NASCAR at Texas 2020: Odds, TV Schedule, Live Stream and Drivers

Kevin Harvick could take his dominance of the 2020 NASCAR Cup Series season to another level Sunday during the O'Reilly Auto Parts 500 at Texas Motor Speedway.

The points leader, who has four victories this year, has won in each of the past three seasons at the 1.5-mile track.

Harvick could find himself up front early on, as he starts fifth on the grid. Stewart-Haas Racing teammate Aric Almirola drew the pole position.

Ryan Blaney will line up on the front row alongside Almirola, while Kurt and Kyle Busch, who are both looking for their first wins of 2020, were slotted into the second row.

O'Reilly Auto Parts 500 Information

Date: Sunday, July 19

Start Time: 3 p,m. ET

TV: NBCSN

Live Stream: NBCSports.com or NBC Sports app

Odds

Kevin Harvick +350 (bet $100 to win $350)

Denny Hamlin +600

Kyle Busch +600

Chase Elliott +700

Martin Truex Jr. +700

Ryan Blaney +900

Joey Logano +1,000

Brad Keselowski +1,000

Odds via Caesars Palace.

Starting Lineup

Preview

Harvick is the safe bet to capture another title at Texas.

The No. 4 car driver owns 22 top-10 finishes and 11 top-five placings at the track, and he is one of two competitors to win three years in a row in Fort Worth in the past decade. The other is Jimmie Johnson, who took first five times between 2012 and 2015.

Harvick's main competition could be championship rival Denny Hamlin.

Hamlin won the first of the two races at Texas in 2019. His other triumphs at the track came during a 2010 season sweep.

The two drivers battled for the win in three of the past four points races. They split the weekend victories at Pocono Raceway, and Harvick benefited from Hamlin's flat tire to come out on top at Indianapolis Motor Speedway on July 5.

Hamlin will be behind Harvick at the start of the race from the No. 7 starting position, and the familiar sight of them running one-two could once against emerge over the 334 laps at Texas.

Kyle Busch is the only driver not named Harvick or Hamlin to win at Texas in the past five races at the track.

The No. 18 car driver has not performed well enough to earn his first victory of the 2020 season, but he will feel as comfortable as possible on the course after running the Truck Series and Xfinity Series races Saturday.

Busch opened up about his failure to reach Victory Lane in conversation with MRN's Jeff Wackerlin:

"It's on your mind that we don't have that win and haven't really been in contention to get that win a whole lot this year. It's just a matter of a lot of circumstances that it's been the way it has been for us so far. Hoping we can start the races close to where we need to be on Sunday and have a good run with our Interstate Batteries Toyota."

Wins are even more valuable at this juncture because it would secure automatic passage into the playoffs. Cole Custer achieved that with his surprise win at Kentucky Speedway last time out.

Going into Texas, William Byron, Jimmie Johnson and Austin Dillon sit 14th-16th in the points standings, while Tyler Reddick and Erik Jones are close behind in 17th and 18th.

Since 2011, 16 of the 18 winners at Texas have started in the top 10, and four of the past five champions came from sixth or better on the starting grid.

One of the two exceptions to that trend was Johnson, who captured the spring race in 2017 after starting in 24th.

Follow Joe on Twitter, @JTansey90. Statistics obtained from Racing Reference.