Unconventionally, the NASCAR Sprint Cup series runs its most prestigious race, the Daytona 500, at the beginning, not the end, of the stock car racing season and it may seem that oddsmakers have Daytona 500 betting odds in the wrong order, too.
Or do they?
Although some might have expected that four-time reigning and defending Sprint Cup champion Jimmie Johnson would be the race favorite, Daytona 500 future book betting opened with Kyle Busch as an 8/1 pick to win “The Great American Race” at the Daytona International Speedway, Feb. 14. Johnson is just the fourth choice in the betting at odds of 12/1. In between Busch and Johnson are Tony Stewart and Jeff Gordon.
Let’s take a closer look at the top contenders for the 2010 Daytona 500:
Kyle Busch (8/1): Busch led the most Daytona 500 laps in both 2008 and 2009 but never has won the race. Still, Busch has excelled at races using restrictor plates (which keep speeds to a manageable level) over the last two years and the Daytona 500 is a restrictor plate race. Busch, the only driver to win two NASCAR races on the same day when he captured Nationwide and Truck series events in February of 2009, has been unlucky in his last two Daytona 500 outings and could finally reach the winner’s circle there.
Tony Stewart (9/1): Stewart, the only driver to win both the Winston Cup under the old point system (2002) and the Sprint Cup under the chase playoff format (2005), has been third in the Daytona 500 each of the past two years. With victories in both Indy cars and stock cars, Stewart knows his way around a racetrack and could win his first Daytona 500 this year.
Jeff Gordon (10/1): With three victories in the race (1197, 1999, 2005), Gordon is a perennial contender. But since winning it all in 2005, Gordon has finished 26th, 10th, 39th and 13th in the Daytona 500. The four-time Sprint Cup champion won just one race last season but always is dangerous.
Jimmie Johnson (12/1): There’s not a lot Johnson has done wrong over the past four years. He won the Daytona 500 in 2006 even though his crew chief, Chad Knaus, had been suspended for a rule infraction during qualifying. But Johnson finished 31st in the Daytona 500 last year, was 27th in 2008 and did not finish in 2007, those three most recent efforts probably accounting for the champion’s generous double-digit odds. Still, Johnson won a circuit best seven races last year so it’s not as though he’s slipping.
Dale Earnhardt Jr. (14/1): “Little E” won the Daytona 500 in 2004, just as his late father had done six years earlier. He’s had four top 10 finishes in the five Daytona 500 races since his first win but is coming off a dismal 2009 season in which he failed to win a race and finished 25th in the Sprint Cup Series standings.
Mark Martin (14/1): At 50, Martin found the Fountain of Youth last year, finishing second to Johnson in the Sprint Cup Series while winning five races, also second best on the NASCAR tour. Despite an illustrious career, Martin still lacks a Daytona 500 victory on his resume, finishing second in 2007.
Denny Hamlin (14/1): Hamlin came in fifth in the Sprint Cup Series standings last year but hasn’t finished higher than 17th in the Daytona 500.
Kurt Busch (16/1): Busch was runner-up in both 2005 and 2008 and made the top 10 last year so he can’t be eliminated from consideration.
Juan Pablo Montoya (16/1): Entering his fourth full season in NASCAR since moving over from Formula 1 racing, Montoya is starting to have an impact, finishing eighth in last year’s Sprint Cup Series standings. But he’s finished no higher than 14th in three Daytona 500 runs.
Matt Kenseth (20/1), Ryan Newman (25/1) and Kevin Harvick (20/1): Counting backwards from 2009, the trio has won the last three runnings of the Daytona 500. After finishing 42nd, 15th, 27th and 36th the previous four years, Kenseth’s 2009 victory came out of nowhere. Newman finished third in the 2006 Daytona 500 before taking the victory lap two years after that. Harvick has been the most consistent of the threesome, adding a second last year and a pair of 14-place sandwiching his win in 2007.
In addition to straight win wagering, many sportsbooks will spice up their Daytona 500 betting menu with numerous head-to-head match-ups and other propositions, which will only make "The Great American Race," greater.
