The NASCAR playoffs enter the second race of the first round in Kansas. It is time to continue our NASCAR Cup series odds series with a Hollywood Casino 400 at Kansas Motor Speedway prediction, pick, and how to watch.

Last week Kyle Larson took the win at the Cook Out Southern 500 to move up in the playoff standings. Following here were Tyler Reddick, Chris Beuscher, William Byron, and Ross Chastain. After the race, William Byron still holds a one-point lead over Larson for the top spot. While Reddick, Beuchers, and Denny Hamlin round out the top five. Four drivers will be cut after next week's race from the chase. Michael McDowell, Rickey Stenhouse Jr., Kevin Harvick, and Bubba Wallace currently fill out those bottom four spots.

The next race in the chase goes back to Kansas Motor Speedway. It is a 1.5-mile-long paved track in this one. It is the standard oval track, but just a little longer, with easier banks and steady turns. Denny Hamlin won the spring race here, with Kyle Larson coming in second.

Here are the NASCAR Odds, courtesy of FanDuel. 

NASCAR Odds: Hollywood Casino 400 Odds

Kyle Larson: +450

Denny Hamlin: +500

Martin Truex Jr.: +650

William Byron: +700

Tyler Reddick: +800

Christopher Bell: +900

Bubba Wallace: +1200

Chris Buescher: +1200

Kyle Busch: +1400

Kevin Harvick: +1600

Brad Keselowski: +1800

Ross Chastain: +2000

Ryan Blaney: +2200

Joey Logano: +2200

Chase Elliott: +2500

Alex Bowman: +3500

Ty Gibbs: +3500

How to Watch Hollywood Casino 400 Race

TV: USA

Stream: NBC Sports

Time: 3:00 PM ET/noon PT

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

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Kyle Larson tops the favorites list at this track, just as he did in the spring. In his career at the Kansas Speedway, he has led 25 or more laps in six of his nine most recent cup races. He has finished top four in half of his races here and won here in 2021. Last year was a second and eighth-place finish at this track. One of those races in which he led a lot of laps was this year. After starting second, Larson led 85 laps through the race but finished second. Larson has not finished outside the top ten in the first race here in 2021 and would love to snag another playoff race victory this year.

Denny Hamlin currently sits fifth in points right now and won here in the spring. He has always done well at Kansas, winning four times in his career, while being in the top five 12 times and top ten 13 times. Since the second race here in 2019, Hamlin has won three races at this track, while finishing second, fourth, and fifth as well. In the other two races, he led laps but finished outside the top ten. What is even more impressive is in those three recent wins, he started tenth or worse in two of them while starting eighth last time. Hamlin has not started better than sixth since 2019, yet still has a dominating record.

Martin Truex Jr. currently sits in sixth place in points. Kansas has also been good to him. He won both races here in 2017, and since then has finished outside the top ten just once. While that is great, he has finished between fifth and ninth in each of his last six races here. In the first races this year, he was solid. Truex started fourth and led 79 laps before finishing eighth.

William Byron is the current points leader in the race for the NASCAR Cup Series title. He has never won at this track but has come close. Byron has led laps in six of the last seven races here including each of the last four. Meanwhile, he got third place here in the spring. That was his best finish though. He has also done well this year on the 1.5-mile size track. He has two wins, a runner-up, a third, a fourth, and an eighth-place finish on that size of track this year.

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Ross Chastain is currently tenth in the points standings. Chastain struggled at this track early in his career but has been solid in the last three races since moving to Trackhouse Racing. I the last three rances he has finished seventh twice and fifth once. The reason he is so far down the odds board has bee struggling on similar tracks this year. His fifth-placed finish at Kansas was the only time this year he has been inside the top ten on this style of track. Still, he has had some back luck. He had pit row issues, got stuck behind a crash, and suffered a minor crash in those races.

Joey Logano sits right behind Chastain regarding the playoff points. Logano has won at this track before, three times. The last time he won was in 2020 though. Still, he has shown some dominance in the past at this track. From 2013-2015 in five races he led 292 laps, won twice, and was in the top five the other times. He has been in the top ten just twice since 2021, but he has led laps. If he gets a good starting position, he could return to glory in this race.

Hollywood Casino 400 Prediction & Pick

Denny Hamlin won the last race here, and while winning back-to-back races at a track is not normal, it is not unheard of. Still, he is not running as well as others. Kyle Larson won last week, so he does not need a win to move onto the next stage. Still, points carry over, so he wants to rack up as many as possible early on to make sure he is in the final stage. Martin Truex is trying to get into the top four and is the last guy to win back-to-back races at this track. He was solid in the spring but could not hold on. William Byron is trying to hold onto the points lead, and was also solid in the spring. He keeps getting better every race here. This is the race he breaks through.

Hollywood Casino 400 Prediction & Pick: William Bryon (+700)