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2021 NASCAR Cup Series QuikTrip 500 Predictions: Brad Keselowski Set to Storm Among Leaders, Dark Horse Picks
The 2021 NASCAR Cup Series finally appears to be levelling out in terms of race winners after a frantic start to the betting year, and the Folds of Honor QuikTrip 500 will headline this Sunday (March 21). Get free bets promo, see odds and read our predictions in this preview.
It’s easy to see the household names haven’t necessarily been placing first given there’s only two wins between the top seven drivers in the standings after five races. Fourth-placed Martin Truex Jr. was the first of the ‘big’ names to collect a win this season at the Instacart 500 last weekend, and Kyle Larson (currently fifth) nabbed his maiden winner of the year prior to that.
The Cup Series moves to Atlanta Motor Speedway for the first of two dates on the calendar this year, and Kevin Harvick is back in the favorite’s seat at +550 odds with Sugarhouse, available to customers in New Jersey and other legal betting states. However, the name piquing most interest is slightly behind among the frontrunners as +750 Brad Keselowski returns to a track that’s served him well in past years, having won in two of his previous four starts in Atlanta (2017, ’19):
More notably, Keselowski has finished inside the top 10 six times straight since Atlanta was moved back into the first half of the Cup Series calendar. He’s averaged a finish of around fifth place in those last six starts, a stark improvement upon the 22nd place he was averaging in his five previous appearances when Atalanta was an August/September meet.
Keselowski earned attention as a potential outsider for the NASCAR championship this year, and he demonstrated determined tactics en route to a fourth-place finish in Phoenix last week:
Brad @keselowski's line at Phoenix = 😬. pic.twitter.com/hC6qEgtc16
— FOX: NASCAR (@NASCARONFOX) March 17, 2021
The Michigan native has finishes of fourth, second and fifth across the last four races—only standings leader Denny Hamlin has more top-five finishes this season—and there seems like no better track for Keselowski to finally get his first win on the board.
QuikTrip 500 Info
Date: Sunday, March 21
Time: 3 p.m. ET
Venue: Atlanta Motor Speedway, Hampton, Georgia
Laps: 325 (500.5 miles)
TV Info: FOX
NASCAR QuikTrip 500 Predictions & Betting Preview
As of yet, no driver has managed to pick up more than one victory thus far in 2021, but look no further than NASCAR sophomore Christopher Bell for a dark-horse contender to do just that on Sunday. Bell—who moved to Joe Gibbs Racing from Leavine Family Racing this off-season—got a surprise victory at the O’Reilly Auto Parts 253 at Daytona earlier this season. Since then, the 26-year-old has come to look a lot more comfortable among the bigger names of the sport and impressed with finishes of seventh and ninth in the last two races.
With only one season of NASCAR driving under his belt, it’s hard to read into Bell’s 18th-place finish here during his debut season. However, it is a location he thrived at during his final Xfinity Series career, finishing third in his maiden appearance at Atlanta before winning his final start here in 2019.
Prediction: Brad Keselowski to win (+750)
Dark Horse: Christopher Bell (+2200)
2021 QuikTrip 500 Odds Leaders
Team |
Winner Odds |
Kevin Harvick |
+550 |
Kyle Larson |
+650 |
Martin Truex Jr. |
+650 |
Brad Keselowski |
+750 |
Chase Elliott |
+800 |
Denny Hamlin |
+800 |
Joey Logano |
+900 |
Kyle Busch |
+1000 |
Ryan Blaney |
+1600 |
William Byron |
+2000 |