Denny Hamlin enters the 67th running of the Coca-Cola 600 as the betting favorite at +400 on TheSpread.com, fresh off a win in last Sunday's All-Star Race at Dover. The 2022 Coca-Cola 600 winner has been the most consistent driver on intermediate ovals all year, but he is chasing a championship leader — Tyler Reddick — who already owns five wins in 2026, a 129-point cushion atop the standings, and his own short price at +550. Below is a breakdown of the latest 2026 Coca-Cola 600 odds, the favorites' cases for and against, mid-tier value plays, and the longshots and storylines worth watching when 39 cars take the green flag Sunday night at Charlotte Motor Speedway.
Last Updated: Wednesday, May 20, 2026
2026 COCA-COLA 600 DATE, TIME & HOW TO WATCH | |
|---|---|
| Where | Charlotte Motor Speedway, Concord, NC |
| When | Sunday, May 24 – 6:00 PM ET |
| TV | Prime Video |
Denny Hamlin Leads 2026 Coca-Cola 600 Odds
Hamlin's case for the favorite role on Sunday is built on the strongest intermediate-track season of any active Cup driver. The Pennzoil 400 at Las Vegas in March produced a win from the front row with 134 laps led. Kansas followed with a fourth from another second-place start and 131 laps led. Texas closed the intermediate stretch with a runner-up from the fourth row. Then last Sunday at Dover, the No. 11 led 103 of 350 laps in the All-Star Race to collect the $1 million prize. That is four consecutive 1.5-mile-or-larger oval events with front-running speed and big chunks of laps led.
The case against is the price and the distance. At +400, Hamlin's implied probability sits at 20 percent in a 39-car field where the most recent nine oval races at Charlotte have produced nine different winners. The 600-mile distance compounds the variance — 400 laps is a long window for a flat tire, a botched pit stop, or a strategy call to undo the fastest car. Hamlin's own Coca-Cola 600 history reflects the trap: the 2022 race ended in victory lane, but 2023 produced a 35th-place finish after running out of fuel while leading, and 2024 was a fifth from 11th. The pace is real. The price simply does not offer much margin for the kind of misfortune this race regularly delivers.
Tyler Reddick (+550) is the second betting choice and the championship leader. He has won five of the first 12 races this season — including the Daytona 500 and an unprecedented sweep of the first three events on the schedule — and sits 129 points clear of Hamlin in the standings. His Charlotte history is the catch. He has never won at the Speedway in a Cup race, though his finishing record here is strong enough that fading him entirely would be a mistake at this price.
2026 COCA-COLA 600 – ODDS TO WIN | |
|---|---|
| Name | Odds |
| Denny Hamlin | +400 |
| Tyler Reddick | +550 |
| Kyle Larson | +800 |
| William Byron | +800 |
| Christopher Bell | +900 |
| Chase Elliott | +1000 |
| Chase Briscoe | +1200 |
| Ryan Blaney | +1200 |
| Ty Gibbs | +1600 |
| Carson Hocevar | +1800 |
Odds accurate as of Wednesday, May 20, 2026 via TheSpread.com. Odds change, get the latest NASCAR Odds - Props
Coca-Cola 600 Betting Value Sits in the Mid-Tier
The most defensible value on a 39-car board for a 600-mile race typically sits below the favorites, where bettors can pair proven equipment with a price that pays for the inevitable race-day attrition.
William Byron (+800) is the clearest example. The No. 24 led 283 of 400 laps in last year's Coca-Cola 600 before Ross Chastain passed him with five laps to go, and Ryan Blaney passed him at the line in 2023. The pole and the laps led keep arriving; the trophy keeps walking away. Byron has produced 5 top-fives and 7 top-tens across 13 intermediate-track starts from 2025 to the present, including a third at Las Vegas with 26 laps led earlier this year. Two career Coca-Cola 600 poles and four top-fives in seven starts here make the case that the bounce is overdue.
Christopher Bell (+900) is the 2024 Coca-Cola 600 winner and one of three Joe Gibbs Racing drivers entered, alongside Hamlin and Chase Briscoe. Bell has been competitive on intermediates all year, and the rain-shortened nature of his 2024 win has been an obvious motivator — finishing the full 400 laps and removing the asterisk would be the redemption arc the No. 20 has chased for two seasons.
