2017 Daytona 500 Odds and Betting Preview

The Daytona 500 gets the new NASCAR season started this weekend with Brad Keselowski and Dale Earnhardt Jr. listed as the race co-favorites at the Bovada sportsbook.

The latest Daytona 500 odds list both Keselowski and Junior at +600.

Junior, NASCAR’s most popular driver, will be back in the driver’s seat for the first time in seven months. Following the Quaker State 400 on July 9, Earnhardt Jr. was sidelined for the rest of the season due to on-going issues stemming from concussions.

Will Junior have any rust after the lengthy layoff? He did look good in qualifying, posting the second-best time, and he has won the Daytona 500 twice before in 2004 and 2014.

Keselowski has never won the Daytona 500, but he has a win at Daytona in last year’s Coke Zero 400. His best finish in the 500 was a third place in 2014.

Following Keselowski and Earnhardt Jr. on the Bovada odds are Joey Logano at +800 and Jimmie Johnson, Kevin Harvick, and Kyle Busch all at +1000. Johnson, Logano and Harvick have all previously won the 500, while Busch is still looking for his first.

Johnson, the reigning Cup champion, won in 2006 and 2013. Logano claimed the checkers in 2015 and Harvick in 2007. Busch posted his best-ever Daytona finish last year when he placed third.

Last year’s Daytona winner was Denny Hamlin. He’s an underdog to repeat at +1200. It’s been over two decades since a winner has repeated at Daytona with the last being Sterling Marlin in 1994-95.

The pole-sitter for the second year in a row will be Chase Elliott. He checks in on the odds at +1200. The pole position didn’t do him much good last year, as he crossed the finish line in 37th place. The pole-sitter hasn’t won at Daytona since Dale Jarrett turned the trick in 2000.

Other former Daytona 500 winners in the race field this weekend include two-time winners Matt Kenseth (+1400) and Michael Waltrip (+10,000), 2011 winner Trevor Bayne (+5000), 2010 winner Jamie McMurray (+2800), and 2006 winner Ryan Newman (+5000).

The early Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Championship futures at Bovada have Harvick listed as the early favorite at +650. Johnson, looking to repeat and claim his eighth championship, is right behind at +700. Also near the top of the odds list are Logano, Martin Truex Jr. and 2015 champion Busch, all at +850.