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Chase Elliott favored | NASCAR payouts for Bank of America ROVAL 400 at Charlotte

ken willis, the daytona beach news-journal
·4 min read

Officially, it's the Bank of America Roval 400 at Charlotte Motor Speedway.

Perhaps more importantly, it's the third and final race in NASCAR's Round of 12 in the Cup Series playoffs. After Sunday, four drivers will be eliminated and eight will remain with four races remaining.

Charlotte's "Roval" is an 18-turn layout that incorporates a big part of Charlotte's traditional "quad-oval" speedway with an infield road course. It's the sixth and final road-course race on the 2022 schedule.

Let's take a look at the odds board and see if we can find a four-wheeled ATM machine ready to spit out some winnings.

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Chase Elliott has some of that recent champagne stink on him. But it's plate-race stink, so don't expect any momentum carrying over from Talladega.
Chase Elliott has some of that recent champagne stink on him. But it's plate-race stink, so don't expect any momentum carrying over from Talladega.

The Faves: Chase Elliott +500, Tyler Reddick +600, Kyle Larson +800

No surprises here.

You wouldn’t use last week’s win at Talladega as a reason to bet Chase. You’d bet Chase because he’s always the man to beat at road courses.

But as always, you get what you pay for, and too much can go wrong to feel comfortable with anyone at 5-to-1 or 6-to-1 (or even 8-to-1 in Larson's case).

But I’d take these three and give you the rest of the field, and frankly I’d only be truly scared about one of the guys I let you have.

Speaking of . . .

+1200: Denny Hamlin, William Byron, AJ Allmendinger

And there he is. Never let a road-course race pass by without considering a few bucks on AJ. He’s gotta be part beagle because he always sniffs his way through the rubble and riff-raff to find the leaders.

Remember, you’d have to bet $100 to get all that $1,200, but a measly sawbuck will get you $120 — if AJ wins, of course. And barring problems, there will come a time in the last stage of this race where you’ll say, “Hey, AJ has a real shot.”

He'll likely tune up with an Xfinity win Saturday. He has three wins and a runner-up in five Xfinity road-course starts this year.

If it's a road course, there's a chance AJ Allmendinger will take a run at Victory Lane.
If it's a road course, there's a chance AJ Allmendinger will take a run at Victory Lane.

+1500: Joey Logano, Daniel Suarez, Christopher Bell, Austin Cindric, Ryan Blaney, Ross Chastain

Cindric is a quality road racer and he’s racing for his playoff life. Kick those tires.

But Ross The Boss needs some consideration. He was hell-on-wheels at the first three road courses this year, and his next two roadies came during his summer funk when folks were calling him reckless. He’s found renewed speed and spirit recently, so ignore him at your own peril.

At a higher price, he’d certainly be worth a wager, and frankly he might be even at $1500.

Ross the Boss.
Ross the Boss.

+2000: Chase Briscoe

+2500: Chris Buescher, Martin Truex Jr., Kevin Harvick

Not crazy about any of these guys, but will pause for a moment to shake my head and wonder what in the hell has happened to that Truex team. Can’t imagine any group being more enthused about getting this year over with.

Truex has four career road-course wins, but the team has been missing a cylinder on those tracks all season.

+3000: Alex Bowman, Michael McDowell, Kyle Busch

(Psst . . . Michael McDowell is a very good road-course racer. Not pretty good. Very good. Do what you will with this info and those 30-to-1 odds sitting there.)

Michael McDowell
Michael McDowell

+5000: Erik Jones, Brad Keselowski

Erik Jones paid off big about six weeks ago at Darlington. And he’s a good little road racer. Another sawbuck in that back pocket? Might be worth a flier.

+10,000: Cole Custer, Bubba Wallace, Austin Dillon, Ty Gibbs

Nope, nope, nope and . . . where is it? . . . It’s right here somewhere . . . oh, there it is: Nope.

+25,000: Harrison Burton, Aric Almirola, Todd Gilliland, Justin Haley

Todd Gilliland has led more than one token lap at two tracks this year: The Indy road course (led 5) and Watkins Glen (4). Means nothing, means a lot.

+50,000: Ty Dillon, Ricky Stenhouse Jr., Joey Hand

You’d like to suggest veteran sports-car racer Joey Hand is worth a wildcard wager, but as a road-course ringer for Rick Ware Racing this year, he’s finished no better than 20th.

I'd like Joey Hand's odds more if he was allowed to drive some IMSA machinery Sunday.
I'd like Joey Hand's odds more if he was allowed to drive some IMSA machinery Sunday.

+100,000: Corey LaJoie, Conor Daly, Daniil Kvyat, Cody Ware, Josh Williams, Loris Hezemans, Mike Rockenfeller

Looks like a GT entry’s lineup for the Rolex 24.

This article originally appeared on The Daytona Beach News-Journal: NASCAR: Chase Elliott favored at Roval; but never(!) overlook this guy