NASCAR Betting News

NASCAR Auto Racing Betting Information on Odds Shark

NASCAR is an extremely popular sport in the United States, especially in the country’s southern states. Many bettors flock to sports leagues like the NFL, NBA, MLB and NHL, but they are also making a left turn toward more niche sports like NASCAR. Betting on NASCAR is becoming more widespread as an increasing number of states offer legalized sports betting.

NASCAR consists of a nine-month season, including playoffs, offering a lot of great betting opportunities for bettors. That means there is a consistent need for and interest in NASCAR odds, reports, previews and trends analysis. The best betting sites for NASCAR have betting odds for every event during the regular season and postseason. This includes odds for weekly races in the NASCAR Cup Series, All-Star races, the Xfinity Toyota 200 at Darlington, Gander Outdoors Truck races, and more.

Betting on NASCAR is pretty straightforward. Sportsbooks offer a wide range of NASCAR racing wagers: race winner, prop bets, futures, head-to-head matchups, group matchups and top place finishes.

NASCAR Odds and Betting Types

In NASCAR odds, the favorite will almost always have a plus sign (+) next to their odds. In other sports like NCAAF, soccer, golf or tennis, the favorite is typically indicated by a minus sign (-) next to the odds. NASCAR odds have better value because it is more unpredictable. There are many unknowns during a race that could affect your wager like whether Kevin Harvick will be involved in an accident, whether Jimmie Johnson will have mechanical failure, or whether Alex Bowman will make a mistake on pit road that could derail his chances of winning.

Picking a Winner

Most NASCAR fans simply bet on the driver they expect to win the upcoming race. NASCAR odds for each driver are commonly listed in one of two ways: with fractions or in the moneyline format.

For example, let’s say you bet $100 on Kyle Busch at +1000 odds to win the Daytona 500 race. Should Busch take the checkered flag, you would earn $1,000 for the winning wager, plus your initial $100 would be returned for a total payout of $1,100.

Prop Bets

Prop bets are particular racing situations that you bet on. These forms of bets don’t require you to pick a winning driver or wager on where a driver will finish. They simply require you to bet on a specific occurrence, action or accomplishment such as qualifying (pole position).

Prop bets are a great way for NASCAR fans to add some fun to a race. Some betting examples would be:

Futures Betting

NASCAR futures odds can also provide better value than your weekly wagers because there is a lot more unpredictability over a nine-month span. NASCAR futures odds may also have smaller fluctuations as one race doesn’t ruin an entire season until the playoffs start, then there are larger swings as drivers get eliminated from contention. With large NASCAR odds changes later in the year, you may have an opportunity to hedge your bet to have a better chance of earning a profit.

For example, you place a bet on John Hunter Nemechek to win the NASCAR Cup at +500 at the start of the season and he advances to the finals. Martin Truex Jr., also in the finals, also has odds of +500. A bet on him would give you two drivers in the finals that could earn you a profit.

Head-to-Head Matchups

Unlike a futures bet or an outright winner, NASCAR odds are much lower for a head-to-head wager. Head-to-head odds appear closer to a team sport in which one team (driver) will be a slight minus (-) favorite with the other team (driver) coming back as a slight plus (+) underdog. For example, Tyler Reddick is a -120 favorite to finish higher than Denny Hamlin, who is coming back at +130.

Group Betting

Rather than picking one of 40 cars to win the race, many bettors prefer NASCAR odds of picking the top finisher in a select group of drivers. It could be between three or four drivers or a top finisher driving a Toyota.

Place Betting

NASCAR places emphasis not only on a driver to win the race, but also when drivers finish in the top three or top five. An advantage for this type of NASCAR bet is that it’s easier to pick a driver like Joey Logano placing in the top three or top five than to win the race outright. However, NASCAR odds are lower in place betting compared to NASCAR odds of picking a driver to win the race straight up.