O’Reilly Auto Parts 500 NASCAR Betting Odds and Preview

The 2020 O’Reilly Auto Parts 500 is a NASCAR Cup Series race that will be held at the Texas Motor Speedway in Fort Worth, Texas. It was originally scheduled for March 29, 2020, but was postponed due to the coronavirus pandemic. It was rescheduled for July 19, 2020, and is the 18th race of the 2020 NASCAR Cup Series season.

The race is contested over 334 laps around the 1.5-mile intermediate quad-oval. Although the race is dubbed as a 500-mile race, the actual race distance is 501 miles. Kyle Busch is the winningest driver in this race with three victories. Veteran Jimmie Johnson won here in 2015 and 2017 while Denny Hamlin has two wins including last year.

Quaker State 400 Results

Last Sunday’s NASCAR race at Kentucky was only the second daytime event in the history of the Cup Series at the 1.5 mile oval between Louisville and Kentucky. The Cup Series’ adjusted schedule meant that the Kentucky race had to be moved from its traditional Saturday night to Sunday afternoon. The race itself produced a historic result, as Cup Series rookie Cole Custer took the checkered flag to become the first rookie to win a Cup Series race in Kentucky.

Points leader Kevin Harvick entered last weekend’s race as the favorite even though he had never won a Cup Series race there before. He struggled early on but rallied and nearly won his fifth race of the season. Harvick would finish 4th behind Custer, Martin Truex Jr., and Matt DiBenedetto.

Harvick is still the points leader after the Quaker State 400 and he leads Brad Keselowski by 88 points heading to the next race of the season.

Here are the updated 2020 NASCAR Cup Series standings after the Quaker State 400 Presented By Walmart last weekend:

Harvick is once again the betting favorite to win the next race of the season this Sunday, July 19, 2020, at the Texas Motor Speedway in Fort Worth, Texas.

Here are the odds to win the 2020 O’Reilly Auto Parts 500. These odds were taken from the online sportsbook MyBookie.ag as of 07/17/2020:

Who Are the Favorites?

Kevin Harvick is having a fantastic start to his 2020 season and continues to lead the table in points. The 2014 Cup Series champion leads all drivers with a total of four races won this season and ten Top 5 finishes this year. Harvick has won two out of the last four races of the season and has finished in the Top 4 in the last four races. He finished strong last weekend and nearly picked up another win. When it comes to the Texas Motor Speedway, Harvick is tied with Jimmie Johnson for most wins in the last 10 races with 3. He has led in a total of 606 laps in the last 10 races, the most by any active driver, and his average finish of 3.8 is the best among current drivers.

Kyle Busch has struggled to find consistency this season. The current Cup Series champion is currently outside the Top 10. He finished 21st at Kentucky after a promising 6th place finish at the Big Machine Hand Sanitizer 400. That has been how his season has gone: a letdown after a solid performance. But if that is indeed the trend for him, then we should be expecting a big finish from him this weekend. He has six Top 10 finishes including four Top 5 finishes and two wins. Busch’s average finish at the Texas Motor Speedway of 8.8 is ranked second to Kevin Harvick.

Denny Hamlin is tied with Kevin Harvick for most wins this year with four. He is currently 6th in the standings and has seemed to have cooled off after an impressive four-race stretch where he finished inside the Top 4 in all races with two wins. Hamlin’s last two races have yielded a finish of 28 and 12. Hamlin only has one win and three Top 10 finishes in his last 10 starts at Texas but overall, he has three victories in 28 starts here. With the way he’s blown hot and cold, he will always be a threat to win a race.

Martin Truex Jr. is 7th in the current points standings and he is coming off a 2nd place finish at last week’s race in Kentucky. Truex has finished in the Top 10 in nine out of the last 13 races of the season. During that period, he’s had six Top 6 finishes including a win at Martinsville Speedway. Truex is winless in his last 10 starts in Texas but he has 8 Top 10 finishes during that span and has led in a total of 374 laps, third-most among current drivers in the last 10 races.

Ryan Blaney is third in the points standings behind Kevin Harvick and Brad Keselowski. Blaney finished sixth last weekend in Kentucky and he has a total of seven Top 6 finished in his last 10 starts including a win at Talladega. Blaney has four Top 10 finishes in his last ten starts at the Texas Motor Speedway. He ranks 7th among current drivers in most laps led at 233.

Who Wins?

You have to like Kevin Harvick in this race. Not only is he the points leader and on a hot streak, but his history at this race track is also impressive. He’s led most laps in the last 10 races at the Texas Motor Speedway and his average finish of 3.8 in his last 10 starts here. If you want a safe bet, go with Kevin Harvick.

Jimmie Johnson would make an excellent sleeper pick here. Sure, he’s not won anything this season but he is the winningest driver in this racetrack since 1997. Johnson has a total of seven wins in 33 starts at the Texas Motor Speedway.

As we witnessed last week, anything can happen in a NASCAR Cup Series race. But when it comes to safe betting, I think you have to roll with Kevin Harvick. He’s just having one of his best seasons since winning the title in 2014.

Prediction: Kevin Harvick

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