The most anticipated NASCAR race of the season will open this year’s series. The Great American Race won’t be able to facilitate a crowd as large as it usually does, but the excitement will be as spectacular as ever.
Last year Michael McDowell was a surprising winner, when he won his first race ever due to a crash on the final lap for the two race leaders. With his odds of winning being 100 to 1 at the bookies, it was one of the biggest surprises in NASCAR history. This year the favorites would like to take home the glory, but who are they going into the 64th edition of the race?
Denny Hamlin
Heading into the Daytona 500 Hamlin will be a small favorite. He has already won the Daytona 500 three times and will try to equal Cale Yarborough four wins to tie for all-time most wins behind Richard Petty. Driving out from Tampa he is one of the Floridians that are in the race, with a real chance of winning. Probably the one with the biggest shot.
Right now, the odds are around 8 to 1 on him winning, which should be seen as a good value bet, when taking his 2016, 2019 and 2020 wins into consideration. If you want to bet on the Daytona 500, you can get tips on Floridian betting right here.
Kyle Larson
The 2021 NASCAR Cup series champion is yet to finish higher than 7th in the Super Bowl of Stock Car Racing. Clinching the championship in the last deciding race of the season, Larson became the 35th driver to take home the title. Going into the Daytona 500 he will seek to better his all-time high finishing position and get on to a good start in order to finish the season with consecutive championships.
Ryan Blaney
This one might be a little bit surprising, but even though Ryans best championship finish is seventh, he is quite an accomplished driver, especially at the Daytona. In his seven starts of the race, he has finished second twice. So, he knows how to get around the 200 lapped race. Should the Ohioan go on to win this year’s race, it is certain that he will give the checkered flag to a young fan, as he has done in his previous seven NASCAR race wins.
Joey Lugano
Last year the 2015 winner of the race was on his way to becoming a two-time winner of Daytona 500. Going into the final lap he led the race in front of his teammate Keselowski. Using the momentum from eventual race winner McDowell, Keselowski tried to overtake Lugano, which ended up finishing their race with a crash and handing the race win to the surprising winner.
This year Lugano will give it another try, and this year it will be without his former teammate, who is not with the team anymore. Maybe the two combatants are not that fond of each other this time around.
That was this year’s favorites. If you can’t wait for the new season to get started, you can check out the NASCAR calendar and its new routes. Once once more it will be filled with close clashes at more than 200 mph, and it is certain not to be one to miss.
