NASCAR Chase playoffs in Charlotte: Our predictions, how to watch, betting odds
The last time the NASCAR Cup Series was here, at Charlotte Motor Speedway, Daniel Suárez earned a win that surprised the field, and he pointed up to the sky.
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He was crediting his late friend and mentor, Kyle Busch, who had died unexpectedly days earlier.
“Kyle, he was special,” Suárez said in the media center after this year’s Coca-Cola 600, a hulking trophy next to him. “I was doing this for Kyle, (his wife) Samantha, for (his children) Brexton and Lennix and for all his family.”
This weekend has already seen a lot of beautiful moments of remembrance for Busch, the 41-year-old all-time great driver who died in May after his severe pneumonia progressed into sepsis. On Sunday, those moments will continue to flow, including the most fitting Busch tribute of all: some good racing.
The NASCAR Cup Series playoffs continue with the Bank of America 400, a race on the Charlotte Motor Speedway oval that requires drivers to run 400.5 miles over the course of 267 laps. It’s the fifth-to-last race on the schedule for playoff drivers to improve their points positioning. Kyle Larson leads the field, with Denny Hamlin (40 points behind) and Christopher Bell (-55) and Joey Logano (-71) trailing him.
Here’s everything you need to know ahead of Sunday’s race, including the Cup Series playoff standings, best bets, broadcast information and predictions from writers at The Charlotte Observer.
Here’s a look at the news and notes ahead of the Sunday race:
Heading into the race at Charlotte Motor Speedway, here’s a look at the standings among the Cup Series playoff drivers. It’s gotten testy among these guys. That intensity peaked last month, when fan favorite Carson Hocevar threw a punch at Ryan Blaney.
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Here are the betting lines for the Top 10 racers, according to DraftKings Sportsbook as of Saturday: Kyle Larson (+400), Christopher Bell (+450), Denny Hamlin (+500), Chase Briscoe (+500), Tyler Reddick (+650), Ty Gibbs (+1000), Ryan Blaney (+1100), Joey Logano (+1400), William Byron (+1400), Chase Elliott (+1800).
Three other NASCAR wagers to consider:
Here’s who we think will win this weekend’s NASCAR Cup Series race.
Alex Zietlow: Ryan Blaney. It’s true that the talk of the regular season was that this was the “Toyota Cup Series,” what with how great the car manufacturer was performing up and down the field. It’s also true that the Toyota-partnered Joe Gibbs Racing team, specifically, has had a special year, and that there would be no objectively better story than if JGR star Denny Hamlin were to find a way to win his first Cup championship.
But I think Charlotte won’t fit into all that. This is the weekend that Ryan Blaney, driver of the No. 12 Ford who currently sits in fifth place, emerges victorious and kickstarts a legendary push to the end to vie for his second title. He’s particularly good at intermediates and has won at this Charlotte oval a few times, including at the 2023 Coca-Cola 600, which preceded his championship run that year. All I’m saying is: Count Blaney out at your own peril this weekend. I won’t.
Scott Fowler: Kyle Larson. Larson has been on a heater lately, with his last four NASCAR Cup finishes sounding like the beginning of a long march: 1-2-1-2. His 40-point Cup lead isn’t insurmountable in this new format, but he’s the hottest driver in the sport right now, and I wouldn’t want to be the one trying to catch him. Larson won the Cup championship in 2025; if he gets this one too, he’ll be the first driver to go back-to-back since Jimmie Johnson won five times in a row from 2006-10. The Charlotte race will get him one step closer.
Will Dehmel: Denny Hamlin. In the year of Toyota, I’m going with their all-time leader in Cup Series wins. Hamlin has finished well on ovals of Charlotte’s size this season, winning at Las Vegas, coming in second at Fort Worth, and finishing top-5 six times. That Hamlin has not won more than once on the Charlotte oval makes it feel like he’s overdue. Four years after his first win here, I’m predicting Hamlin to finish on top again.
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