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NASCAR at Dover 2020: Odds, TV Schedule, Live Stream and Drivers
August 22, 2020
The NASCAR Cup Series is scheduled to run its fifth set of back-to-back races at the same track Saturday and Sunday at Dover International Speedway in Delaware.
The racing weekend kicks off Saturday with the first of two 311-mile races at the Monster Mile.
Chase Elliott, who won Sunday at the Daytona road course, starts on the pole and will be accompanied by Denny Hamlin on the front row.
Elliott, Hamlin and eight others are already locked into the NASCAR playoff field. The order of the final six positions will be determined by the two Dover races and the regular-season finale on the Daytona oval August 29.
Jimmie Johnson has the best starting position of the drivers—sixth—fighting to get into the playoff. The No. 48 car driver needs a victory in one of the final three races or has to make up a 25-point gap on William Byron to qualify for the playoffs in his final season as a full-time Cup driver.
Drydene 311 Information
Date: Saturday, August 22
Start Time: 4 p.m. ET
TV: NBCSN
Live Stream: NBC Sports app or NBCSports.com
Starting Lineup
Odds
Kevin Harvick (+350; bet $100 to win $350)
Martin Truex Jr. (+350)
Chase Elliott (+550)
Denny Hamlin (+600)
Ryan Blaney (+1100)
Kyle Busch (+1300)
Brad Keselowski (+1400)
Joey Logano (+1600)
Aric Almirola (+1800)
Odds via Caesars Palace
Preview
Johnson's best remaining chance to automatically qualify for the playoffs with a victory comes at Dover.
The seven-time NASCAR Cup Series champion has 11 victories at the mile-long course, with the last one coming in 2017.
In addition to his 11 Dover wins, Johnson owns the most top-10 finishes and laps led at the track and is tied with Matt Kenseth with the highest total of top-five placings.
Johnson comes to Delaware off a fourth-place finish at the Daytona road course, where he finished four positions ahead of Byron, his Hendrick Motorsports teammate.
If he does not win, the 44-year-old needs more than four spots of separation between himself and the No. 24 driver to gain significant ground in the hunt for the final playoff position.
Byron and Matt DiBenedetto are the only drivers who could face a serious risk of losing their respective positions, whether it be through a win from a competitor underneath them or a loss in points.
Aric Almirola, Kyle Busch and Kurt Busch are in comfortable positions as the three best drivers without a victory, while Clint Bowyer owns a 22-point advantage over DiBenedetto and has a 66-point gap on Johnson.
If there is not a new winner Saturday, those four drivers would feel much safer about their playoff prospects. Even if two new victors emerge Sunday at Dover and at Daytona next week, they would not be overtaken as long as they have more points than DiBenedetto.
The normal cast of potential winners should be in the mix to take the checkered flag Saturday, as Kevin Harvick and Martin Truex Jr. are the co-favorites.
Truex is the only driver in the field with a 2019 victory at Dover, and Harvick most recently won there in 2018.
If Harvick, Truex and Hamlin are not up front, they should be around the lead, as they have 48 top-10 finishes this season between them.
The other driver with the most top-10 finishes is Brad Keselowski, with 16, has longer odds to win at Dover than Harvick, Truex and Hamlin. Among that quartet, he has the fewest top-10s in the last 10 Dovers with four.
Keselowski has three wins this season, and his Penske team has not been shy to try different pit strategies to get around the competitors for the lead.
In terms of betting value, Keselowski and his teammate Ryan Blaney, who has eight top-five finishes, carry the best prices for how much success they have had this season.
Follow Joe on Twitter, @JTansey90
Statistics obtained from Racing Reference