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Daytona 500 Odds & Favorites: How to Bet 2025 NASCAR Opener

C Jackson Cowart

Last Updated: November 7, 2024 6:37 PM EST • 2 min 47 sec read.

William Byron after winning the 2024 Daytona 500 as we look ahead to the 2025 Daytona 500 odds and favorites.
William Byron after winning the 2024 Daytona 500. Photo by David Tucker / News-Journal via Imagn.

The NASCAR championship race is this weekend, but it's not too early to look ahead to the most anticipated event of the 2025 season.

We don't yet have 2025 Daytona 500 odds and favorites for the 67th running of the Great American Race, with the green flag dropping on Sunday, Feb. 16 from Daytona Beach, Fla.

Denny Hamlin opened as the favorite across our best sports betting sites to win last year's race, which was William Byron eventually claimed. And we can expect those two to be among the favorites for next year's season opener.

Daytona 500 odds 2025

We are still awaiting the latest betting odds for the 2025 Daytona 500, which will likely feature a field full of drivers priced at +1000 or longer.

That's due to the nature of superspeedway racing, which often leads to high speeds and big crashes involving a large portion of the field. We saw "the big one" in this year's Daytona 500 and can surely expect it again next year.

That makes this race especially favorable to betting on long-shot winners, which is a trend we've seen rewarded over the years. However, some of the best drivers in the sport have prided themselves on winning the Daytona 500, so it's truly anyone's race to win as we look ahead to February.

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Daytona 500 favorites 2025

Because we're still awaiting the odds for next year's Daytona 500, we don't yet know who will be the favorites to win the Great American Race.

We can make an educated guess at some of the top contenders though based on the best drivers from the 2024 season. Hamlin was the favorite entering this year's race in Daytona, with Kyle Busch and Championship 4 drivers Joey Logano and Ryan Blaney following.

I would expect one of those drivers to open as the favorite. Keep an eye on Tyler Reddick, who made the Championship 4 this year and has fared well in superspeedway races lately. His aggressive style makes him a compelling bet to take the lead late in this crown jewel race.

Daytona 500 betting analysis

When looking to bet this event early, scout previous race results from Daytona as well as what happened last season.

Results from early and late in the 2024 campaign will be particularly important, but we can also look at drivers who produced consistent top-five or top-10 finishes. Those who reliably placed well but were kept out of the winner's circle - and thus didn't garner as much attention - could represent ideal value targets for bettors.

Qualifying will significantly impact the eventual odds, but the opening lines could still be the best gauge of who's expected to contend regardless of starting position. Anyone high up on the early oddsboard who starts from a less-than-ideal position would be a good target at inflated odds.

Daytona 500 past winners

YearDriverOdds
2024William Byron+1800
2023Ricky Stenhouse Jr.+3300
2022Austin Cindric+3300
2021Michael McDowell+10000
2020Denny Hamlin+1000
2019Denny Hamlin+1000
2018Austin Dillon+5000
2017Kurt Busch+2000
2016Denny Hamlin+1000
2015Joey Logano+1200
2014Dale Earnhart Jr.+1200
2013Jimmie Johnson+1400

2025 Daytona 500 race info

  • When: Sunday, Feb. 16
  • Where: Daytona International Speedway (Daytona Beach, Fla.)
  • How to watch: FOX
  • Defending champion: William Byron

Daytona 500 FAQs

Who is the Daytona 500 favorite?

We are still awaiting the 2025 Daytona 500 odds ahead of next February's race. Denny Hamlin closed as the betting favorite to win in 2024.

Who won the Daytona 500 last year?

William Byron won the 2024 Daytona 500 with +1800 odds.

When will the Daytona 500 be decided?

The 67th running of the Daytona 500 will be held on Sunday, Feb. 16.

Where will the Daytona 500 take place?

Drivers will navigate the Daytona International Speedway in Daytona Beach, Fla. for 200 laps.

How to watch the 2025 Daytona 500

You can watch the Daytona 500 on FOX or stream it via DIRECTV, Hulu, fuboTV, or YouTube TV.

Here are our best sports betting apps:

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Written By:
C Jackson Cowart
C Jackson Cowart is a publishing editor and lead writer for Sportsbook Review. An award-winning writer, reporter, and editor with a decade of sports media experience, "C-Jax" has worked with ESPN, Forbes, theScore, and various daily newspapers before joining the Sportsbook Review team. He's a proud graduate of the University of North Carolina, where he served as a beat writer for the Tar Heels' championship run through the NCAA men's basketball tournament in 2017. Jackson has spent the last five years covering sports betting as a predictive analyst, features writer, and industry reporter. Since joining the team in 2023, he's played a key role in Sportsbook Review's coverage of the Super Bowl, March Madness, and NBA playoffs while serving as the lead writer for the growing WNBA and NASCAR betting scenes. Though he's cashed some big bets over the years -- including Lamar Jackson to win MVP (twice) -- he's still haunted by enough second-place bet slips to wallpaper his home office. While Jackson is a committed "process over results" bettor with a keen eye for advanced stats and subtle bias in futures markets, he also embraces sports betting as a vehicle for entertainment and personal investment. He's written about everything from hot dogs to groundhogs and still hasn't forgiven his "inside source" for a sabotaged bet on the Gatorade color in Super Bowl LV.