Daytona 500 odds: Hard Rock Bet brings new facet to NASCAR opener; Let's gamble!

Something very good happened in Florida over NASCAR’s offseason.

Or something very bad.

And even those who think it’s very good will, on occasion, cuss the day it came to be. The cussing may begin as the checkers fall on the 66th Daytona 500.

Hard Rock Bet became the go-to source of sports wagering in the Sunshine State. To wager on something like … let’s see … OK, hypothetically, let’s say an automobile race, you no longer have to cross a wager-friendly state line.

You no longer have to know somebody who knows somebody who’s bootlegged an offshore app.

With that in mind, let’s start another season of weekly (or weakly) gauging of the NASCAR odds board for the upcoming Cup Series race. Let’s look at some driver odds — favorites to longshots — as well as assorted props, from top-10s to manufacturer competition to some bundling. Yes, bundling.

SATURDAY UPDATES Live updates: Daytona Xfinity race at 4:30, qualifying under way; Daytona 500 practice off

No more talk of specific wagers at the end, though. Some might say it got to be a bit embarrassing last year. Some of us, ahem, prefer to suggest it served as a jinx, pure and simple.

So, using the latest numbers from Hard Rock Bet, let’s peruse the big board …

Driver odds: Too many ways to lose the Daytona 500

Joey Logano +900

Denny Hamlin +900

Brad Keselowski +1100

Ryan Blaney +1100

Kyle Busch +1200

Chase Elliott +1200

If someone gave you this entire group of Daytona 500 favorites in exchange for taking the rest of the field, you’d be very tempted to take it and with good reason.

But the pleasure you’d receive from winning with one of these favorites, you’d feel that much worse when your guy’s car is exiting on the business end of a wrecker. Avoid, avoid, avoid.

Driver oods: This is more like it

Bubba Wallace +1750

Michael McDowell +2000

Tyler Reddick +2250

Barring the ol’ wrong place/wrong time possibility, you just know Bubba will be in the mix when we start to run out of laps. And didn’t Reddick just win one of the Thursday night races?

Driver odds: Worth a tickle

Corey LaJoie +4000

Jimmie Johnson +6000

AJ Allmendinger +6000

David Ragan +7500

Justin Haley +7500

The last three winners were McDowell, Cindric and Stenhouse. What were their odds entering the 500? To paraphrase the state trooper chastising Clark Griswold, probably pretty high.

Top-10 odds: Smaller risk, smaller payout

Daniel Suarez +220

David Ragan +260

Anthony Alfredo +350

Ragan is +2000 for a top-3 finish. Why? Insider tip: It’s much easier to finish 10th than third.

By the way, Alfredo is driving for Beard Motorsports, which has a habit of putting drivers in the top 10 at Daytona.

Daytona 500 props: Get ready to bundle

∎ Winning team will be one of the following: Hendrick, Gibbs or Penske — +100

∎ Alex Bowman, Austin Dillon or Daniel Suarez finish top 3 — +260

∎ Race winner will be either Denny Hamlin, Ryan Blaney or Brad Keselowski — +275

A little reminder for those unfamiliar with such things. The numbers attached to these bets is based on a $100 bet. Bet a c-note on a +275, you can win $275 if it comes in. Bet just $10, you win $27.50. So a +100 is even-money.

I look at the +100 above, and the blue-chip teams alongside, and it might be worth the coin flip, but remember what we said: Easier to lose these than win them.

— Reach Ken Willis at ken.willis@news-jrnl.com

This article originally appeared on The Daytona Beach News-Journal: Daytona 500 odds, props and ... bundles? Hard Rock Bet meets NASCAR