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Once the NASCAR playoff field was set Sunday night at Darlington, the oddsmakers went to work constructing their big board.
They work fast and they tend to work smart.
Let’s see how things are shaping up as we point toward the 10-race chase to the 2024 Cup Series championship.
Kyle Larson, yes, but Christopher Bell?
I wasn’t surprised to see Kyle Larson up top, of course, but if he was sharing that uppermost rung, I’d say Denny Hamlin is a better bet than Bell, though at +425 Denny is just barely in arrears.
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Since 1972, when the so-called “modern era” began in NASCAR, Hamlin is the winningest driver without a championship. Year after year, it seems we sit here at this stage of the season and say maybe, just maybe, this is his time. But again, it’s so much easier to lose these things than win them.
Can Michael Jordan add another championship to his list?
Next on the above list is Tyler Reddick, and if you stopped right there and said the eventual champ will come from those top four, I couldn’t make a great argument against you. Reddick might enjoy some championship vibes from one of his team’s co-owners — a guy named Michael Jordan, who has quite a hardware collection in the home trophy case.
OK, OK, let’s make an exception to that top four with the guy next to Reddick on the board, Billy the Kid.
Byron has been consistently inconsistent nearly all season and hardly comes into the playoffs with all the juice getting to that rear axle. But that’s a Hendrick Chevy he’s driving, so if he gets his fourth win of the season over the next few weeks, and subsequently regains his footing and goes on a playoff roll, would you be shocked?
I didn’t think so.
The next three or four guys, I’d be at least mildly surprised.
