The NASCAR Cup Series ends its Olympic break on Sunday. Drivers return to the track for the Cook Out 400 at Richmond Raceway. The race marks the first NASCAR competition since Kyle Larson won the Brickyard 400 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway on July 21. With that victory, Larson took the NASCAR Cup Series points lead from Chase Elliott, who placed 10th in Indianapolis. This week’s race takes place at night on the .75-mile oval in Henrico County, Virginia. With the Cook Out 400, the 2024 NASCAR Cup Series regular season has four races remaining.
VegasBetting rolls into those NASCAR online betting odds for the first of three races in August. Now, is the time to comb through the 2024 NASCAR Cook Out 400 Bets. With Richmond being one of the short track races on the 2024 NASCAR Cup schedule, it could pay to consider drivers who race best on these tracks.
Denny Hamlin, the driver of the No. 11 Toyota for Joe Gibbs Racing, is one of two co-betting favorites for the Cook Out 400. Hamlin, who has been on the NASCAR circuit since 2005 and with Gibbs and Toyota since 2008, has five wins in Richmond, with his most recent victory coming in the spring race earlier this year. Hamlin started the race in the 11th spot and led the race for 17 laps during the 407 laps it took to complete the race.
The other co-betting favorite in Richmond is Christopher Bell, the driver of the No. 20 Toyota for Joe Gibbs Racing. Bell has been on the NASCAR circuit since 2020 and has always been behind the wheel of a Toyota. He joined Gibbs Racing in 2020. He has never won in Richmond, but he has a runner-up finish as well as a third place, and two fourth-place finishes. In the Spring race in Richmond, Bell placed sixth for the second time in his career in Richmond. Bell started the Spring race in the 29th spot.
The third betting favorite for Vegas Betting, Martin Truex, Jr., also drives a Toyota for Joe Gibbs Racing. Truex is behind the wheel of the No. 19 car. The 44-year-old has been with Gibbs since 2019. Truex has three career wins, 10 top-five places, and 18 top-10 finishes in Richmond. His most recent victory came in 2021. He placed fourth in the Spring 2024 race on the short track after starting in the seventh spot.
There are four NASCAR Cup Series races left on the regular season schedule before the top 16 drivers head into the Playoffs: Cook Out 400, 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 +108 over the playoff cut line, so he should be safe, unless he falls off considerably over the next four races. Truex has struggled as of late, giving up 32 points to No. 17 ranked Bubba Wallace over the past 10 races.
Next up is Ty Gibbs, who is +42 over Wallace. 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 should be in if he finishes around 15th for the rest of the regular season.
Chris Buescher is dangerously close to the cut line at +17. A positive for Buescher is that he’s performed well on the tracks that remain on the schedule. If he can perform close to what he’s done lately on these tracks, he should make the playoff cut.
Ross Chastain is the last driver on the right side of the playoff line at +7. Chastain has lost 86 points to Wallace in the last four races, which does not bode well for the driver of the No. 1 car.
Bubba Wallace is -7 at No. 17 in the playoff race. He’s been very good lately and finished well on the upcoming tracks in 2023, so Wallace has a good shot at taking the No. 16 spot from Chastain.
Bell has never won a race in Richmond, but he has performed well in almost every start he’s had on the track while driving for Joe Gibbs Racing. His 20th-place finish in the second race of 2023 was an outlier. Besides that finish, Bell has finished inside the top six in his other starts on the track. Bell is the betting pick to win the 2024 Cook Out 400.
Before the Cook Out 400, don’t forget to check out the best betting site bonuses and prime Vegas online betting sites.
