{"id":550972,"date":"2026-03-21T10:23:17","date_gmt":"2026-03-21T10:23:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/550972\/"},"modified":"2026-03-21T10:23:17","modified_gmt":"2026-03-21T10:23:17","slug":"nascar-cup-series-at-darlington-odds-picks-will-increased-horsepower-shift-the-goodyear-400-field","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/550972\/","title":{"rendered":"NASCAR Cup Series at Darlington odds, picks: Will increased horsepower shift the Goodyear 400 field?"},"content":{"rendered":"

The NASCAR Cup Series is at Darlington Raceway this week, and some big changes to the setup have drivers saying it\u2019s going to be \u201cthe hardest track we run on\u201d (more on this below!).<\/p>\n

As always, we\u2019re bothering our NASCAR experts, Jeff Gluck and Jordan Bianchi, with all our questions about the upcoming race, how the changes will affect the field, and who they\u2019re picking to win it.<\/p>\n

The Goodyear 400 is at Darlington Raceway in Darlington, S.C., on Sunday at 3 p.m. ET. Watch it on FS1 or HBO Max.<\/p>\n

Take it away, guys!<\/p>\n

Race winner odds for NASCAR\u2019s Goodyear 400<\/p>\n

Car talk time! This is the first race using the new 750-horsepower package<\/a> at an intermediate track. I have several questions about it, but let\u2019s start with: Who does this favor? Could it change the usual favorites at Darlington?<\/p>\n

Jeff: Not only is Darlington getting increased horsepower, but part of this \u201cpackage\u201d is using the aerodynamic pieces that would normally run on a short track. That means drivers will have WAY less downforce than they usually do, and this is what Chase Briscoe told me last week about it: \u201cIt\u2019s going to be out of control. It\u2019s going to be the hardest track we run on all year long. I\u2019ve run the sim \u2026 you are crashing every corner, every lap.\u201d Wow, right? Briscoe went on to say, \u201cLiterally the whole weekend is going to be a must-see, and one team is going to hit it right, and they are going to murder the field.\u201d<\/p>\n

So, of course, you\u2019d like to know: Well, who? Clearly, the teams are going to be guessing quite a bit, and normally it\u2019s one of the bigger organizations \u2014 Hendrick Motorsports, Joe Gibbs Racing, Team Penske \u2014 who guesses correctly. But given what Briscoe said, there\u2019s a chance a B-level team could nail the setup and figure out how to get around Darlington better than the rest. NASCAR is often at its best when the teams are faced with an unpredictable situation, and that feels like the setup for this weekend.<\/p>\n

Jordan:\u00a0Darlington is always a track where a surprise winner can emerge just for the fact that it is so demanding \u2014 hence its \u201cToo Tough to Tame\u201d nickname \u2014 and now with this new aero package, it could really throw a curveball at teams. If this ends up being an attrition-filled race like Briscoe and others have suggested, the opportunity may present itself for victory lane to be occupied by an unfamiliar face. Either way, Sunday is expected to be eventful, which means it should be entertaining to watch unfold.<\/p>\n

How do you expect tire management to go with this change? How risky do you expect drivers to be?<\/p>\n

Jeff: They\u2019re all going to be trying to get their cars as tight as possible, but there are only so many things teams can do to tighten the cars up. That means, to avoid abusing the tires, drivers will need to manage their equipment as much as possible. I always tend to go with the veterans who have more experience doing that: Denny Hamlin, Kyle Busch, Brad Keselowski, Michael McDowell, etc. A younger driver might opt for speed and then find he\u2019s burned up his tires too quickly and fade late in a run.<\/p>\n

Jordan:\u00a0Veteran knowledge always provides an advantage, but especially so at Darlington and especially this weekend with this aero and rules package. Managing tires is going to be imperative, and those who do so the best will leave Darlington with a good finish. And those who don\u2019t are likely in for a very long 400 miles.<\/p>\n