Ryan Blaney (+1200) is the 2023 Coca-Cola 600 winner and currently fourth in the championship standings. The Phoenix winner this season, Blaney brings Team Penske intermediate-track pace and a recent track record that makes the price defensible.
Chris Buescher (+2200) has been the season's quietest top-five points driver — winless, fifth in the standings, and on a three-race intermediate-oval streak of top-tens (sixth at Las Vegas, tenth at Kansas, fifth at Texas). His Coca-Cola 600 history is the catch: the last two attempts both finished outside the top 20. But for a race where survival pays as much as speed, the No. 17 RFK Ford at this price offers genuine upside for a late-race caution-aided sprint to the front.
Longshot Coca-Cola 600 Odds and Race-Week Storylines
Two-time Charlotte winner Brad Keselowski (+2800) leads all active Cup drivers in wins at the Speedway with victories in 2013 and 2020. He sits ninth in points and his RFK Racing operation has been steady, if not spectacular, on 1.5-mile ovals this year. Defending Coca-Cola 600 winner Ross Chastain (+3300) returns in the No. 1 Trackhouse Chevrolet after his late-race pass on Byron last May, and Ty Gibbs (+1600) has produced one of seven race wins on the 2026 schedule and currently sits sixth in the standings.
The race-day storyline overshadowing all of the above is Katherine Legge's attempt at "The Double" — racing the Indianapolis 500 in the No. 11 HMD Motorsports/AJ Foyt Racing Chevrolet for the IndyCar field, then flying to Concord to drive the No. 78 Live Fast Motorsports Chevrolet in the Coca-Cola 600. Legge will be the first woman and first non-American driver to attempt the feat, and at 45, the oldest. Only five drivers in history have tried; only Tony Stewart has finished all 1,100 miles. Kyle Larson's recent attempts ended with a missed start in 2024 (rain delay) and crashes in both races in 2025. (For complete coverage of the IndyCar half of Memorial Day weekend, see our 2026 Indianapolis 500 odds preview.)
The schedule pressure is meaningful. The Indy 500 green flag drops at 12:45 PM ET on FOX, and the Coca-Cola 600 takes the green flag roughly 80 to 90 minutes after the IndyCar race ends — assuming no weather delays. Any rain at Indianapolis tightens the window and increases the odds Legge starts the Cup race from the rear. The Coca-Cola 600 features four 100-lap stages, the only Cup race with four stages, and the daylight-to-darkness transition reshapes the handling balance from the first stage to the last.
2026 Coca-Cola 600 Betting Odds FAQ
Who is the favorite to win the 2026 Coca-Cola 600?
Denny Hamlin is the betting favorite at +400 on TheSpread.com as of Wednesday, May 20. The 2022 Coca-Cola 600 winner enters off a victory in the All-Star Race at Dover and four consecutive front-running performances on intermediate ovals. Tyler Reddick is the second betting choice at +550.
When is the 2026 Coca-Cola 600?
The 67th running of the Coca-Cola 600 is scheduled for Sunday, May 24, 2026, with the green flag at approximately 6:15 PM ET. Pre-race broadcast coverage begins at 5:00 PM ET at Charlotte Motor Speedway.
What channel is the 2026 Coca-Cola 600 on?
The 2026 Coca-Cola 600 is streaming exclusively on Prime Video. It is the first of five Cup Series races in Amazon's 2026 broadcast window. Radio coverage is on PRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio.
Who won the 2025 Coca-Cola 600?
Ross Chastain won the 2025 Coca-Cola 600 in the No. 1 Trackhouse Racing Chevrolet, passing William Byron with five laps remaining after Byron had led 283 of 400 laps. Chase Briscoe won the pole.
Is Katherine Legge attempting "The Double" in 2026?
Yes. Legge will race the Indianapolis 500 in the No. 11 for HMD Motorsports/AJ Foyt Racing, then fly to Charlotte to drive the No. 78 Live Fast Motorsports Chevrolet in the Coca-Cola 600. She will be the first woman, the first non-American, and the oldest driver to attempt all 1,100 miles in a single day.