NASCAR Blue-Emu Maximum Pain Relief 500 Odds & Picks

• The Blue-Emu Maximum Pain Relief 500 takes place on June 10th at Martinsville Speedway in Ridgeway, Virginia
• Kevin Harvick is coming off a big win in Atlanta on Sunday and is now the leader in the NASCAR Cup standings; he’s only +1000 this week
• Kyle Busch is the favorite, see the full odds board in the story below

We’ve got another mid-week NASCAR race upon us as the drivers get back to it on Wednesday for the Blue-Emu Maximum Pain Relief 500. The race will take place at Martinsville Speedway on June 10th, at 7:00 PM ET.

A different driver has won this race each of the last five runnings – will the same trend play out this week?

NASCAR Blue-Emu Maximum Pain Relief 500 Odds

Odds taken June 9th

Stay With Keselowski

We have been rolling with Brad Keselowski as our top option for a few races now and he’s the man I’m looking at among the group of favorites this week. It’s not his best track overall but he has some fantastic and consistent results of late, which makes me believe that he’ll be in contention here this week.

Keselowski has finished third, first, fifth, 10th, fourth, first, second and fifth in his last eight outings here. He’s been in the top ten every time and in the top five in seven of those eight starts.

On top of that, he’s finished in the top ten in five straight races overall – including two wins – so he’s hot right now.

How About Hamlin?

Hamlin has been somewhat hit-or-miss this season as when he’s been on, he’s finished in the top six. He has two wins and four other results in the top six.

However, when he’s been off, he’s been way off. He’s placed 17th or worse in four other races.

Martinsville is a really good track for him, though, as he has three straight endings in the top five. For his career, he has finished among the top eight in 20 of his 27 starts. He hasn’t won since 2015, so I wouldn’t bet him to win outright, but a top ten prop sounds about right for him.

Johnson For a Top 10

I’ve been really happy to see the resurgence of Jimmie Johnson. A legend of the sport, he had endured a couple of really rough years. He had just 12 top ten’s last season and 11 in 2017-18, but he’s already posted five this year in just ten starts. Two of those have come in back-to-back weeks.

Overall, Martinsville is his best track by the numbers but he has struggled there of late. Over the last six starts there, he has done no better than 12th and has been 12th or worse in nine of his last 11 outings. However, you can’t ignore how awesome he was before that, so maybe he’ll regain that magic.

From 2002 to 2014, Johnson win the race a whopping eight times with 22 of his 25 starts resulting in top eight finishes.

Given the way he’s been racing of late, I think he can get back in the top ten here. I’ll take a flier on him.

Stay Off of Harvick

Harvick leads the NASCAR standings right now and is coming off a win in Atlanta, but I’d avoid him for this race. There’s no question that he’s been great overall this season, but he doesn’t win at Martinsville that often.

As a matter of fact, he has just the one win here – in 2011.

He’s finished outside of the top ten in eight of his last 16 starts at Martinsville while never finishing better than fifth. I’ll pass on him for the outright win this week.