2024 Daytona 500 odds, best bets and longshot picks for NASCAR's Great American Race

The 2024 NASCAR Cup Series will kick off Sunday with the Great American Race at Daytona International Speedway, marking the beginning of NASCAR’s 76th season.

The 66th running of the Daytona 500 will see a full field racing for a record purse of $28,035,991 when the green flag drops at the 2.5-mile superspeedway at 2:30 p.m. (FOX).

Seven former Daytona 500 winners will take the green flag, including Denny Hamlin who has the most of any active driver with 3. Hamlin is one of Sunday’s favorites at +1100 odds.

Ricky Stenhouse Jr. will look to become the fifth driver in Cup Series history to win back-to-back Daytona 500s, joining Richard Petty (1973-74), Cale Yarborough (1983-84), Sterling Marlin (1994-95) and Hamlin (2019-20). Currently, Stenhouse is +2500 to repeat.

The Daytona 500 has also been a race where drivers come to earn their first Cup victory, which has happening nine times of the Great American Race. There are currently 15 drivers in Sunday’s field looking for their first victory.

Defending Cup Series champion Ryan Blaney is also one of the favorites at +1100 to win. Blaney is also +1100 to repeat as the series champ.

Kyle Larson is the favorite to win this year’s season title, sitting at +525, while William Byron (+625), Denny Hamlin (+800), Chase Elliott (+800) and Martin Truex Jr. (+900) round out the top five.

A win for Blaney this weekend would make him the sixth different driver to win the Daytona 500 as the defending series champ.

With the 2024 NASCAR Cup Series season kicking off, FrontPageBets takes a look at drivers to watch in Sunday’s Daytona 500.

Pick to win Daytona 500: Denny Hamlin (+1100)

It’s easy to see why Hamlin is one of the favorites to win the season-opening race, as he has the most Daytona 500 victories of any active driver.

But he’s also added in 11 top-5 and 12 top-10 finishes during his career at the 2.5-mile superspeedway.

The key for the driver of the No. 11 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota is to avoid wrecking early in the race to put himself in position to win at the end.

Adding in five career DNFs, Hamlin’s average finish is 17.0 in 36 career starts.

Daytona 500 Top-5 finish: William Byron (+500)

While he’s never won the Daytona 500, William Byron does have some success at the track, winning the summer race in 2020.

Byron, driver of the No. 24 Hendrick Motorsports Chevy, led the Cup series with six wins last year and finished third in the final standings.

And while he’s never finished in the top 20 in a Daytona 500 out of six career starts, look for last season’s success to carry over to 2024 for the 26-year-old.

Daytona 500 long shot pick to win: Ty Gibbs (+3000)

Beginning his second full-time Cup Series season, Ty Gibbs is one to watch in 2024.

Last year as a Cup rookie, he finished 18th in the standing with four top-5 finishes.

In his lone Daytona 500 start last year, the driver of the No. 54 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota, finished 25th.

But with the Gibbs family name and the team’s success at Daytona, the 21-year-old could put himself in prime position for a long-shot victory and become the 10th driver to get his first Cup win at the Great American Race.

2024 Daytona 500 driver odds

2024 NASCAR Cup Series Championship odds

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