Denny Hamlin is on a roll and is looking for his third consecutive win when he takes part in the 2025 Food City 500 at Bristol Motor Speedway on Sunday. Hamlin dominated the Cook Out 400 at Martinsville and followed that up by speeding to victory at last week's Goodyear 400 at Darlington. It was also Hamlin's fifth top-10 finish of the year. Hamlin has 56 career victories in his 20-year career.
Hamlin is among the favorites to win again this week, according to the latest NASCAR at Bristol odds. Kyle Larson is the +270 favorite, followed by Hamlin (+460), William Byron (+950) and Chase Elliott (+950) in the latest 2025 Food City 500 at Bristol Motor Speedway odds. Sunday's race is scheduled to start at 3 p.m. ET. Before making any 2025 NASCAR at Bristol picks or predictions, you need to see what NASCAR insider Steven Taranto has to say.
Taranto, who moonlights as a sim racer and has 20 career wins in iRacing, is the lead NASCAR writer for CBSSports.com. He has an annual NASCAR medial credential and also publishes a popular weekly NASCAR predictions column, famously calling Ross Chastain and Daniel Suarez's breakthrough wins in 2022.
Taranto was red-hot for SportsLine in 2024 as he nailed 17 winners, including 16-1 longshot William Byron at the Daytona 500 and 14-1 longshot Chase Elliott at Texas. He correctly picked the Straight Talk Wireless 400 winner in Larson on March 23. Anyone following his NASCAR picks at their favorite sportsbooks could have seen huge returns.
Now, Taranto has analyzed the starting lineup and odds for Sunday's 2025 NASCAR Cup Food City 500 at Bristol Motor Speedway. He's sharing his best bets at SportsLine.
2025 Bristol NASCAR expert picks
For the 2025 Food City 500 at Bristol Motor Speedway, Taranto is high on Larson, who has five top-10 finishes this year. In his last race at the track last fall, Larson, who drives for Hendrick Motorsports, led 462 of 500 laps en route to the win at the 2024 Bass Pro Shops Night Race on Sept. 21. He has placed second, fifth and first over his past three Cup races at Bristol. The 32-year-old veteran placed sixth overall last season and has had a lot of success throughout his career. Larson is going off at +490 at FanDuel Sportsbook.
The 13-year veteran has driven in 373 races in the Cup Series, logging 30 career wins, registering 21 poles and 187 top-10 finishes. He claimed the 2021 season championship. He earned his first Cup series win in 2016 at the Pure Michigan 400. He has experienced success at other NASCAR levels, including the Xfinity Series, where he has earned 15 wins, 83 top-10 finishes and seven poles in 117 races over a 10-year span. See which other drivers he's backing at SportsLine.
Food City 500 prop picks
Top 10 finish: Taranto sees Zane Smith breaking through to earn his second top-10 finish of the year, a bet that would return +360. His previous best finish was ninth at the Shriners Children's 500 at Phoenix Raceway in Avondale, Ariz., on March 9. Smith has had solid finishes for much of the season, placing 11th at Atlanta and Homestead. He was 12th last week at Darlington.
The 25-year-old has run 45 races over his three-year career. The Front Row Motorsports driver finished 30th a year ago, and has registered six top-10 finishes since his first race in 2022 at the Enjoy Illinois 300. He has also fared well at the NASCAR Xfinity Series level, with eight top-10 finishes among his 12 races there. See all of Taranto's picks at SportsLine.
How to make 2025 Food City 500 predictions
Taranto has also identified four drivers in his 2025 NASCAR Food City 500 best bets. He's especially high on a huge NASCAR longshot who's going off higher than 100-1, potentially netting any backer a huge payday. You can only see who they are here.
So who wins the 2025 Food City 500 at Bristol, and which massive longshot could stun NASCAR? Visit SportsLine now to see the 2025 Food City 500 at Bristol picks and best bets from a NASCAR insider who nailed a colossal 17 winners last year, and find out.
2025 Food City 500 at Bristol Motor Speedway odds, lineup
See full Food City 500 at Bristol Motor Speedway picks at SportsLine
Kyle Larson +270
Denny Hamlin +460
William Byron +950
Chase Elliott +950
Ryan Blaney +1000
Christopher Bell +1000
Alex Bowman +1100
Ty Gibbs +1800
Joey Logano +2400
Tyler Reddick +2800
Kyle Busch +2800
Chase Briscoe +3200
Ricky Stenhouse Jr. +3400
Josh Berry +3700
Brad Keselowski +3700
Chris Buescher +3700
Bubba Wallace +4400
Carson Hocevar +5500
Austin Cindric +8500
Ryan Preece +8500
Ross Chastain +8500
AJ Allmendinger +11000
Ty Dillon +17000
Austin Dillon +17000
Daniel Suarez +17000
Justin Haley +17000
Michael McDowell +17000
Noah Gragson +20000
John Hunter Nemechek +20000
Jesse Love +34000
Todd Gilliland +34000
Cole Custer +34000
Zane Smith +34000
Erik Jones +34000
Josh Bilicki +50000
Cody Ware +50000
Shane Van Gisbergen +50000
Riley Herbst +50000
Corey LaJoie +50000