“Between Bets” is an article series revealing our staff’s best wagers across the NFL, College Football, NASCAR and PGA Tour. This edition’s bets feature our favorite wagers for the 2024 Cook Out Southern 500 at Darlington Raceway.
(Odds courtesy of DraftKings Sportsbook)
2024 Cook Out Southern 500 Betting Picks: Outrights
Denny Hamlin (+550)
There’s a reason Denny Hamlin has joint-best odds to win this weekend at DraftKings at +550. Hamlin has been dominant at Darlington, taking the “Lady in Black” and visiting victory lane here four times. He’s finished T5 over half the time here and T10 in over 70% of his Darlington races.
The stats haven’t been quite as strong on paper since the move to the Next-Gen car; Hamlin hasn’t won here since fall 2021 and has two finishes of 20th or worse. Still, the 43-year-old has led laps in each of the last nine Darlington races, and it wouldn’t surprise any of us if he took that streak to double digits on Sunday.
Ross Chastain (+2200)
One of the drivers on the playoff bubble heading to the regular season finale, Ross Chastain, has a favorable +2200 outright on DraftKings. The finishes haven’t looked exceedingly strong here. Still, he’s had a couple of asterisk-mark races, leading laps in the spring of 2022 and 2023 before crashing out late in the going. Chastain earned T5s in the fall of both 2021 and 2023 and was 11th this past spring.
It hasn’t been a very strong summer for the No. 1, earning just three T10s since Charlotte in May. But Darlington offers a beacon of hope for Chastain to solidify a playoff spot at the last moment.
Erik Jones (+3500)
This race has been circled on Erik Jones’ calendar all summer. It’s been a while since we’ve seen an outright this low for the No. 43 at +3500 on DraftKings, but it’s because Jones is a weapon at the “Track Too Tough to Tame.”
He earned an upset win in 2022 to pair with a fall 2019 win here. When driving for Joe Gibbs Racing (JGR), Jones never finished outside the top eight at Darlington. And in his last two races here, Jones has finished P10 and P19, both good runs for Legacy Motor Club.
The results of late (just one T10 all year) wouldn’t give me faith. However, the preparation that must have been ongoing with the No. 43 team to be ready to be at their best for this race gives me hope that Jones could once again pull off the upset victory.
Check out all of our content for the 2024 Cook Out Southern 500:
- NASCAR DFS Picks, Tiers & Rankings: 2024 Cookout Southern 500
- Between Bets: 2024 Cook Out Southern 500 Outrights
- PropKings: 2024 Cook Out Southern 500
Thanks for reading my best bets for the 2024 Cook Out Southern 500. Be sure to catch us live every Thursday night at 8:30 p.m. EST on The Backroad! Also, follow me on Twitter/X @ehicks39 for more NASCAR takes and betting advice.
*Photo Credit: Matthew O’Haren – USA TODAY Sports*