The best race day of the year culminates in the longest cup race on the NASCAR calendar: the Coca-Cola 600. There’s no race that tests drivers, teams and cars like the 600-mile around Charlotte Motor Speedway during the 400 laps. Memorial Day weekend is also celebrated while racing in NASCAR’s most patriotic display all year. The 2023 Coke 600 race is expected to be another great race, but there are concerns over the weather and how the track will change over the 600 miles.
Let’s dive into the betting strategies and predictions for the Coke 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway.
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Coca-Cola 600 Betting Strategies
The main thing with the Coke 600 is the length of the stroke. It is the only 600 mile race on the program each year. Although the track looks pretty straightforward as a 1.5 mile quad-oval layout, it’s more of a cookie cutter track than anything else, it’s the distance that’s really the challenge here. Every driver in the field is very used to Charlotte and in some ways it may be the easiest track to get the cars ready. The lean in both sets of corners is symmetrical, and the pavement is not a big threat of tire wear. With those things out of concern, we are primarily looking for riders who have had success here in the past as well as in this intermediate aero package for the past two years. Moving up to the intermediate package was pretty easy to come by and with the nature of this race, track position isn’t as king as it is elsewhere. There may be one other thing that will play a part in this race weekend… the weather.
Charlotte Motor Speedway Weather Forecast
What exactly is the forecast for Charlotte on Saturday and Sunday? Rain… and a lot of this one. Chance of rain all day Saturday is 90% and not much better Sunday at 88%. In fact, they’ve already moved the Xfinity race forward an hour on Saturday to prevent the rain from shortening this event. If Cup Series practices and qualifying are canceled on Saturday night, they will use the metric they have used for the past few years to establish the playing field, which could change things a bit.
Winner predictions for the Coca-Cola 600
Odds provided by DraftKings Sportsbook unless otherwise stated
Kyle Larson (+450)
Why not? He was fast everywhere, just had a dominant victory in the All-Star Race, enjoyed a totally different track style, and he won this race two years ago. Teammate William Byron (+600 DraftKings) is also causing a lot of talk, however, unlike Byron, Larson was able to get speed later in races and on longer runs. This is key this week as there are bound to be a lot of long races that will only be stopped because of the 3 stage breaks after each 100 lap section.
Martin Truex Jr. (+1000 at BetMGM)
Not too long ago, Truex took the most dominant win in Coke 600 history by leading more than 390 of the 400 laps. Should we still expect this? Absolutely not. Still, the speed is there to restore him to a ranged threat he’s used to dominating. He is the only rider in the peloton with 2 wins in the last 8 races and has the best finishing average in the peloton over that period at 8.0. That’s enough for me.
Kyle Busch (+1200 at BetMGM)
Busch has been the most consistent driver in Charlotte for the past eight years. It takes a long time to be consistent here. Add to that his speed in the #8 car this year and it makes for an intriguing combination. Busch has been on the verge of a second win this year and it could very well happen at a track he loves and is still a contender at.
Bubba Wallace (+2000)
Wallace has been a threat on most middle tracks for the past two years at 23XI. While the track history specifically in Charlotte hasn’t been great, the speed has been there, it’s just a matter of mistakes being made. Those errors appear to be limited this year, giving confidence that he can stay clean and fast when it matters most, the final 100 laps of Sunday’s race.
Daniel Suarez (+3000 at BetMGM)
People love speed in car 1 for Trackhouse, so why not car 99? Suarez has been as quick as Chastain in points this year, but not as consistently. Thus, the difference in odds between them. In terms of track history in the NextGen car, both achieved a P15 finish, which isn’t great, but if we take similar cars with similar history, why not have longer ratings?
Austin Dillon (+9000 at FanDuel)
Dillon has won this race before; ok, that was a while ago. It has also raced well on the intermediate tracks over the past two years and that includes Charlotte. The odds are long, but hey, why not top off the best race day with a long shot capable of powering through the most grueling race of the year.
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Best Accessories Bets for the Coca-Cola 600
Kyle Busch finishes in the top 5 (+175 at BetRivers)
The man has finished in the top 5 6 times in Charlotte’s last 8 races and he has been a speed demon this year. Picking up where Car 8 left off was this year’s theme for Busch and he certainly did. There is no doubt that this race is long enough for him to progress through the field even if he does not have the best chance of qualifying.
Top 10 of Martin Truex Jr. (+280 in FanDuel)
MTJ has had 2 top-10 finishes in the last three races here with a P8 and a P6. In the NextGen car, Dillon and the RCR as a whole were pretty good at that track distance and setup. This year, along with his new teammate, Kyle Busch, the two have consistently raced in the top 5 at intermediate tracks like Charlotte.
Ricky Stenhouse Jr. finishes in the top 10 (+275 at BetMGM)
Over the past three Coke 600s, Stenhouse has finished P4, P12 and P7 under his belt and has been solidly quick in the intermediate package this year. One of the underrated things about him is his ability to run well on 1.5 mile tracks like Charlotte.
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