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NASCAR betting: 2021 winner Kyle Larson is the Coca-Cola 600 favorite

What’s going to stop Kyle Larson from being the favorite in a NASCAR Cup Series race?

Larson is favored for a fifth consecutive Cup Series race ahead of Sunday night’s Coca-Cola 600 (5 p.m. ET, Fox) including last week’s All-Star Race. Larson entered the exhibition event as the defending champion but was the first car out of the race after a flat tire send him into the wall.

The 2021 Cup Series champion has just one win so far this season and it came in the second race of the season. Larson has finished in the top six in four of the last five points races, however, and he’s moved up from 13th to ninth in the points standings.

Last season’s 600 was one of the 10 races Larson won in 2021 and the first of three straight. He led 327 of the race’s 400 laps in what was a tame and unentertaining affair. NASCAR’s new Cup Series car should hopefully make the race a little more entertaining than it was a season ago.

Here’s what you need to know to bet Sunday night’s nightcap to one of the greatest days in racing after the Monaco Grand Prix and the Indianapolis 500. All odds are from BetMGM and you can view all of the bets available here.

Kyle Larson (5) crosses the start/finish line during qualifying for the NASCAR All-Star Race auto race at Texas Motor Speedway in Fort Worth, Texas, Saturday, May 21, 2022. (AP Photo/LM Otero)
Kyle Larson (5) crosses the start/finish line during qualifying for the NASCAR All-Star Race auto race at Texas Motor Speedway in Fort Worth, Texas, Saturday, May 21, 2022. (AP Photo/LM Otero) (ASSOCIATED PRESS)

The favorites

  • Kyle Larson (+500)

  • Chase Elliott (+700)

  • Kyle Busch (+700)

  • Denny Hamlin (+800)

  • William Byron (+800)

Elliott won the makeup race at Charlotte in 2020 as NASCAR scrambled to get races complete thanks to the COVID-19 pandemic. Busch won the 2018 600 while Hamlin or Byron have never won a 600. Byron has shown lots of speed at intermediate tracks this year and Hamlin finished second to Ryan Blaney in the All-Star Race.

Good mid-tier value

  • Martin Truex Jr. (+1200)

  • Kurt Busch (+2000)

Truex is the 2016 and 2019 winner of the 600 and has been competitive on intermediate tracks so far this season. It’s only a matter of time before he dominates a race and gets a win. Busch won at Kansas two weeks ago and appears to be reversing a run of bad luck that started at the end of March.

Don’t bet this driver

  • Chase Briscoe (+2800)

This year’s Phoenix winner has just three top-10 finishes this year and none have come on an intermediate track. Briscoe is tied with Kevin Harvick for the best odds of any Stewart-Haas Racing driver and it’s hard to see anyone from SHR winning this race straight up.

Looking for a long shot?

  • Bubba Wallace (+15000)

Wallace was very fast at Kansas and lost a potential top five — or even top three — thanks to a slow pit stop on the final pit stop series of the race. 23XI has shown more speed in recent weeks as evidenced by Busch’s win at Kansas and it’s only a matter of time before Wallace’s pit crew doesn’t mess up a good run.