After three months since we've seen the green flag fly, NASCAR is back this weekend for the iconic Daytona 500. After duels were settled on Thursday night, it is Chase Briscoe on the pole and +2500 in the Daytona 500 odds to win at Sportsbook.
With bumper-to-bumper racing and the big one looming, here's plenty of value on the odds board as evident with the betting favorite, Kyle Larson, holding odds of +1200 or 12:1.
Daytona 500 Odds
| Driver | Odds |
|---|---|
| Kyle Larson | +1200 |
| Joey Logano | +1300 |
| Kyle Busch | +1300 |
| Ryan Blaney | +1300 |
| Denny Hamlin | +1400 |
| Brad Keselowski | +1700 |
| William Byron | +1700 |
| Chase Elliott | +1700 |
| Christopher Bell | +1800 |
| Todd Gilliand | +2400 |
| Austin Cindric | +2400 |
| Chase Briscoe | +2500 |
| Bubba Wallace | +2600 |
| Alex Bowman | +2800 |
Odds as of February 14 at Sportsbook
Daytona 500 Picks & Predictions
Denny Hamlin To Win (+1400) at Sportsbook
Denny Hamlin is ALWAYS in the mix at Daytona, leading at least one lap in 28 of the 38 trips to Daytona International. Further, the No. 11 machine has three victories at this track, each of which were the 500's and not the Coke Zero 400.
It has been a rough go recently for Hamlin at the 2.5-mile super speedway, with seven straight finishes outside of the top 10 with a best finish of 13th in the summer of 2021.
Denny looked fast in qualifying, landing sixth, and had a fourth-place finish in Duel No. 2 on Thursday. Assuming he can keep his nose clean, he's a good bet to compete for the checkered flag.
Bubba Wallace Top-5 Finish (+340) at Sportsbook
Bubba Wallace has found himself with a top-five finish in five of his 15 starts at Daytona, including three runner-up finishes (twice in the 500). Removing wrecks, Wallace's worst performance was 15th, top-10 finish odds are -110 if you're looking for a safer play.
The No. 23 car was off the pace in qualifying, sitting 28th, a half-second off the hot lap set by Briscoe, though that's qualifying and not race setup. In Duel No. 1 last night, Bubba was able to drive away from the pack on the final lap to win and secure his spot toward the front of the pack in third.
Austin Dillon Top-10 Finish (+145) at Sportsbook
Nearly half of Dillon's performances at Daytona have resulted in top-10 finishes (nine out of 23 starts). However, more recently, the No. 3 car has finished 33, 33, 37, 22 in his last four performances at Daytona International Speedway with two crashes.
However, it's hard to ignore two victories at the super speedway and in his first seven starts had five top-10 finishes -- he knows how to handle this type of racing. He showed speed in qualifying, setting the seventh-fastest lap just shy of two-tenths of a second off the pace.
He's rolling off in 15th at the drop of the green flag so he'll be in the mixer we'll see if he can hang on and cash this bet for us.
Daytona International Speedway Trends
- The last five winners at Daytona started outside of the top 10 (avg. start pos. 20.2)
- The last pole winner at Daytona to go on and in was Dale Earnhardt Jr. in 2015. The last 500 winner from the pole was Dale Jarrett in 2000.
- There are two drivers in the field that have multiple Daytona 500 wins, Denny Hamlin (+1400) with three and Jimmie Johnson (+7500) with two.
- Hendrick Motorsports cars have drove to victory lane more than any other team (9) including William Byron (+1700) last year.
- Chevrolet has been the car make to grab the checkered flag more than other vehicles (26) including the last two. Toyota has the fewest with three and last won in 2020.
- Seven of the last 10 Daytona 500 winners started 10th or worst, including Denny Hamlin's win in 2020 when he started 39th.
- In 66 Daytona 500's there have been 43 different driver to win.
