There is a break in NASCAR’s Monster Energy Cup Series schedule this week in advance of the final two point-race events at Darlington and Richmond before the start of the 10-race playoff to the 2017 racing title. In light of the results from the first 24 races this season, 5Dimes has recently updated its NASCAR futures odds for each driver’s chances to win.
The top 16 drivers based on both race victories and total points qualify for the 10-race Cup Series playoff to this year’s racing title. However only one driver will move to the very top of the list as champion later this fall in the final race of the year at Homestead-Miami Speedway.
The following is a look at the futures odds for a few of the top favorites to win the 2017 Cup Series Championship along with my top value pick based on betting odds provided by 5Dimes
Favorites To Win 2017 Monster Energy Cup
Martin Truex Jr. has been racing at NASCAR’s highest level on a full-time basis since 2006 with very limited success, but everything has come together quickly this season for the No. 78 Toyota racing team. He leads the list in total victories with four, which has this team at the top of the Cup Series standings with 951 total points through last week’s race. His odds to stay hot all the way through the final race of the season to win this year’s title are set at +325 as the best on the board. Truex’s relative lack of experience competing for a title over those last 10 races of the season could be a factor, but with a total of 10 runs inside the top five this year, I still think he will remain at or near the top of the pack all the way to Homestead-Miami.
A close second on the list at +350 betting odds to win a title is Kyle Busch. He won it all in 2015 and last season he guided the No. 18 Toyota to a third-place finish in the final standings. He shook off a slow start this year with his first victory coming at Pocono on July 30, but with last week’s win he has moved into second place in the current standings with 850 total points. The advantage in Busch as a solid second-favorite is his experience in playoff racing and this team has been one of the best in the game the last two seasons when it comes to winning the races it has to.
With three point-race wins to go along with another seven second-place finishes, it is easy to see why Kyle Larson is listed as a +650 third-favorite to win a racing title in just his fourth full-time season in the Cup Series. The No. 42 Chevrolet has been a model of consistency this season and its driver has more than proven that he knows how to win races, which is the key to winning a title in playoff that includes a number of elimination rounds. Larson qualified for the playoffs last season and finished eighth in the final standings which is a plus, but making that leap all the way to the top of the list is a whole other thing.
