This week, the NASCAR Cup Series is at Darlington for the Cook Out Southern 500. This race is the first race of the NASCAR Cup Series playoffs and the top drivers on the circuit will look to claim their spot in the next round. Continue reading to get our thoughts on this race and who we think will come out of it claiming the checkered flag in our NASCAR best bets for the weekend.
NASCAR Best Bets For the Cook Out Southern 500
Cook Out Southern 500 Best Bet: William Byron to Win (+400)
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NASCAR continues to attract more attention from bettors as sportsbooks expand their offerings, and we’re here to guide you through every twist and turn. Our expert NASCAR picks, led by Jay Sanin, provide you with strategic advice on the top bets each week, whether it’s the favorite to win, undervalued contenders, or hidden dark horses.
With a focus on the latest race data and trends, we ensure that our analysis is grounded in experience and authority, giving you the confidence to make informed bets. Trust our expertise to help you be a better motorsports bettor and increase your chances of making profitable wagers throughout the NASCAR season.
Types of NASCAR Best Bets
Throughout this NASCAR season, we will look at several betting markets before delivering our NASCAR best bets. We will evaluate everything from standard race winner odds to more in-depth betting markets. Below are the main betting markets we will break down ahead of each week on the NASCAR schedule.
Race Winner
The most popular betting market in NASCAR is the race-winner market. Not only is this the easiest betting option to understand, as the goal of every driver is to simply win each race. But it is also the most potentially lucrative market, as all drivers come into each race at plus prices to finish in first place.
Derivative Markets
Along with race-winner markets, we also tend to focus heavily on markets pertaining to top-5, top-10, and other top-finisher bets. With these bets, the potential payouts are not quite as enticing as bets on who will win each race. But those odds have to be balanced against the increased likelihood of a driver finishing in the top-5 or top-10 rather than that driver needing to win the race outright.
Head-to-Heads
Sportsbooks will also pair up drivers and pit them against each other, offering odds on which driver will have the better finishing position between them. With these head-to-head markets, bettors have to think long and hard about how not just these drivers will perform, but how the rest of the field could impact them.
Group Betting
In a similar vein to the head-to-head betting markets mentioned above, sportsbooks will also put drivers into groups of three-to-five drivers and ask bettors to pick which driver will have the best finish among them. Handicapping each race in the group setting can be a lot of fun, with payouts that could be better than two-driver head-to-head markets.
There are, of course, many other betting options that sportsbooks will post before every NASCAR race. Should we determine that those other options are worth pursuing, you will see them as a part of our picks for each race. We encourage bettors to explore all of the options available to them in order to find the options that are of the most interest to you.
NASCAR Betting Strategies
From a strategic standpoint, NASCAR betting has the potential to be a lot different than betting on other sports. A few of the unique handicapping aspects of the sport are listed below, as we not only hope to pick winners each week in NASCAR, but help you become a smarter NASCAR bettor as well.
Looking at Track History
From a strategy standpoint, it is very important to look at the history of each driver on each track throughout the NASCAR season. Every track is different in the NASCAR Cup Series, from lap distances to the surface makeup of the tracks themselves. Bettors will not just want to look at who has won in past events at each track, but at which drivers have been better or worse at each stop on the NASCAR schedule to get a full picture of who the top contenders are each week.
A Team Sport
While each NASCAR driver is competing in each car individually each week, it is also important to remember that this is a team sport. Different race teams oversee several drivers, as those drivers have the ability to work together within the chaos that is each race. While this may not impact the outcome of each race, it is worth keeping in mind as the season wears on that there may be some cooperation between specific drivers.
Shopping For the Best Price
It cannot be overstated how important it is to shop for the best odds when betting on NASCAR. This is especially true for picking outright winners, as there can be major differences between sportsbooks as far as the odds are concerned for each driver. Putting in a little bit of time to find those differences and to bet at the most favorable price can have a huge impact on profitability over the course of the NASCAR season.
More Than Just NASCAR Picks
Along with our best NASCAR bets this week and each week during the season, our expert handicappers at ATS.io have picks available for all of the major sports, and even some off the beaten path. Just click the links below for our best bets in many sports, available every day and every week.
