It’s officially the Bank of America Roval 400 at Charlotte Motor Speedway.
Perhaps more importantly, this is the third and final race 1/8 NASCAR finals in the playoffs of the cup series. After Sunday, four drivers will be eliminated and eight will remain with four races to go.
Charlotte’s Roval is an 18-turn circuit that incorporates much of Charlotte’s traditional four-oval speedway with an inside track. This is the sixth and final road race on the 2022 schedule.
Let’s take a look at the odds board and see if we can find a four-wheeled ATM ready to splash out some winnings.
Chase Eliot:Is he already a member of the NASCAR Hall of Fame? The numbers say so
GET AWAY ORVILLE!:Talladega, the first in high speed, but also the first in flight? They think so Ken Willis
Favorites: Chase Elliott +500, Tyler Reddick +600, Kyle Larson +800
No surprises here.
You won’t use last week’s win at Talladega as a reason to bet on Chase. You could argue with Chase because he’s always the man to beat on road courses.
But as always, you get what you pay for, and too much can go wrong to feel comfortable with someone at 5-to-1 or 6-to-1 (or even 8-to-1 in Larson’s case).
But I’d take those three and give you the rest of the field, and honestly, I’d only be really afraid of one of the guys that I let you have.
If we talk about . . .
+1200: Denny Hamlin, William Byron, AJ Allmendinger
And here he is. Never let a road race pass you by without thinking of a few bucks on the AJ. He must be part beagle because he’s always sniffing his way through the debris and the reef to find the leaders.
Remember, you’d have to bet $100 to get all of that $1,200, but the pittance will net you $120 — if AJ wins, of course. And barring trouble, there’s going to be a point in the final stretch of this race where you say, hey, AJ has a good shot.
He will probably win the Xfinity on Saturday. He has three wins and a runner-up finish in five Xfinity road starts this year.
+1500: Joey Logano, Daniel Suarez, Christopher Bell, Austin Cindric, Ryan Blaney, Ross Chastain
Cindric is a quality road racer and is fighting for his life in the playoffs. Strike tire.
But Ross The Boss needs some consideration. He’s been hell in the first three road courses this year, and the next two road races came during his summer funk when people called him reckless. He has recently found a new speed and spirit, so ignore him at your peril.
At a higher price, it’s definitely worth the bet, and to be honest, it could be worth as much as $1,500.
+2000: Chase Briscoe
+2500: Chris Bucher, Martin Truex Jr., Kevin Harvick
I’m not crazy about either of these guys, but I’ll pause for a moment to shake my head and wonder what the hell happened to Team Truex. I can’t imagine any group ending the year with more enthusiasm.
Truex has four road wins, but the team has been missing a cylinder at those tracks all season.
+3000: Alex Bowman, Michael McDowell, Kyle Busch
(PSS … Michael McDowell is a very good rider. no rather Good. Very good. Do whatever you want with that information and those 30-to-1 odds.)
+5000: Eric Jones, Brad Keselowski
Eric Jones earned himself well about six weeks ago at Darlington. And he’s a good little racer. Another saw in that back pocket? Might be worth a flyer.
+10,000: Cole Custer, Bubba Wallace, Austin Dillon, Ty Gibbs
No, no, no. . . where is it? . . . It’s somewhere here. . . oh there it is: no.
+25,000: Harrison Burton, Aric Almirola, Todd Gilliland, Justin Haley
Todd Gilliland completed more than one token lap at two tracks this year: Indy Road (5th) and Watkins Glen (4th). It means nothing, it means a lot.
+50,000: Ty Dillon, Ricky Stenhouse Jr., Joey Hand
You’d think veteran sports car driver Joey Hand would be worth a bookmark, but as a Rick Ware Racing driver this year, he’s finished a poor 20th.
+100,000: Corey LaJoie, Connor Daly, Daniel Kvyat, Cody Ware, Josh Williams, Loris Heesemans, Mike Rockenfeller
Looks like the GT line for the Rolex 24.
