For years NASCAR racing was very top-heavy, you’d be lucky to get Vegas Odds of 4:1 or 6:1 at the highest as it seemed that some form of Kevin Harvick, Denny Hamlin, or Kyle Busch would finish with the checkered flag week in and week out.
A younger crop of drivers and some technological changes have started to bring parity to the NASCAR race track. In fact, through the first 10 races of 2022, there have been 10 different winners. Some of those have been pretty profitable too such as Austin Cindric at Daytona (+2500), Alex Bowman in the Pennzoil 400 (+2000), and Chase Briscoe at the Ruoff Mortgage 500 (+10000).
If you can cash in on one of those higher odds racers then it’s almost a free year of NASCAR betting for the rest of the season. The big question, of course, is how do I do that? Here are some tips:
Driver Track History
It’s common knowledge that some drivers just perform better at different tracks. Whether it’s because it’s close to their hometown and they are familiar with the course, it’s a favorable layout, or the weather/atmosphere just aligns with their driving style, track history is a thing.
For example, Kevin Harvick at Phoenix was a near lock at one point, he won 7 of 16 races at one span which is almost unheard of including four in a row from 2013 to 2015. On the flip side, you get a decent driver like Ricky Stenhouse, Jr. who has just one top 20 finish in his last five trips to Bristol with an average finish of 32nd.
Start Position
Obviously, a lot can happen from green flag to checkered, but it never hurts to start near the front of the pack. Start position not only means the driver will have less traffic as they get started and thus avoid the dreaded early wreck, but also that their car has performed well in the qualifying rounds to get them towards to top 3-5 spots.
Get Lucky
Unfortunately in NASCAR betting, picking the big underdog winner is going to unfortunately still involve a ton of luck. There are on average around 43 cars that start each week, and even with the correct analytics and research, those drivers are still going to need to avoid wrecks, mechanical failure, pit malfunctions, etc. You might have the best car for 99 of the last 100 laps, but if your driver decides to risk it with tires or fuel instead of pitting you might find yourself just short of a winning bet. There are tons of variables with NASCAR wagering.
Other Ways to Make Money with Underdogs
One great thing about big NASCAR underdogs is that you don’t necessarily need to win the race to have a very profitable weekend. In fact, sometimes betting on a top 3 or even top 5 finish can still have Vegas Odds of 20:1 or higher. If you have a couple of different underdogs you like on a specific race, just betting them to finish in the top 3 instead of being the winner offers you the chance to win 2-3 bets on a single race.
One last thing to remember is that hitting on a 10:1 driver four times pays just as much as a 40:1 driver one time. Don’t take an underdog just because they have high odds – go with the driver who you think will win.
