks for the first half of the year.
Those issues have since been fixed, and in the other four races at Charlotte and Texas where Briscoe wasn't struggling for speed, he came home with a top-10 finish. We can look at that 2023 Coca-Cola 600 as an aberration for him.
At the time of this writing, bet365 is offering a Briscoe top 10 at +500, but I still like the +450 line at FanDuel. While +300 might be a bit aggressive as my model says, I'd still gladly play this at anything +350 or longer.
The Bet: Chase Briscoe Top-10 Finish (+500 at bet365) | Bet to: +350
