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Valentine’s Day and the Super Bowl are in the books, which means it’s time for the Daytona 500 and the start of the NASCAR 2023 season. The 500, known as the Great American Race, is set for Sunday, February 18, 2023 and will be shown on FOX. This year the field is packed with experience, including six drivers that have won this race before.
Several of those drivers are topping the favorites list heading into Sunday’s action on the track. Denny Hamlin has won this race three times and he’s knotted up with several other favorites at +1200. Joey Logano won the 500 in 2015, is the reigning Cup Series Champion and he’s a favorite at +1400 along with Kyle Busch.
Best Daytona 500 Betting Sites
Austin Cindric grabbed the Daytona 500 checkered flag last season and he’s coming in just outside of the top favorites, plus just before some of the value drivers at +2000. Cindric did not win on a fluke last year as he was out front for 21 laps as the leader. He followed up the 500 wins with a 3rd-place run at the track in the fall.
Two interesting names pop out at me when looking at the odds list. Both Kevin Harvick and Martin Truex Jr. are further down the list than I expected. Harvick comes in at +2500, while Truex is +2800. We could be seeing oddsmakers fade on two veteran drivers. Both of them faced struggles last season and each of them missed making the Cup Series Playoffs.
Here are the top six favorites to win the 2023 Daytona 500:
Ryan Blaney +1200
Denny Hamlin +1200
Kyle Larson +1200
Chase Elliott +1200
Joey Logano +1400
Kyle Busch +1400
All three NASCAR manufacturers are represented by the drivers listed above. Hamlin is the lone Toyota driver. Elliott, Busch and Larson pilot Chevrolets. Logano and Blaney are both Ford drivers and Ford drivers have won the last two Daytona 500 races. Also, the race week at Daytona includes events in all four of the NASCAR Series. The Trucks race on Friday night, the Xfinity and ARCA cars both race on Saturday and the Daytona 500 is on Sunday.
2023 Daytona 500 Race Preview
Track: Daytona International Speedway Daytona, Florida
Date: Sunday, February 18; 2:30 pm ET
Type: 2.5-mile paved high-banked superspeedway
Race Distance: 200 laps / 500 miles
Defending Winner: Austin Cindric
TV/Radio: FOX / MRN Local Affiliates / SIRIUSXM
2023 Daytona 500 Predictions
Denny Hamlin +1200
Denny Hamlin has won the Daytona 500 three times and he’s the only active and full-time driver with multiple Daytona 500 wins. That ties him with Bobby Allison, Dale Jarrett and Jeff Gordon. It pushes him past six former drivers with two 500 wins including Bill Elliott, Jimmie Johnson and Dale Earnhardt Jr. That’s some strong company. There’s no reason to think Hamlin won’t be in the mix toward the end of the 2023 Daytona 500 unless he gets caught up in something before the checkered flag waves.
Kyle Busch +1400
Kyle Busch has never won the Daytona 500, but he has logged wins at the track. He won the Fall race at Daytona in 2008, but he has also won here in both the Xfinity Series and the Craftsman Truck Series. If there is a fade on Busch at Daytona, in the Cup Series, it is that he has failed to finish a Daytona race four times in his last six starts. Three were crashes caused by other drivers and the fourth was an engine failure. Busch is now with a new team and behind the wheel of a Chevrolet.
Michael McDowell +3300
Michael McDowell won this race two seasons ago and he has had strong runs at Daytona over his last several visits to the track before his win. He has three top-five runs and four top-ten efforts. Over those same ten Daytona races, he has finished 15th or better eight of ten times. Since his win, he suffered two DNFs in three Daytona races. One was a lost engine and the other was being in the wrong place at the wrong time. He finished last season’s 500 with a 7th-place run.
Others: Darrell “Bubba” Wallace Jr. (+1600) has always run well on Superspeedways and he looked fast during qualifying. The same goes for Alex Bowman (+1600) who continues to show his power by once again capturing the pole for the 3rd time for the Daytona 500.
2023 Daytona 500 Betting Lines
Ryan Blaney +1200
Denny Hamlin +1200
Kyle Larson +1200
Chase Elliott +1200
Joey Logano +1400
Kyle Busch +1400
William Byron +1600
Ross Chastain +1600
Bubba Wallace Jr. +1600
Brad Keselowski +1800
Austin Cindric +2000
Tyler Reddick +2000
Alex Bowman +2000
Austin Dillon +2500
Christopher Bell +2500
Kevin Harvick +2500
Chris Buescher +2800
Ricky Stenhouse Jr +2800
Chase Briscoe +2800
Martin Truex Jr +2800
Daniel Suarez +2800
Erik Jones +2800
Ryan Preece +3300
Michael McDowell +3300
Aric Almirola +3300
Ty Gibbs +4000
Justin Haley +4000
AJ Allmendinger +4000
Jimmie Johnson +4000
Noah Gragson +5000
Harrison Burton +6600
Austin Hill +6600
Corey Lajoie +8000
Chandler Smith +8000
Ty Dillon +12500
Zane Smith +12500
Todd Gilliland +12500
Travis Pastrana +15000
Riley Herbst +20000
Cody Ware +30000
BJ McLeod +50000
Conor Daly +50000
