Following a controversial finish at the Cook Out 400 in Richmond, the NASCAR Cup Series is in Brooklyn, Michigan, for this week’s FireKeepers Casino 400. At the Cook Out 400, Austin Dillon took the checkered flag after wrecking Joey Logano and Denny Hamlin on the final lap of the Richmond Race. The win moved Dillon from 32nd in the NASCAR points standings into the No. 13 spot, securing a place in the 2024 NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs. As the NASCAR regular season schedule winds down, three spots are still up for grabs for the Playoffs.
The FireKeepers Casino 400 takes place at the Michigan International Speedway. The track is a two-mile D-shaped course. Including the FireKeepers Casino 400, there are three races left in the 2024 NASCAR Cup Series regular season. The other races are the Coke Zero Sugar 400 in Daytona and the Cook Out Southern 500 in Darlington.
VegasBetting rolls into those NASCAR online betting odds for the second of three races in August. Now is the time to comb through the 2024 NASCAR FireKeepers Casino 400 Bets. With Michigan being an intermediate track on the 2024 NASCAR Cup schedule, it could pay to consider drivers who race best on these tracks.
Kyle Larson, who leads the 2024 NASCAR points race with 779 is the only driver this year with four wins. He is the betting favorite to pick up his fifth victory of the season in Michigan. Larson’s other victories this year have come in Las Vegas, Kansas, Sonoma, and Indianapolis. Las Vegas and Kansas are Intermediate tracks like Michigan. Larson won three in a row on this track in 2016-17, but since then he has not finished higher than third, placing fifth in last year’s edition of the FireKeepers Casino 400.
Also high on the list of betting favorites is Denny Hamlin, who has three wins and 758 points on the year, which puts him second in points in 2024. Hamlin finished second in Richmond. Hamlin was in the mix to win at Richmond until the final turn. He has Michigan wins in 2010 and 2011. In his most recent starts on the track, Hamlin finished in third in the past two years. Hamlin’s 2024 wins have come in Bristol, Richmond, and Dover. Hamlin has six straight finishes in the top six on this track.
Ryan Blaney has secured a spot in the 2024 NASCAR Playoffs thanks to his wins in Iowa and Pocono and his 702 points. Blaney won this race in 2021 and has since placed fifth and ninth. Blaney has been performing well as of late with five straight finishes in the top 12. He placed third in Indianapolis and sixth in Nashville, along with his Pocono win during that stretch.
There are three NASCAR Cup Series races left on the regular season schedule before the top 16 drivers head into the Playoffs: FireKeepers Casino 400, Coke Zero Sugar 400, and the Cook Out Southern 500. Vegas Betting has five drivers to watch in Richmond when it comes to the points race.
Martin Truex Jr. is +78 over the playoff cut line, so he should be safe, unless he falls off considerably over the next three races. Truex has struggled as of late, and those problems continued in Richmond where he only picked up nine points, his lowest total in eight races.
Next up is Ty Gibbs, who is +18 over the cut line. He is less safe than his teammate, Truex. Gibbs has not performed great on the tracks that remain in the regular season, but he doesn’t need to perfect to make the cut. He picked up 15 points in Richmond with a 22nd place finish.
Bubba Wallace was -7 and No. 17 in the playoff race heading into Richmond. He’s been very good lately and finished well on the upcoming tracks in 2023. He earned 42 points in Indianapolis and then another 42 in Richmond. If he can continue on that pace, Wallace could make the cut. Right now he is in 16th place.
Chris Buescher was +17 heading into Richmond, an 18th place finish dropped him to -3. A positive for Buescher is that he’s performed well on the tracks that remain on the schedule.
Ross Chastain was on the right side of the playoff line at +7 heading into Richmond, but he fell to -3 even though he had a fifth place finish in Richmond.
Hamlin has performed well in Michigan over the last few years, and he’s done well on similar tracks this year. Look for him to break his run of third place finishes on this track on Sunday. The betting pick is for Denny Hamlin to win the 2024 FireKeepers Casino 400.
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