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Nascar Cup Cook Out 400 – Richmond, VA

ASA Nascar predictions for the Cook Out 400 – Sunday, July 30th 2023

Last week we narrowly missed a nice Nascar Cup underdog bet Top 3 winner with Kevin Harvick who finished 4th overall. We could see it coming as the #45 car of Tyler Reddick had a late pit stop and gained an advantage with 4 new tires which helped overtake Harvick in the final two laps. Today we are focused on the short track in Richmond, Virginia and the Cook Out 400. Kyle Larson and Martin Truex Jr. have 3 wins each on short tracks in their last 17 races but neither will be found on our betting tickets Sunday as they don’t offer enough value in relation to risk versus reward. Let’s have a great day at the track with these Nascar Cup predictions!

TOP 10 FINISHER – #45 Tyler Reddick -$105 – At this price we will gladly place a wager on Reddick and his #45 Toyota. Reddick starts in the pole position on Sunday for the first time this season and should benefit from the great starting position. Reddick already has a road course win this season at the Circuit of Americas and should do well on today’s short track. Reddick doesn’t have great history on short tracks with just 2 Top 10 finishes in 17 races but after a solid race last week we like him to crack the top 10 today.

TOP 3 FINISHER – #20 Christoper Bell +$200 – Bell ranks second among the active drivers today with 2 or more stars with an average finishing position of 5.7 at Richmond. Only Martin Truex Jr. is better in 6 starts here with an average finishing position of 5.0. In six races on this short track, Bell has 5 Top 10’s and 4 Top 5’s. His best overall finish here is 2nd place August of 2022. He has finished in the Top 6 in five straight races. The #20 Joe Gibbs team Toyota will be in the running here if history tells us anything. JGR racing leads all racing organizations with 18 wins at Richmond. In the Toyota Owners 400 earlier this season Bell finished 4th and led for 26 laps in the race.

RACE WINNER – #24 William Byron +$900 – We like the #24 Chevy in this race and if anyone other than the favorites can win here it’s Byron. Earlier this year at the Toyota 400 which was run on this short track in Richmond, Byron finished a disappointing 24th after leading for 117 laps which was most in the field. In 2022 he had a 3rd place finish on this track after leading 122 laps so we know he has a car capable of winning this race. In his last 17 races on a short track, Byron has 1 win, 6 Top 5’s and 10 Top 10’s. The #24 had the fastest lap time on Saturday at 117.01mph and the showed the most speed over a 10-lap interval at 113.7mph. We like the longer odds here and will invest in Byron to win Sunday.