The NASCAR Cup Series returns for the 2023 season this weekend. The season’s biggest race, the Daytona 500, kicks off the action. Although Daytona won’t get underway until Sunday, Feb. 18, bettors have still placed plenty of action on this weekend’s event — Kyle Busch has already drawn a ton of public money on the NASCAR betting markets.
NASCAR Daytona 500 Betting Trends: Public All Over Kyle Busch
Kyle Busch, who will move from Joe Gibbs Racing’s No. 18 Toyota to Richard Childress Racing’s No. 8 Chevrolet, has attracted a ton of action on the betting markets. He opened at 22-1 at BetMGM but has seen that number fall to only 14-1. According to BetMGM, 14% of the handle has come in on the younger Busch brother on a race-high 9.1% of the tickets.
Although Busch has attracted the most tickets of any driver on the board, his share of the handle suggests that action is sharper than it is square. Still, Busch is yet to win a Daytona 500, and he owns only two superspeedway wins in 72 attempts in the Cup Series. Both of those victories came in 2008, his first season with Joe Gibbs Racing.
Busch isn’t the only driver drawing plenty of early support. His former teammates, Denny Hamlin and Martin Truex Jr., have also drawn a solid share of the action. Hamlin has attracted 6% of the tickets and Truex has attracted 5.3%. Hamlin has even picked up 6% of the handle, the second-largest cut behind Busch. However, his odds have lengthened, moving from 11-1 to 12-1.
Ryan Blaney has also attracted 6.4% of the handle. The driver of Team Penske’s No. 12 Ford headlines OddsShopper’s best NASCAR bets for this weekend’s Daytona 500 — although a few drivers with longer odds also have value. Bettors who are new to BetMGM can score first-bet insurance worth up to $1,000!
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