Daytona 500 odds, Travis Pastrana props & best bet: Sunday, 2/19

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The Daytona 500 is Sunday at Daytona International Speedway and it’s shaping up to be a doozy of a race. The Great American Race as it’s called kicks off the NASCAR Cup Series season traditionally and that’s the case again in 2023.

With the race comes a great chance to look at the Daytona 500 odds at BetMGM Sportsbook to see the best ways to use the promo offer they have right now.

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The bets available for NASCAR at BetMGM Sportsbook come in a wide variety of forms. That’s especially true when talking about Daytona 500 odds. Unlike most other NASCAR races throughout the season, Daytona 500 odds are typically longer across the board which is great for us bettors. We’re getting more bang for our buck. Let’s take a look at a sampling of the Daytona 500 odds at BetMGM Sportsbook:

• Odds To Win
  • Denny Hamlin +1200
  • Chase Elliott +1200
  • Ryan Blaney +1200
  • Joey Logano +1400
  • Kyle Larson +1400
• Featured Match-up Denny Hamlin vs. Ross Chastain
  • Denny Hamlin -120
  • Ross Chastain -110
• Top-5 Finish
  • Bubba Wallace +250
  • Alex Bowman +350
  • Martin Truex Jr. +350

Those are just a sample of what’s available on the odds board at BetMGM. We’ve parsed the markets to find our favorite bets and props among them already, just keep reading.

While most people would view the Daytona 500 as a chaotic race, and it is, that doesn’t mean that there aren’t bets that don’t stand out. It’s easy to get caught up in the longer Daytona 500 odds that are offered but to be smart about it means we need to look at the more reasonable odds too. With that said there are two bets that have elevated themselves for the lines available at BetMGM Sportsbook.

Ryan Blaney to win (+1200) is the first of the Daytona 500 odds that sticks out. Blaney is an accomplished plate track racer (Daytona, Talladega, and Atlanta) with wins under his belt at them. While he’s fallen short of winning The Great American Race, he’s still managed three top-four finishes in the last six runnings of it including two runner-up placements. Combine his skill at this discipline with him being in a Ford and driving for Team Penske and it’s a very hard combination to beat on the track.

The second pick and best bet that stuck out on the BetMGM Sportsbook odds sheet was Aric Almirola to win (+3300). Like Blaney, Almirola is in a Ford and is an accomplished plate track racer with a win at Talladega to his credit. Also like Blaney, he’s come painfully close to winning the Daytona 500 as well, having been leading with one mile left in the race before getting spun from the lead on the backstretch on the final lap. So far on track this week, between qualifying and Thursday’s duels, the 10-car that Almirola pilots looks to be not only fast but has great handling too. That should allow him to stay near the front much of the day and compete for the win once more.

We all love more ways to win money and profit on our bets, right? Well BetMGM Sportsbook is offering just that chance. Not only is betting Ryan Blaney to win the race at +1200 on the Daytona 500 odds sheet a good return, but BetMGM is also offering a $1,000 first bet promo as well.

There is a lot of buzz surrounding Travis Pastrana racing in the 2023 Daytona 500. It’s his first time in a NASCAR Cup Series car and yet, he showed pretty nice speed in qualifying and the Duels on Thursday. That has sparked interest in prop bets related to Pastrana and his 23XI Racing Toyota. So let’s go over some of the better prop bets and his Daytona 500 odds ahead of Sunday’s race.

The first Daytona 500 odds for Travis Pastrana that were the most intriguing is him listed at +2200 for top Toyota. Why is this intriguing? Toyotas have the fewest number of cars on the track of any manufacturer with just seven. That means that Pastrana only has to beat six other cars to hit on that 22-1 line. It doesn’t matter where he finishes just so long as there are no other Toyotas in front of him in the finishing order.

The second prop that’s interesting for Travis Pastrana is a top-5 finish at +1400. Those odds make him the sixth longest for that finish prop and getting 14-1 return for this prop is quite high. There is risk here clearly as he’s starting dead last in the field, however, if he can avoid the big wrecks, there’s a shot for it.

Last July, in the Coke Zero Sugar 400, two of the top-five started in the last few spots and most of the top-10 started outside of the top-30. We’ll need a similar type of race and good luck for this prop to hit, but being in a 23XI Toyota and having both Tyler Reddick and Bubba Wallace as teammates and Denny Hamlin as an owner gives us some hope.

If you want to take advantage of any of the Travis Pastrana props or the Ryan Blaney or Aric Almirola winning bets, make sure to use the BetMGM Sportsbook first-bet offer with them. Signing up for a new account on BetMGM and then placing your first bet of at least $5 on any of the Daytona 500 odds gets you the $1,000 first-bet insurance offer. That offer credits your account with up to $1,000 to cover what you wagered on your first bet in the event the bet loses.

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