NASCAR Odds, Darlington: Carl Edwards coming to town ... to watch Joey Logano win?

Ever since the “Throwback” concept was brought to Darlington, we’ve seen paint schemes, uniform styles and even haircuts representing every decade of NASCAR, all the way back to its inaugural stock-car season of 1949.

This week, for many, the big draw regards a driver who dates all the way back … to 2016.

That’s right, Cousin Carl is comin’ to town!

Where you been, son?

When Carl Edwards abruptly retired just before the 2017 season, he was just 37, looked fit, and was still winning races and contending for championships.

It was logical to assume, “Ah, he’ll be back. No way he stays retired.”

What were the odds he’d go so far off the grid?

ROSS THE BOSS Chastain joins long list of hit-and-run NASCAR racers; Earnhardt among 'em | KEN WILLIS

SPEED FREAKS Ross Chastain punches, Denny Hamlin flexes, and now Darlington? Yes!

Probably worse than Erik Jones’ odds for winning Darlington — how’s that for a clunky segue?

When Carl Edwards joins the Fox broadcast team in the booth for Stage 2 Sunday at Darlington, he’ll certainly get more air time than Erik Jones, who can’t get into a Toyota fast enough. Trust me, it’s strange when a guy returns to a track where he won the previous year, and where he’s won twice in the previous four seasons, and almost literally can’t buy a wager.

Jones is the 16th driver listed on our odds board, at +6,000. That’s right, a $100 bet would be worth $6,000 if Jones won, and even a $10 bet would bring you nearly ’bout $600.

Kinda looks like a good place to hitch our longshot hopes and change our fortunes, literally, after a tough start to the season and particularly rotten last few weeks. Agree?

Trick question. Don’t agree. No chance. Poor Erik, in the first season as a rebranded Legacy Motor Club, with Jimmie Johnson on board as co-owner and occasional teammate, has been miserable.

The team recently announced it’ll move from Chevy to Toyota next year, and assuming those negotiations and accompanying rumors didn’t remain a deep secret (hardly anything does in that garage), I believe we now have our reason for the ongoing trudge for Erik and teammate Noah Gragson.

But we need to believe in somebody deep on that odds board. Just maybe not that deep — well, except our ongoing sawbuck taped to Ty Gibbs’ rear bumper.

As threatened last week, it’ll continue to be nearly all-in each week, on just one driver, until lightning strikes and all previous losses have been erased and hopefully replaced with a big fat surplus. So let’s take that C-note, carve out a 10-spot for Ty, and see where to stack that other $90.

Kyle Larson +500, Denny Hamlin +650, Martin Truex Jr. +750, William Byron +850, Tyler Reddick +850

How long will the bad breaks keep Kyle Larson out of Victory Lane. Here’s a guy literally banking on his bad luck lasting at least one more week.

Kyle Busch +1,000, Ross Chastain +1,100, Chase Elliott +1,200, Joey Logano +1,200, Christopher Bell +1,200, Kevin Harvick +1,300

Whew, some pretty stout Darlington credentials in this group. Hard to look anywhere else, but what the hell …

Ryan Blaney +2,500, Daniel Suarez +3,500, Brad Keselowski +3,500, Bubba Wallace +4,000

When Cousin Carl retired so soon before the 2017 season, Joe Gibbs had to rush Suarez to the Cup Series a season before he was expected to make that jump. With Edwards watching, can Suarez deliver a full-circle moment? Probably not at an egg-shaped track?

Josh Berry +6,000, Erik (With a K) Jones +6,000, Ty Gibbs +6,500, Chris Buescher +6,500

Honestly, Erik (With a K) shouldn’t even be this high. He hasn’t finished better than 14th at a non-plate race, and it’s not likely to get a lot better. The K stands for kaput.

All at +10,000: The Other Chase, Briscoe; Ricky Stenhouse; Austin Dillon

Here’s one of those fun facts for you: Among active Cup racers, Dillon has the fifth best average finish (12.1) at Darlington over the past three years. Not so fun fact: In 13 career Darlington starts, he’s turned nearly 4,400 laps, and hasn’t led a single one of them.

All at +13,000: AJ Allmendinger; Ryan Preece; Noah Gragson; Aric (With an A) Almirola; Justin Haley; Michael McDowell; Austin Cindric

It’s probably even-money that Noah tries to give Chastain a Darlington stripe by the second or third time Ross is lapping him.

All at +20,000: Todd Gilliland, Corey LaJoie, Brennan Poole, Ty Dillon, BJ McLeod, Ryan Newman, Harrison Burton

The bouncer, BJ McLeod, is back this week to keep order in the Longshot Lounge. He might be busy, because this weekend’s entertainment is Darlington native Buddy Johnson, whose boogie-woogie style of “jump blues” is bound to get the blood flowing. Even Flyin’ Ryan might tap his toes. Nah, just kidding.

Last week

Joey Logano finished sixth ast Kansas and led some laps, but never really made a run at cashing us in at +2,200.

But no one is in panic mode around here. That’s what happens when you just know you’re gonna hit the winner one of these weeks, erase all those bad weeks and, best of all, quit buying on layaway again.

In fact, the comfort level is so, yes, comfortable right now, it’s tempting to do it again.

He wouldn’t dare …

This week

Yes he would. After sliding the usual $10 across the window in honor of Ty Gibbs’ eventual win (it’d be worth $650, by the way), the big $90 chunk sticks with Logano, who finished first and fourth at Darlington last year and has been decent all year when he hasn’t had problems.

But haven’t we all?

Anyway, there’s also some emotion playing into this one.

While many of those so-called throwback paint schemes at Darlington do nothing to rouse the nostalgia, Logano and Team Penske are hitting us right in the breast pocket this weekend — they’re wrapping Joey’s Ford in the old red, white and blue that adorned Mark Donohue’s AMC Matador in the early 1970s.

Donohue and Roger Penske competed across various forms of racing together and were so good, the term “unfair advantage” was often tossed around. It also became the name of Donohue’s autobiography, which every motorsports fan should have.

Right about now, any advantage will do.

This article originally appeared on The Daytona Beach News-Journal: NASCAR odds, Darlington: Carl Edwards pops in; Kyle Larson favored