The official start of the 2025 NASCAR Cup Series season is nearly upon us. The first race of the season, the Daytona 500, takes place on Sunday, February 16 at the Daytona International Speedway. Last year, William Byron won his first Daytona 500 after placing no higher than 21st in his six previous starts in the race. Byron went on to finish the 2024 season in third place, the same spot he held at the end of the 2023 NASCAR season. He looks to become the first driver since Denny Hamlin in 2019 and 2020 to win the Daytona 500 in back-to-back years.
Byron is not among the betting favorites to capture the checkered flag at the 2025 Daytona 500. The drivers with the best odds are Kyle Busch, Ryan Blaney, Chase Elliott, and Joey Logano. Off that group of betting favorites, Logano is the only one with a previous Daytona 500 victory, coming in 2015.
Below, we look at the betting odds, picks, and predictions for the first race of the 2025 NASCAR season.
VegasBetting rolls into those NASCAR online betting odds for the first race of the 2025 NASCAR Cup Series Season. Now is the time to comb through the 2025 NASCAR Cup Series Championship Race Bets. With Daytona being a superspeedway on the 2025 NASCAR Cup schedule, it would be wise to look at how the drivers have performed in Daytona and Talladega in past races.
The 39-year-old Kyle Busch has never won the Daytona 500. His best finish came in 2019 when he finished as runner-up to Denny Hamlin. In 39 starts at the Daytona International Speedway, Busch has one victory, nine top-five finishes, and 13 top-10 placements. His average finish on the track is 18.1. He has failed to complete 12 races on the track.
Busch opened the 2024 season placing 12th in the Daytona 500. He followed that with a second-place finish in the Coke Zero Sugar 400.
Busch, the driver of the No. 8 Chevy for Richard Childress Racing, had one of the worst years of his long career in 2024, going the entire season without a win.
Look for the veteran driver to make a statement at the Daytona 500.
Ryan Blaney is among the betting favorites to win the 2025 Daytona 500. This despite the fact that he has crashed out of his past three starts in the race. In fact, Blaney’s history on the Daytona International Speedway is not that great, as he has not finished 50 percent of his starts on the track. His sole win in Daytona came at the 2021 Coke 400.
The 31-year-old Blaney is one of the best drivers in the Cup Series over the past few years. He has finished the past six seasons in the top 10. Blaney won the championship in 2023 and finished in second place in 2024.
The driver of the No. 12 Ford for Team Penske, Blaney is solid on every type of track he competes on.
Blaney has two runner-up finishes in the Daytona, placing second in 2017 and 2020.
Denny Hamlin is the only driver starting the 2025 Daytona 500 with three wins in the race. Over the history of the 500 only six men have earned three or more checkered flags at the Daytona 500. Hamlin’s victories came in 2016, 2019, and 2020. He finished in 19th place in 2024.
The 44-year-old Hamlin has 38 starts at the Daytona International Speedway with three wins, 11 top-five finishes, and 12 finishes inside the top 10. He has failed to finish six races.
The driver of the No. 11 Toyota for Joe Gibbs Racing finished the 2024 season in eighth place. Hamlin, who has had full seasons on the NASCAR circuit since 2006, has only finished three years outside the top 10.
With little to go on but past performance and skills before the first race of the 2025 NASCAR Cup Series season, it might be best to play the odds and go with the driver with the best history in the Daytona 500.
The betting pick is for Denny Hamlin to win the Daytona 500 for the fourth time in his career.
With the 2025 NASCAR Cup Series getting underway on Sunday with the 2025 Daytona 500, don’t forget to check out the best betting sites bonuses and prime Vegas online betting sites.
