2021 Drydene 400 Betting Preview/Prop Bet
14 May 2021
NASCAR heads to Delaware for the upcoming Drydene 400 race. Last weekend's Goodyear 400 showed fans what drivers are capable of, especially for the driver to beat in Martin Truex Jr.
Race Details
Date: Sun, May 16, 1:00 PM
Watch on: FS1
Track: Dover International Speedway
Betting Overview
Plenty of drivers have made the move up and down in the Cup Series rankings. Most notably was Martin Truex Jr., who won last weekend's race and is now a strong competitor for the top spot.
Head to Head Matchup to Watch
Joey Logano (118.920) and Ryan Blaney (119.162) round out the top five for the Cup Series rankings. They do not necessarily need a win here, but if they want to remain competitive for the chance at the top spot, they will both need to perform well here.
Dunkel Index For This Event
The Dunkel Index is showing these top 10 drivers that could win this event. The following 10 are:
- Martin Truex - Jr 112.140
- Kyle Busch - 114.685
- Dylan Hamlin - 116.197
- William Byron - 116.756
- Kyle Larson - 116.897
- Joey Logano - 118.920
- Ryan Blaney - 119.162
- Brad Keselowski - 119.218
- Kevin Harvick - 119.595
- Chase Elliott - 120.111
*index is subject to changes
Drivers That Could Win
William Byron (116.756)
Byron came in fourth place for the second race in last year's installment. He is also arguably having one of the best seasons of his career so far.
Denny Hamlin (116.197)
Being one of the fastest drivers to take any track, he has four top-seven finishes coming in at Dover in his last six races here. On top of that success, he has a second-place finish in 2018 and has a win last season.
Kevin Harvick (119.595)
Harvick is just on the edge of every race, seemingly, ready to finish first. He has six consecutive top-six finishes, and two of those were victories. Looking back at the most recent performances here, he has two fourth-place finishes in 2019 and one in last year's race.
Kyle Larson (116.897)
Larson also has some great experience here, with a third and first place finish back in 2019. He arguably has one of the best streaks so far, currently with nine top 10 finishes coming out of his most recent 11 races.
Potential Winning Pick
Martin Truex Jr. (112.140)
Truex has a lot of momentum coming into this race, especially with the recent win from the Goodyear 400. Going back to 2019, he has compiled three consecutive second-place finishes.
Take a second to look at his dominant performances so far since 2014. Truex has put up 12 top 10 finishes, with eight of those being within the top four.
On top of that previous success, he has won on tracks that are one mile or shorter on two occasions this season. He is also aiming to claim the number one spot for the Cup Series.
Prop Bet
Top 3 Finish: Denny Hamlin (+155)
While Hamlin has failed to take the checkered flag this year, he continues to be a factor in nearly every race. Last week at Darlington, the No. 11 car led for five laps before finishing 5th. It was Hamlin’s 9th Top 5 finish on the season.
And he has enjoyed success at Dover, including winning the first race of last year’s doubleheader. In the last 10 races on the monster mile, Hamlin has finished in the Top 10 seven times.
The 40-year-old veteran continues to lead in a number of metrics, including total laps run (3342), average driver rating (116), laps led (749) and average running position (6.4).
Rated No. 3 in this week’s Dunkel Index, Hamlin has a good chance to pick up his first win of the season in Dover. But we like the safer play (+155) to continue his trend of being near the top with a Top 3 finish.
Keep up with your latest NASCAR news coverage and betting pick previews at The Dunkel Index.
