Michigan International Speedway is the site of this weekend’s action in the NASCAR Cup Series, as the Firekeepers Casino 400 is set for Sunday, with the broadcast coming at 3:00 pm Eastern time on NBC Sports. The wide two-mile oval will allow for the high downforce race package for the first time since the series was in Atlanta on July 11. This is only the ninth time that this package has been used. Given that Michigan is the home of the American automotive industry, this is a battle of pride among Ford, Chevrolet and Toyota; Ford cars have won six straight races here.
Let’s look at the NASCAR betting odds for the field of drivers, go over last week’s action and talk about your best wagering choices.
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NASCAR: Driver Odds
| Kyle Larson | +275 |
| Chase Elliott | +650 |
| Kevin Harvick | +700 |
| Kyle Busch | +725 |
| Denny Hamlin, Martin Truex Jr | +800 |
| Joey Logano | +900 |
| Brad Keselowski, William Byron | +1200 |
| Alex Bowman, Ryan Blaney | +1600 |
| Christopher Bell | +2500 |
| Kurt Busch | +2800 |
| Tyler Reddick | +3500 |
| Austin Dillon | +5000 |
| Ross Chastain | +8000 |
| Aric Almirola | +9000 |
| Chase Briscoe, Matt DiBenedetto | +10000 |
| Chris Buescher, Daniel Suarez, Ryan Newman | +15000 |
| Bubba Wallace, Cole Custer, Ricky Stenhouse Jr | +20000 |
| Erik Jones, Ryan Preece | +25000 |
| B.J. McLeod, Michael McDowell | +40000 |
| Justin Haley | +75000 |
| Corey LaJoie | +125000 |
| Anthony Alfredo, Cody Ware | +250000 |
| Josh Bilicki, Quin Houff | +300000 |
| Garrett Smithley | +400000 |
Kyle Larson is the heavy favorite due to his mastery of Michigan International Speedway. He swept Michigan’s Victory Lane here four years ago; in his last race here, in 2019, he came in third. In 2017, he also had a win on the two-mile Auto Club Speedway, which has a similar design to Michigan’s track. Between the summer of 2016 and the spring of 2018, he had six straight races with finishes no worse than third.
Chase Elliott is the second choice; he started his NASCAR career at Michigan International Speedway with three straight runner-up finishes in 2016 and 2017. In his second race here in 2017, he came in eighth and has not made the top five since then. However, six of his last seven races here have gotten him into the top nine.
Martin Truex Jr has cracked the top five in four straight races at Michigan International Speedway; his last four finishes include three third-place results and a fourth. Since he won at Darlington Raceway for his third victory in 2021, though, he has only cracked the top five once on an oval race, which happened at Atlanta Motor Speedway, where he came in third.
Kevin Harvick and Kyle Busch are both slowly climbing up the odds lists in recent weeks. Harvick has won the last three races at Michigan International Speedway and has won four in his last five here overall. Busch has eight top-five finishes and a sixth going back to the start of 2018, if you look at his results from Michigan International Speedway and Auto Club.
Denny Hamlin finally fell out of the points lead to Larson last week after running into Chase Briscoe with two laps left at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course last week. In two of the last three races at Michigan International Speedway, he has come in second, and he was sixth in the third event.
Brad Keselowski managed to come in second on Saturday, and Ryan Blaney settled for fourth. On Sunday, they jousted for the lead but crashed on Lap 95 and did not finish the race. Both of these drivers offer some fairly large value going into Sunday, but they also have had spotty results as of late.
NASCAR Betting Odds
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