NASCAR’s Cup Series takes a week off from its point-race schedule this weekend in conjunction with the upcoming Easter Holiday. With a quarter of the 36-race schedule in the books, this is a great time to take a closer look at FanDuel Sportsbook’s futures odds to win this season’s Cup Series racing title.
Top NASCAR Value Bets- Cup Series Futures
Similar to last season, the first nine Cup Series events have been dominated by a trio of drivers with a combined seven trips to Victory Lane. Martin Truex Jr. joined the list of first-time winners this season with last Saturday night’s first-place run at Richmond. The next stop on the tour is fabled Talladega Superspeedway on Sunday, April 28 for the GEICO 500.
The following are my top three drivers to win this year’s racing title based on the betting value in their Cup Series futures odds.
Top Favorite – Kyle Busch +350
At this early point in the season, anything can happen. However, there is no better value on the board than Kyle Busch when it comes to winning this year’s racing title. Kevin Harvick is still waiting in the wings at +700 and defending Cup Series Champion Joey Logano offers some decent value at those same +700 betting odds, but neither driver has come close to matching what the No. 18 Toyota has been able to accomplish on the track through the first nine Cup Series events. Three wins, six total Top 5 finishes and all nine runs inside the top 10 is about as impressive as it gets.
One of the most impressive stats is Busch leading 599 laps so far. To put this into its proper perspective, he led a total of 735 laps in 2015 on his way to his first career Cup Series racing title. He is also well on his way to eclipsing the career-high 2,023 laps he led in 2017.
Top Contender – Denny Hamlin +1100
Racing in his 14th Cup Series season, Hamlin knows that his window of opportunity to win a racing title is starting to close. He finished second in the standings in 2010 and third in 2014, but that is about as close as he has gotten to taking home the top prize. The good news for the No. 11 Toyota racing team is that it is basically a lock to make this season’s 10-race playoff with a pair of victories at Daytona and Fort Worth. Once you are in that 16-driver field, anything can happen from there.
The biggest value in Hamlin’s odds to win a championship this season is a much higher level of consistency from one race to the next. Along with those two trips to the Winner’s Circle, he has placed fifth in four other events, including last week’s race at Richmond. His worst finish in nine events was 11th at Atlanta in the second race of the year.
Top Longshot – Clint Bowyer +2600
Bowyer started his Cup Series career in 2006 at the age of 27. His best season was in 2012 when he won three point-race events and finished second to Brad Keselowski in the final standings. He was back in the playoff last season with a pair of victories to finish 12th in total points. The No. 14 Ford is still looking for its first victory this season, but this has been one of the more competitive cars on the track through the first nine events.
With last Saturday night’s third-place finish in Richmond, Bowyer has now placed seventh or better in his previous four runs. He came very close to winning at Texas in a second-place finish, and he led 24 laps at Bristol before fading to seventh. He has long odds to win a racing title for a reason, but when it comes to finding the best value of the longer odds on the board, he would be at the top of my list.
