If you live outside of the United States, then asking a friend how much they know about the National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing or NASCAR, is very likely to yield little in the way of answers. Asking an American about NASCAR, however, can be a perfect icebreaker between new friends – perhaps even an ideal way of building rapport with a new boss!
See, in the United States, NASCAR motorsport is every bit as popular as world-famous high-end motorsport such as Formula 1. The NASCAR organization has an interesting back story, essentially having been formed by those we might refer to as “petrol heads” today – those who enjoy tinkering with their cars and gleaning every last drop of performance out of them – but soon developed into a regulated racing league.
Why 2022 is So Important for NASCAR
Early NASCAR races employed cars that were strikingly like regular road vehicles of the day – modifications were made for performance, with little thought going into safety, other than the addition of seatbelts. Keep in mind, this is many years before seatbelts became legally mandatory for driving on the roads!
Since then, several generations of NASCAR vehicles have raced around the famous oval-shaped NASCAR circuits, but 2022 will mark the introduction of a seventh-generation vehicle standard that is aimed at leveling out the competition to some degree. The idea is that drivers should be the ones earning the glory, as with other motorsports, rather than the winner simply being dictated by who happens to be driving the car which has had the most cash pumped into it.
Whether you agree or disagree with this philosophy, it presents an intriguing opportunity for those who are interesting in betting on these races – Nascar odds for the 2022 season are likely to be entirely disconnected from previous seasons, a rarity in any sporting competition, and there is an excellent chance for a diverse collection of drivers and teams to win races where previously they would have been considered nothing more than a longshot at best.
Betting on NASCAR
Like almost every other sport, simply predicting the winner is usually the most popular way of placing a bet. NASCAR can be unpredictable at the best of times, however, and whilst that might sound appealing to bettors towards the lower end of the skill spectrum who are effectively just taking lucky punts, it isn’t so great for those who like to “read the form”, so to speak.
NASCAR also throws up its fair share of surprises, too – Kevin Harvik won nine races in 2020, yet went the whole of the last season without winning a single race. I’m sure more than a few punters lost money on Harvik last year. The so-called “Next Generation” NASCAR vehicles are going to ensure that a driver’s familiarity and previous successes at each track should be the major indicator or their likely performance in an upcoming race, which should present many interesting betting opportunities for gamblers of all skill levels, especially early on in the season.
Another popular type of bet in NASCAR is the matchup bet, where you place a bet on one driver to finish in a higher position than another driver with who he is matched up against. There can be somewhat hit and miss in NASCAR and are more popular amongst NHL and MLB bettors but keep an eye on the matchups being offered each week – there will usually be at least a couple of opportunities worth taking a look at it.
Finally, the advent of legal online sports betting returning to the United States in force over the past few years means that gambling fans in a majority of American States can now participate in live betting from the comfort of their own homes. All kinds of possibilities exist with live (or “in-play”) betting, but with NASCAR you are most likely to be making bets on who you believe will win the race at a given stage, with odds being updated in real-time as the race progresses. You can usually cash out at any time if you wish and collect your profits (or limit your losses!) but the general rule of thumb is that the longer you stay in, the more risk you are taking, so the more money you are likely to win.
Current Favorites
The current favorites for the NASCAR Cup Series Championship 2022 are as follows:
Kyle Larson +550
William Byron +700
Chase Elliot +700
Ryan Blaney +900
Denny Hamlin +900
Kyle Busch +1,000
Joey Logano +1,000
Martin Truex Jr +1,000
The next race will take place in Talladega Superspeedway on Sunday, April 24th.