Grab the Cowboy boots, NASCAR heads to Nashville this weekend! Or, just outside of Nashville in Lebanon, Tennessee. It’ll be under the lights for the second race of the Amazon Prime era. Green flag just after 7:00 p.m. ET for the 1.33-mile concrete oval. Let’s take a look at this week’s NASCAR picks, odds, and best bets for the Cracker Barrel 400 at Nashville Superspeedway.
Despite its name, Nashville isn’t a superspeedway like Daytona or Talladega. Thanks to my friends at IFantasyrace.com’s “similar track guide,” they say: It’s almost a mix between Dover and high-speed 1.5-mile tracks. I’ll note, though, it’s really neither and more of a hybrid.
The Cup Series first race here was in 2021, and they’ve been here three times in the NextGen era. Last year’s race was a bit of a disaster, going into a record five overtimes before Joey Logano won the race. Scheduled for 300 laps, they ran a total of 331 laps on the day. Logano was running worse than 20th before the end of the scheduled distance. So be wary when looking at 2024 results in this race.
NASCAR Picks: Cracker Barrel 400 at Nashville Superspeedway Odds and Best Bets
Kyle Larson +550
Denny Hamlin +600
Christopher Bell +650
William Byron +650
Ryan Blaney +850
Tyler Reddick +1000
Ross Chastain +1200
Chase Elliott +1400
Joey Logano +2200
Chase Briscoe +2200
Kyle Busch +2800
Ty Gibbs +2800
Josh Berry +2800
Chris Buescher +2800
Brad Keselowski +2800
Alex Bowman +3000
Carson Hocevar +3500
Ryan Preece +4000
Bubba Wallace +5000
Austin Cindric +6000
Zane Smith +6500
Corey Heim +7500
Daniel Suarez +10000
Noah Gragson +10000
AJ Allmendinger +10000
Erik Jones +15000
Michael McDowell +20000
Ricky Stenhouse Jr +20000
Austin Dillon +20000
Justin Haley +25000
Todd Gilliland +35000
John Hunter Nemeheck +35000
Cole Custer +50000
Riley Herbst +50000
Shane Van Gisbergen +100000
Ty Dillon +100000
Cody Ware +250000
JJ Yeley +250000
Chad Finchum +250000
NASCAR Picks: Cracker Barrel 400 at Nashville Superspeedway Odds and Best Bets
Chase Briscoe Over Joey Logano (-115)
If you look at the three previous Nashville races, Joey Logano has won the head-to-head in all three of them. However, despite winning last year, it took five overtimes for that to happen. Before the wreck with two laps to go, Joey was back in 14th. In 2023, he finished 19th here. You take that on top of the inconsistent runs we get from Logano week to week. One week he can be the fastest car, the next he’s battling hard for 30th place. Overall, on the season, Logano only has three top 10 finishes.
Briscoe, of course, was with Stewart Haas for those three races and is in a much better ride this year at Joe Gibbs Racing. That team started slow, but they’ve really turned it on quietly over the last few weeks. He finished third at Charlotte and fourth at Kansas. He has five top 10s in the last eight races alone. Briscoe is a driver we can trust to stay near the front, and that’s what I want in a head to head bet.
Ryan Preece Top 10 (+200)
Ryan Preece is a driver who’s been delivering all year long. There were questions about why he got this ride and if he was the man for the job, myself included. He’s answered all those questions and more, turning in performance after performance in 2025. Last week at Charlotte Preece finished ninth. At Kansas, he brought it home in seventh place. In Las Vegas, he ran third, and ninth again at Homestead. Preece has looked great this season, especially on the bigger, higher speed tracks, and I expect to see that again this weekend.
Denny Hamlin to Win (+600)
Denny is the man I want to have my money on this week. It’s been a rough few weeks with mechanical failures and issues out of his control. However, we’ve seen the speed. He had the only car that could contend with Kyle Larson at Kansas Speedway before mechanical troubles that day. Then at the Coke 600 last week, he was going to be in the mix to win before an issue getting fuel in the car forced him to pit his rocketship.
Last year in this race, Denny Hamlin ran down Ross Chastain late in the race and passed him with seven laps to go for what looked like a Denny Hamlin win. Five overtime’s later, it just wasn’t Denny’s day. He was strong here in the other two races, finishing third in 2023 and leading 50 laps. In 2022, he led the most laps on the day (114) before settling for a sixth-place finish. Speed lately, plus being good at this track in the three NextGen races, plus his baby boy is due to show up any day. Give me Hamlin to win.
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