The NASCAR season is officially underway. Ricky Stenhouse Jr took him the victory at Daytona, but the books don’t believe a repeat is on the cards. Instead, the books believe that Kyle Larson will round back into form and win his first race of the season after a disappointing start.
Despite finishing 18th at Daytona, the books are giving Kyle Larson +650 odds, or an implied 13.3% chance to win at Auto Club Speedway. He’s followed by Chase Elliott, who’s given +700 odds or an implied 12.5% chance to win. Elliott also struggled in the opening race of the season finishing 38th at Daytona. Denny Hamlin, at +800 or an implied 11.5% chance, is the only other driver given at least a 10% chance of victory. Like Larson and Elliott, Hamlin didn’t have the best start to the year finishing 17th.
Stenhouse is given +5000 odds, or just an implied 2% chance to get a second straight victory. Stenhouse has only won two races in a season once before in 2017 when he won at Daytona and Talladega.
Quote from OddsChecker spokesman Kyle Newman, “The sportsbooks backing of Kyle Larson here makes a world of sense. Last season Larson finished 32nd at Daytona only to win this race. The backing of Elliott and Hamlin are a little more confusing though. Elliott finished 26th on this track last year and Hamlin finished 15th here. However, Hamlin did finish top-10 in 2018, 2019, and 2020. I wouldn’t count out Stenhouse though, he may be a longshot but he did finish 10th in this race last year.”
PALA CASINO 400 WINNER
| Odds | Teams | Implied chance |
| Kyle Larson | +650 | 13.3% |
| Chase Elliott | +700 | 12.5% |
| Denny Hamlin | +800 | 11.1% |
| Kyle Busch | +1000 | 9.1% |
| Ryan Blaney | +1000 | 9.1% |
| Christopher Bell | +1000 | 9.1% |
| Joey Logano | +1200 | 7.7% |
| Martin Truex Jr. | +1200 | 7.7% |
| William Byron | +1200 | 7.7% |
| Ross Chastain | +1200 | 7.7% |
— OddsChecker —