NASCAR

To some people, NASCAR just involves cars going around in circles, but to others, it is a sport with rich tradition and history, which features a lot more to the eye than people realize. A lot of excitement can ensue over the course of a race, but if fans are looking to add even more excitement, then placing bets is an excellent place to start.

Comparing online sportsbooks and their NASCAR betting markets

Finding bets for each NASCAR race and season is easy, but finding the best sportsbooks for those markets is the key. Each sportsbook may have a different strength when it comes to NASCAR betting, which is why we recommend having multiple betting accounts and price shopping across them in each market.

Regarding the top-to-bottom best shop for NASCAR bets, we’ve found that Bet365 does an excellent job producing markets for the sport, each with competitive odds. Outside of that, the two primary sportsbooks in the U.S. are also solid for NASCAR betting. For bettors who are new to NASCAR, DraftKings has a very simple layout for the sport, which makes it easy.

For bettors who like to place futures, we’ve found that FanDuel is a good place to start when looking for these markets. Live betting is also a big thing to consider when looking for the top NASCAR betting apps. In our experience, BetMGM and Fanatics Sportsbooks hold some advantages over other shops in live betting markets.

NASCAR and daily fantasy sports

It may not be the premier sport for DFS contests, but NASCAR fans do have the option to participate in DFS contests. Primarily, DraftKings and FanDuel are the two DFS sites that offer the most consistent and best contests for the sport. These contests can be entered for each race and revolve around drafting a team of drivers for each race in the hopes of accumulating the most points for the given race.

Each contest gives customers a set salary cap they must stay under to enter the contest, and each driver is priced differently depending on how successful they are. For example, Kyle Larson is consistently one of the most expensive drivers to add to a lineup each week.

There are many things to take into consideration when drafting a lineup, including current form and previous success in a given event. Once a lineup is created, customers will garner points from how well their drivers finish. Each contest may differ regarding how many players a customer is competing against, the total entry price, and the payout price to each place a customer finishes.

What kind of NASCAR bets can you place?

Betting on NASCAR can be as simple or multi-layered as a bettor wants it to be. It may be surprising for new bettors to realize there are a solid number of betting markets available. Of course, the most common and straightforward market is the outright winner, which calls for a bettor to wager on who they think will win the race.

For those NASCAR bettors who also enjoy betting on golf, there is a lot of crossover in the type of market available for each race. For example, not only can a bettor wager on the outright winner, but they can also bet on the finishing position for a driver, whether that be Top 3, Top 5, Top 10, or higher, depending on the sportsbook a customer is using.

Besides finishing position, matchup bets are also prevalent in the NASCAR betting world. These matchup bets could feature two drivers pitted against each other, in which the bettor would wager on who they think will have a better finishing position in a race. Matchup bets could include betting which driver out of a group of four will have the best finishing position. This does not mean the driver wagered on has to win the race; they just have to perform better than the other drivers in their group.

As far as pre-race bets go, other markets include the winning manufacturer or winning team, along with a select group of prop bets. Depending on the book, these prop bets may change, but the most common ones include the number of lead changes or cautions in a race.

The two remaining markets are futures bets and live bets. For futures bets, customers can wager on which drivers, manufacturers, and teams will win the Cup Series, Xfinity Series, and Truck Series championships. For live wagers, a customer may be able to hedge a pre-race bet by placing a live wager on a different driver to win the race or finish in a certain position.

NASCAR Cup Series

The granddaddy of them all in NASCAR is the Cup Series, the primary racing circuit in the sport. This stock car only racing series has been around since 1949 and has only grown in popularity since then. Like most sports, each driver competes to make the playoffs or, in this case, “The Chase.” Drivers look to garner points throughout a season, which stem from their finishing position for a given race.

After the first 26 races, the 16 drivers with the most points compete in “The Chase,” which consists of the last ten races. Of the 16 drivers, 15 had the most wins over the first 26 races, while the last driver gets into the playoffs by having the most points without a win that season. The Chase starts with all drivers having their points reset to 2,000 and consists of three races. At the end of that three-race stretch, the four drivers with the least number of points are eliminated.

Throughout the sport's history, three drivers have won the NASCAR Cup Series championship a record seven times, including Richard Petty, Dale Earnhardt, and Jimmie Johnson. In terms of individual race wins, Richard Petty holds the record with 200. Car manufacturers also play a significant role in NASCAR, and to this point, Chevrolet is the most successful as they’ve won 42 manufacturer championships and over 850 individual races.

