The NASCAR Cup Series heads into their playoffs as the series heads to Darlington for the Cook Out Southern 500. It is time to continue our NASCAR Cup Series odds series with a NASCAR Cup Series Cook Out Southern 500 at Darlington prediction, pick, and how-to-watch.

In total, 16 drivers have qualified for the playoffs. In the NASCAR Playoffs, all the drivers start with 2,000 points with points added based on their season performance. Five points are added for each win they had this year, with a point for each stage win, and other points for season standings.  This gives William Byron the top seed along with Martin Truex Jr. They have 2036 points currently, with Bubba Wallace rounding out the bottom of the field with just 2,000. Points are then awarded in the playoffs just as they are done in the regular season. It also still utilizes a win and in format. So if any of the playoff drivers win a race, they move to the next round. So if Joey Logano wins this race, he will advance to the round of 12 even though he is currently the 11 seed.

Now attention turns to Darlington, the first playoff track. The track that is “Too Tough to Tame,” has a coarse racing surface, an odd egg shape with differing embankments, and racing lines that pull drivers dangerously close to the retaining walls. It is a fast and unforgiving track, with most drivers hitting the wall and leaving a mark even if it does not cause car damage. This is known as the “Darlington stripe” as racers brush up against the wall.

Here are the NASCAR Odds, courtesy of FanDuel. 

NASCAR Odds: Cook Out Southern 500 Odds

Kyle Larson: +490

Martin Truez Jr.: +550

William Byron: +750

Denny Hamlin: +750

Ross Chastain: +950

Christopher Bell: +1100

Kyle Busch: +1200

Tyler Reddick: +1300

Brad Keselowski: +1400

Chris Buescher: +1400

Kevin Harvick: +1500

Chase Elliott: +1700

Joey Logano: +1800

Ryan Blaney: +1800

Erik Jones: +2800

Bubba Wallace: +2800

Ty Gibbs: +3500

Daniel Suarez: +5500

Alex Bowman: +5500

Michael McDowell: +8000

How to Watch Cook Out Southern 500

TV: USA Network

Stream: NBC Sports

Time: 6:00 PM ET/ 3:00 PM PT

*Watch Nascar LIVE with fuboTV (click for a free trial)*

Favorites To Win Cook Out Southern 500

Kyle Larson comes in as the favorite in this race. Larson has Sutrggled as of late, finishing outside the top 25 in each of his last two races. He has not scored a point towards the playoffs since the race at Pocono and just has not been the same level of driver recently. At Darlington this year, he finished 20th, and they came off 12th place last year. Still, he has a good record here overall. This year he led 29 laps, and, before engine trouble, led 30 in 2022. He finishes third or second in five of six races before 2022 and should have won in 2018, leading 284 of 367 laps. He can run this track well, and if he can avoid trouble, he will be in a palce to contend.

Meanwhile, Martin Truex Jr. is tied for the playoff lead as of right now. His streak of six straight top-ten finishes was snapped last week, but he has won four times this year and did well last week even though he finished 24th. He did snag a playoff point in the race. Truex. started on the pole here this spring, but finished 31st after a crash. He has not finished any of his last three races at this track, but before that finished fourth and then won the spring race in 2021. He has two wins on this track and has led 914 total laps. Truex has finished in the top ten here 45.5 percent of the time and led a lot of laps in the last three races before finishing the race early.

William Byron is tied with Truex on top of the points board currently. In the spring, he led just seven laps, but he won the race. This is coming off an eight-place finish at this race last year. He has also finished in the top five two other times at this race. Byron is also coming into this race in good form. He finished eighth last week and won at Watkins Glen. The tight turns and running against the wall is not something that bothers him and he could make a good showing in this one.

Denny Hamlin comes into this race off a rough finish at Daytona, but doing well overall. He has been in the top three in four of his last six races. He also comes in with a great history at Darlington. Hamlin has led 801 laps at this track, including laps in each of his last seven races here. In his last seven races, he has two wins a fifth-place finish and a runner-up. Overall, in his 22 races at this track, he has won four times, while finishing second four times. He has also finished in the top five 12 times at this track.

Sleepers To Win Cook Out Southern 500

Tyler Reddick is great at running on a high line and against the wall which is perfect for how Reddick drives. Reddick comes in off a 25th-place finish at Daytona but was top ten in the two races prior. Last time out at this track he finished 22nd, but the two races before that were solid. He finished second and third in the two races in 2022 and would look to be in a position to win. Still, he has led just 12 total laps at this track.

Kevin Harvick has already won twice this year and is looking for a third victory. His history on this track is amazing. In his last 15 races at this track, he has been in the top ten 14 times. The only time he missed was last fall when he did not finish the race. He has three wins in there, two runner-ups, a third-place finish, and three fourth palce finishes. He has led laps in 11 of his last 14 races here as well. Taking him for a top ten is a lock, but he could win this race as well.

Cook Out Southern 500 Prediction & Pick

Last year it was Erik Jones who took the flag to win this race, but Hamlin, Reddick, and Joey Logano were right behind him. Every point is vital in this race to secure a racer's spot in the next round. Larson has not been racing well, and the current points leaders have not always fared well in the first race of the playoffs. Still, many of these drivers come in with great playoff experience and solid experience on this track. The one with the best is the pick in this ome. Take Kevin Harvick to get the win.

Cook Out Southern 500 Prediction & Pick: Kevin Harvick (+1500)