NASCAR Betting Guide for Beginners
Overview and Strategy for NASCAR Bets
The National Association for Stock Car Racing (NASCAR) is the largest Stock car racing organization in the world. In terms of television viewership, it is only second to the NFL nationally. While F1 is growing in popularity, NASCAR still gets 2x the viewers. The showpiece race, the Daytona 500, is famous around the globe.
This page covers how to bet on NASCAR for beginners. The main markets for both single fixtures and season-long outcomes are covered below. Strategy for these bets comes from knowledge of the teams, drivers and race conditions. Betting ‘blind’ should be for entertainment purposes only. With some knowledge you can unlock value from the sportsbooks.
NASCAR Betting Guide: The Overview
NASCAR as an organization oversees many series including the Nationwide series and the World Truck series. Their premier event is the Sprint Cup. This series takes place over ten months with 36 races taking place. The season always starts with the Daytona 500 in March.
Over the first 26 races of the season, all the drivers will try to grab a spot in the “The Chase”.
16 of the best performing drivers will move onto what is effectively the post-season. Over the next three races, the bottom four will drop out of The Chase. This repeats twice, until only four drivers are left. The highest finisher of these four at the final race of the season becoming Sprint Cup Champion.
NASCAR Betting Guide: Building a Profitable Gambling Strategy
Always keep an eye on drivers who regularly perform well at certain tracks. He’ll go back to the track with good memories of his past success and with confidence. This can be an even bigger factor even more so if he/and the car is performing well in the races leading up to it.
How has the weekend gone for the driver? Did he perform well in the qualifying session, or did the car have problems? That same question should be asked about his rivals. Did he race in the Nationwide race the day before (as many do)? How was the performance there?
Weight of Money on Popular Drivers Changes Odds
Similarly to many markets across many sports, sometimes the “Big Names” are slightly over-rated when it comes to the betting.
If the public weight of money is coming for just one or two drivers, then the prices on these drivers may contract. This will push out the prices on some others. This price movement isn’t because the probability of the driver winning has changed, just that the public like backing him. In this case, you should seriously consider backing one of the other drivers, as you’ll receive more value (a key factor in any profitable betting strategy).
NASCAR Betting Guide: The Types of Bet Available
Both before the season starts and throughout the season, you’ll be able to bet on the Outright Sprint Cup champion. You’ll be able to bet on any named driver in this market, any not listed will be available on request. Some sportsbooks will group multiple lower-ranked drivers together. This is a bet on “the field”.
On each race there will usually be three types of market: The win market, the place market and the driver head to heads.
The Win Market:
Here is an example of how the race win market may look:
Denny Hamlin +650
Tony Stewart + 650
Greg Biffle + 700
Kyle Busch +1000
Kevin Harvick +1000
Matt Kenseth +1400
Here if you were to back any driver for $100, you would win the amount listed and receive your $100 back. Your stake doesn’t have to be exactly $100, it can be any amount, and you will be paid on a pro-rate basis.
Here is the same example using the decimal odds system:
Denny Hamlin 7.5
Tony Stewart 7.5
Greg Biffle 8.0
Kyle Busch 11.0
Kevin Harvick 11.0
Matt Kenseth 11.0
Here to work out your total return, simply multiply your stake by the odds. A $10 bet on Denny Hamin would see a total return of $75. A sportsbook that offers decimal odds may well also offer an each-way market based on those odds. The terms of which will be on the same page as the prices. The terms may be “1/5 odds 1-2-3”. This means that a £5 each way bet on Kyle Busch here would mean having a straight £5 win bet, and a place at 20% of the odds for him to finish in the first three.
The Place Market
With so many race-specific factors to consider, place markets are hugely popular. While the odds are lower, you’ll win more frequently compared to win-only wagers.
They might look like this:
Denny Hamlin +225
Tony Stewart + 225
Greg Biffle + 250
This bet will usually be on drivers to finish in the first three, a $100 bet getting the listed return, as well as the stake back (as stated earlier, other stakes will be paid out on a pro rata basis).
Driver Head to Heads
In these markets you are simply wagering that one driver will beat another. The result is regardless of where they finish in comparison to the rest of the field. Here is an example:
Kyle Busch -110
Kevin Harvick -110
Here, you’ll wager $110 to win $100 on either driver. Drivers are normally paired together who are similar in terms of price, so in many, but not all cases, the two drivers will have the same odds in this market. Note that some books will have reduced vig lines. This makes a big difference to your sports betting bankroll over time.
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