We’re still in the early going with respect to the 2019 Monster Energy NASCAR Cup. However, Kyle Busch is already off to a terrific start, with four stage wins (no one else has more than two), two full-race wins and five finishes in the top five — and he has finished in the top ten just about every week. That’s why he remains the heavy favorite to win the title this year. However, there is a long way to go, and hot streaks can come to an end. We have put together a list of the NASCAR sports betting odds for drivers contending for the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup championship this season as well as our thoughts on some of the contenders.
Monster Energy NASCAR Cup: Updated Championship Odds April 19th Edition
Single digits until @TalladegaSuperS. pic.twitter.com/WKutMyoh3Y
— NASCAR (@NASCAR) April 19, 2019
Driver Odds
- Kyle Busch +300
- Joey Logano, Kevin Harvick +500
- Brad Keselowski +600
- Martin Truex Jr +800
- Chase Elliott, Ryan Blaney +1000
- Denny Hamlin +1200
- Kyle Larson +1800
- Aric Almirola, Clint Bowyer, Kurt Busch +2000
- Erik Jones, Jimmie Johnson +2200
- Alex Bowman, Daniel Suarez +5000
- Ricky Stenhouse Jr +6600
- Austin Dillon, Paul Menard, William Byron +8000
- Ryan Newman +10000
Even though Kyle Busch doesn’t offer a lot of value right now, his hot start makes him worth considering. He didn’t finish as well down the stretch in 2018, though, even though he got off to a hot start at the beginning of the year.
Kevin Harvick is tempting because he is always sniffing around at the end of the race. He also got off to a hot start last year, as 2018 seemed to begin with Busch and Harvick trading wins. Through the first 23 races in 2018, he won seven. However, there have been 20 races since then, and he has won just once and finished on the podium just three times. As far as performance in 2019 goes, Harvick has not finished on the podium at all, and he has only led laps in a pair of races. So while he is high up the odds list, that seems like a poor valuation of his chances. At this point, I recommend staying away from Harvick.
Denny Hamlin won the Daytona 500 to start the season and has picked up another win since then. Why is he still offering so much value? The books are looking at his 2018, when he came in 11th in the overall standings, his worst finish in five years. In 2013, he finished 23rd, but he missed three races because of a fractured vertebra in his back. Hamlin hasn’t just been a flash in the pan in those two wins, though. He has led laps in four races overall and has cracked the top ten in six of the seven races in 2019. There have been other seasons when he has finished on the podium in the end-of-year standings, and he was the runner-up nine years ago. Now can Hamlin win the playoff duels at the end of the season? That remains to be seen. With the value he offers, though, Hamlin is someone to consider.
Brad Keselowski has two wins as well this year — but is in fifth place, 36 points behind Harvick because of a dreadful 36th place finish his last time out. If you look at his performance in 2018, though, when he finished hot down the stretch and made himself a contender down to the wire in the playoff rounds, he’s someone to consider as well. Don’t let one awful finish scare you away from someone who contends regularly and has picked up clutch victories in the past.
Joey Logano also has a win this season and is currently in second place in the standings. He is someone who shows up near the top of the list each week but for some reason doesn’t have quite the buzz of some of the other names. This could be the year when he pushes through to take the championship.
