Three to watch, one to avoid for NASCAR's Chicago Street Course

The NASCAR Cup Series is back on the streets of Chicago, for what will hopefully be a much more dry and clean afternoon than what fans were treated to a year ago.

This year's Grant Park 165 will be 25 laps shorter than 2023's scheduled distance (which itself ended up being shortened due to impending curfew). Here are three drivers to watch – a favorite, a contender and a dark horse – as well as one to avoid for the holiday weekend.

Favorite: Kyle Larson (+650, per DraftKings as of Friday afternoon)

Shane van Gisbergen is the oddsmakers' favorite, likely due to his status as the race's defending winner. However, it's worth noting that last year was (literally) the perfect storm for him as one of the only drivers in the field with previous street-course experience, as well as the most experienced driver in wet-weather conditions. The playing field will be more even this time around and that's where Larson becomes the favorite.

Forgotten in van Gisbergen's historic charge to win 2023's Chicago event was that Larson followed his tire tracks up through the field late in the going, ultimately finishing fourth. He has a road-course win already in 2024 at Sonoma and he'll add another on Sunday. Listed with the fourth-best odds at +650, you'll want to put some money on the No. 5 car this weekend.

Contender: Shane van Gisbergen (+425)

Even if he may be slightly overvalued with the best odds in the field, van Gisbergen still holds the earned status as the guy everyone is trying to beat this weekend. His drive a season ago wasn't just a historic moment for NASCAR; it was jaw-droppingly dominant as he raced through the pack late in the going and at times was running laps an entire second faster than everyone else.

van Gisbergen is sure to be a contender once again, although this time we hope we don't have to hear his name mispronounced as "van Ginsenberg," "SVJ" or whatever Jeff Burton was trying to say here. His +425 odds may not be very tempting if you're looking for a payout, but sometimes you can't overthink things.

Dark horse: Justin Haley (+8000)

Sure, it was due to a fortuitous caution, but the oddsmakers have seemingly forgotten about who finished second -- and nearly won -- 2023's Chicago Street Race. Haley led 23 laps before van Gisbergen passed him for the win, and he has been very impressive at times this season in Rick Ware Racing's No. 51 car.

Haley has shown an ability throughout his career to capitalize on chaos and if this race is anything like last year's in that regard, don't be surprised to see him near the front. You should be hammering those +8000 odds if you're looking for a potential home-run play.

Avoid: Christopher Bell (+600)

Bell has been red-hot lately and understandably has the third-highest odds for Sunday at +600. Yet the one track type he hasn't seemed to have winning speed at is the road courses -- his ninth-place finish at Sonoma was his worst in the past five races prior to last weekend's crash at Nashville. Though he came in second at Circuit of the Americas earlier this year, it was on an unconventional pit strategy.

Bell may run in the top 10 or even the top five on Sunday, but there's a number of better options for the win, especially at that price.