Daytona 500

One of the most recognizable and iconic races in the NASCAR Cup Series is the Daytona 500, which takes place at the Dayton International Speedway each February. This historic race has been running since 1959 and features 200 laps on an asphalt surface.

In the race's history, Richard Petty holds the record for most wins with seven, while Chevy holds the record for the most wins as a manufacturer with 26. The total purse for the event tends to slightly increase each year, with the 2024 purse coming in at over $28 million.

Coca-Cola 600

Once known as the World 600, the Coca-Cola 600 is an annual NASCAR Cup Series event held at Charlotte Motor Speedway over Memorial Day weekend. This event not only has been around since 1960, but it was the first motor racing event ever held at the Charlotte Motor Speedway in Concord, North Carolina.

The Coca-Cola 600 has four stages, all of which are 100 laps long. Chevrolet has easily dominated those 400 laps, with 25 wins as a manufacturer in this event. However, in 2024, with Christopher Bell winning, Toyota was the most recent manufacturer to pick up a win at the event.

Southern 500

Jeff Gordon had one of the most significant followings NASCAR has ever seen. While he found success in many races, he absolutely dominated the Southern 500, posting a record six wins at the event in his career. Officially, this event is called the Cook Out Southern 500, and it takes place each season at the Darlington Raceway in South Carolina.

Since 1950, the best racecar drivers in the world have met in Darlington on Labor Day weekend to race around the track 367 times. The first two stages of this event last for 115 laps, while the third and final stage is 137 laps. With a win by Kyle Larson in 2023, Hendrick Motorsports has the record for most team wins at the Southern 500 with 12.

GEICO 500

Like in all sports, specific events or places hold a meaning to people who do not even follow the sport. Well, in NASCAR, the Talladega Superspeedway in Lincoln, Alabama, is one of those places. Since 1970, racing fans have flocked to Talladega to watch what is now called the Geico 500 each year in either April or May.

This NASCAR Cup Series race is 188 laps, with the first and second stages lasting 60 laps and the third and final stage lasting 68. This “Crown Jewel” event has had some of the biggest names in the sport celebrate a victory in front of 80,000 screaming fans, but no one has won the event more than Jeff Gordon and Brad Keselowski, who have each won it four times.

NASCAR Xfinity Series

Plenty of professional sports have minor leagues or second division, and NASCAR is no different. In 1982, NASCAR launched the Xfinity Series, which is a second-tier racing circuit below the NASCAR Cup Series. The Xfinity Series follows the same season guidelines as the Cup Series, as Xfinity Series races are generally held the day before the Cup Series race on the same track.

The Xfinity Series has playoffs, but instead of lasting four rounds like the Cup Series, they last three rounds. The first round is a round of 12 that occurs from races 27-29, which consists of 12 drivers who qualified for the playoffs with 2,000 points. After the first round, the four drivers with the fewest points are eliminated from contention, which gives way to the round of eight during races 30-32. After the second round, four more drivers are eliminated, and the final four drivers have their points reset to 4,000 before they compete for the NXS title.

In his legendary career, Kyle Busch has made quite the imprint on the Xfinity Series, winning a record 102 races on the circuit. Over the years, many Cup Series drivers have participated in Xfinity Series races for several reasons. In 2017, it was announced that Cup Series drivers competing for points with five years of experience or more can only compete in ten Xfinity Series races per season and never in the season finale or playoffs.

NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series

NASCAR does not have to feature just stock cars, as the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series is a racing series that revolves around pickup trucks. This specific racing series has been around since 1995, and for most races, 36 trucks compete in a single-truck qualifier where each truck gets two laps, and the fastest lap is counted as the final entry.

As for the actual races, there are 21 tracks that the trucks compete on, which consist of two dirt tracks, two road courses, five short tracks, three superspeedways, and nine intermediate tracks. Since 2015, there are typically 23 races that truck drivers compete in across a season, and most recently, in 2023, Ben Rhodes won his second truck series championship.

Much like the NASCAR Cup Series, each race goes on a stage system, with the distance of each stage varying by the length of the race. While Cup Series drivers compete in the Truck Series, typically later in their careers, no Cup Series regulars drive a full season in the Truck Series. Many Cup Series drivers do know the tracks well by the time they compete in Truck Series events, as some races are held at the Poconos, Talladega, and Daytona.

To this day, Kyle Busch holds the record for truck series wins with 66, while Chevrolet is the manufacturer that has produced the most champions.