“Between Bets” is an article series revealing our staff’s best wagers across the NFL, NASCAR and PGA Tour. This edition’s bets feature our favorite wagers for the 2024 USA TODAY 301 at New Hampshire Motor Speedway.
(Odds courtesy of DraftKings Sportsbook)
2024 USA Today 301 Outrights
- Joe Gibbs Racing
- Josh Berry (+3000)
Joe Gibbs Racing
I was hoping I wouldn’t have to pull another one of these for a while, but a Joe Gibbs Racing (JGR) car winning at New Hampshire just makes too much sense. A JGR Toyota has won half of the last eight races at the Magic Mile. Of the other four, three were won by since-retired drivers Kevin Harvick and Aric Almirola.
Christopher Bell (+400 on DraftKings) is the runaway favorite, and for good reason. He’s had a ridiculously hot start to the summer, winning the Coca-Cola 600 (or 373.5, depending on who you ask) and finishing no worse than ninth since then. A P4 at Iowa could have been a third win for the No. 20 team if not for an unfortunate phantom caution that hurt multiple team’s strategies.
As scary good as Bell has been lately, he’s been even better at New Hampshire. He’s won five times in all series here, including in Cup in 2022. That doesn’t include a pole in 2023 and a P2 in 2021. To make matters worse for everyone else, Bell is even running in the Xfinity Series race this weekend as a warmup.
The rest of JGR is nothing to snooze at either here. Denny Hamlin (+600) has a trio of Cup wins and has finished top-five in 36% of his races at New Hampshire. The No. 11 has earned a T10 finish in each of the last five New Hampshire races.
Martin Truex Jr. (+500) won most recently here last summer and has only finished below P7 once at “The Magic Mile” since 2016. Ty Gibbs (+2000) still provides longshot potential if you’re riding the JGR train, too.
Josh Berry (+3000)
If you’re not feeling JGR this weekend, let me direct you to Josh Berry and the No. 4 team. Each of the four races not won by JGR in the most recent eight has been won by Ford – three by Stewart-Haas Racing, two with Harvick. The Harvick and Rodney Childers pairing won three times and finished in the top six in 11 of 14 total races together at New Hampshire.
Berry hasn’t raced in Cup here, nor has particularly impressive Xfinity stats either. But take a short-track specialist driver, a crew chief who knows how to nail a setup here and a team with nothing to lose, and it could be a magical weekend for them all.
Check out all of our content for the 2024 USA TODAY 301:
- PropKings: 2024 USA TODAY 301
- Between Bets: 2024 USA TODAY 301 Outrights
- NASCAR DFS Picks, Tiers & Rankings: 2024 USA TODAY 301
Thanks for reading my best bets for the USA TODAY 301. 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: Jason Parkhurst – USA TODAY Sports*
