Memorial Day weekend is set to bring us three of the biggest events in motorsports: The Indianapolis 500 in IndyCar, the Coca-Cola 600 in NASCAR and the Monaco Grand Prix in Formula 1.
Green flag on the final leg of the trifecta, the NASCAR Cup Series race at Charlotte, is set to fly at 6 p.m. ET on Sunday. The 600-mile race is the longest on the schedule and consists of four stages over 400 laps. William Byron will start on the pole as a value play of 40/1.
Defending Coca-Cola 600 winner Kyle Busch began the week as the favorite to win the race at 3/1 and improved his odds to 5/2 after qualifying third. Busch's race last year gave him a win at every track on the NASCAR circuit. That is until Charlotte opened up the Roval (road-oval) course in the playoffs, which Busch has yet to win at.
The 2015 Cup Series champion, Busch, leads all active drivers with 1,370 laps led at the track and is second to Jimmie Johnson (30/1 odds) with 12 top-five finishes. As for Johnson, he has eight wins in the Queen City.
Kevin Harvick (9/2 odds) will seek his first win of the season at a track where he's won twice in the past. He's currently third in the standings and enters the race off a Kansas race where -- if not for a false alarm on his grill -- he very well could have won. 15 of Harvick's 45 career wins have come on 1.5-mile tracks.
In recent times, it's been Martin Truex Jr. (8/1 odds) who has dominated at the track. In 2016, Truex led 392 of 400 laps from the pole en route to victory, and he went on to win again at Charlotte in the Fall of 2017. In the past five races at Charlotte, Truex has led 716 laps, which is the most among any driver during that period. As for his teammate Denny Hamlin (25/1 odds), he's never won at the track but does have the second-best average finish (12.1) in the field.
If you're looking for a long shot, look no further than the hometown Charlotte kid Austin Dillon (30/1 odds). The driver of the No. 3 car has a knack for winning on the biggest stage as his two wins have come at Charlotte and Daytona. Dillon's first career win came here in 2017, when he held out on fuel until the end and led just two laps en route to the checkered flag.
How to watch the 2019 Coca-Cola 600
- Date: Sunday, May 26
- Start time: 6 p.m. ET
- TV: FOX
- Streaming: fuboTV (Try for free)
- Location: Charlotte Motor Speedway - Charlotte, North Carolina
Qualifying results for the 2019 Coca-Cola 600
- William Byron
- Aric Almirola
- Kyle Busch
- Austin Dillon
- Kevin Harvick
- Daniel Suarez
- Joey Logano
- Clint Bowyer
- Ricky Stenhouse Jr.
- Daniel Hemric
- Kurt Busch
- Chase Elliott
- Alex Bowman
- Martin Truex Jr.
- Jimmie Johnson
- Erik Jones
- Paul Menard
- Ryan Newman
- Ryan Blaney
- Denny Hamlin
- Brad Keselowski
- Chris Buescher
- Michael McDowell
- Ryan Preece
- Kyle Larson
- Matt Tifft
- Matt DiBenedetto
- Ty Dillon
- Bubba Wallace
- Corey LaJoie
- David Ragan
- Landon Cassill
- Bayley Currey
- Parker Kligerman
- Ross Chastain
- BJ McLeod
- Reed Sorenson
- Cody Ware
- Quin Houff
- Joey Gase
Odds to win the 2019 Coca-Cola 600
Here are the betting odds for Sunday's race according to Westgate SuperBook:
- Kyle Busch 5/2
- Kevin Harvick 9/2
- Martin Truex Jr. 8/1
- Brad Keselowski 8/1
- Joey Logano 8/1
- Chase Elliott 8/1
- Clint Bowyer 16/1
- Kyle Larson 20/1
- Aric Almirola 20/1
- Ryan Blaney 25/1
- Denny Hamlin 25/1
- Erik Jones 25/1
- Kurt Busch 25/1
- Jimmie Johnson 30/1
- Alex Bowman 30/1
- Austin Dillon 30/1
- Daniel Suarez 40/1
- William Byron 40/1
- Paul Menard 100/1
- Daniel Hemric 100/1
- Ricky Stenhouse Jr. 200/1
- Ryan Newman 300/1
- Chris Buescher 300/1
- Matt DiBenedetto 500/1
- Ryan Preece 500/1
- Ty DIllon 1000/1
- Bubba Wallace 1000/1
- Michael McDowell 5000/1
- David Ragan 5000/1