Over at F1, there are changes, too, with their new cars focused on battery\/power management<\/a>, which has led to drivers feathering the throttle on straights, but allowed for more passing moves. How do you feel about this, and how do you think NASCAR has managed the entertainment vs. speed balance? What is the perspective in the NASCAR world about F1\u2019s changes?<\/p>\n

Jeff: What\u2019s happening in F1 resonates with a lot of NASCAR fans who felt stock car racing became too \u201cgimmicky\u201d over the last couple of decades. And particularly in F1, it\u2019s not going to go over well. F1 is supposed to be the pinnacle of motorsport, where purity supersedes everything. To have some of the best drivers in the world angry about gimmicky racing is going to land with F1 fans who were around before the \u201cDrive to Survive\u201d casuals joined in. The latter group might be more interested in entertainment, but it comes at a cost. NASCAR has learned that the hard way, with format changes, playoffs and the like, and now officials have been trying to undo some of the damage. Motorsport is always going to have inherently \u201cboring\u201d stretches, but that must be accepted rather than manipulated in the name of a constant show.<\/p>\n

Jordan:\u00a0You know that meme where the two Spidermen are pointing at each other, yeah, just insert that here. Because it\u2019s a perfect encapsulation of what many NASCAR fans feel when they see F1 fans raise their collective pitchforks over seeing the form of racing they love undergo a dramatic transformation that they didn\u2019t want, but the powers-that-be insist on enacting.<\/p>\n

Who is your favorite to win at Darlington?\u00a0<\/p>\n

Jeff: The winner of this race will have exceptional car control and understand how to get around Darlington without taking himself out or wearing his tires too quickly. While it would be easy to pick Denny Hamlin here, and I understand why he\u2019s the favorite at one of his best tracks, I\u2019ll go with Tyler Reddick. This might drive like a dirt race, giving Reddick, Kyle Larson and Christopher Bell a chance to shine as their cars are on the verge of wrecking. Reddick has five top-fives in eight Next-Gen races at Darlington and, although he hasn\u2019t won, has led 320 laps in those races. He finished fourth and second, respectively, at Darlington last year.<\/p>\n

Jordan:\u00a0Ryan Blaney is one of the best, if not the best, at managing his tires and maintaining speed over long green-flag runs. This skill set is tailor-made for Darlington, and it\u2019s why he would\u2019ve won this race a year ago had it not been for a sequence of untimely cautions. The Team Penske driver may not lead the most laps Sunday, but he should factor into the outcome. Earning his second win in three weeks is very much on the table.<\/p>\n

Who is a long shot you like?<\/p>\n

Jeff: Happy Erik Jones Week! If you\u2019re sleeping on Erik Jones (+5000), wake up. Look, will he win the race? Probably not. But at least look at him for a top-10 finish. Jones has won twice at Darlington \u2014 including once in the Next Gen car \u2014 and has nine top-10s in 16 career starts there. He was third in the Southern 500 last September for a Legacy Motor Club team that only had a combined three top-fives on non-superspeedways all season \u2014 and two of them were in the Southern 500 (teammate John Hunter Nemechek finished fourth). We don\u2019t know how Legacy will run this time, but keep those drivers in mind for sure.<\/p>\n

Jordan:\u00a0Jones is the obvious, obvious pick. But if you want a different name to consider outside of the Legacy driver and his teammate, then Brad Keselowski is just sitting there at +3000 on some boards. That is way too high a number for someone who won this race two years ago, has superb race craft \u2014 including how to manage his tires and equipment \u2014 and is with a team, RFK Racing, that showed surprising speed last week at Las Vegas. Add this all up, and there is no reason to think Keselowski can\u2019t win Sunday.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The NASCAR Cup Series is at Darlington Raceway this week, and some big changes to the setup have…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":550973,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[446],"tags":[49,48,12716,634,82,6452],"class_list":["post-550972","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nascar","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-motorsports","tag-nascar","tag-sports","tag-sports-betting"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/550972","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=550972"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/550972\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/550973"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=550972"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=550972"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=550972"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}