The NASCAR Cup Series kicks off with their most iconic race, the Daytona 500. It is time to continue our NASCAR Cup Series odds series with a Daytona 500 prediction, pick, and how to watch.

Daytona is the first and considered one of the most important races of the NACAR calendar. The first race was held in 1959, with the race being the opening race of the season every year since 1982. The track is 2.5 miles long, and racers will take 200 laps to complete the 500 miles. It is an Asphalt surface in the tri-oval style, with 31-degree banked turns, and a three-degree back straight away. The track is one of the major drafting-style tracks on the circuit, along with Talladega and Atlanta.

Ricky Stenhouse Jr. will be looking to defend his title from last year. That gave JTG Daugherty racing their first win as a team at the Daytona 500. Denny Hamlin looks to claim a win here as well. Hamlin last won in 2020, which was his third time winning. With a win, Hamlin would become just the third racer to win the race four times, joining Cale Yarborough and Richard Petty. Meanwhile, other favorites such as Kyle Busch, Brad Keselowski, and Ryan Blaney will all be looking for their first-ever win at the Daytona 500.

Here are the NASCAR Odds, courtesy of DraftKings. 

NASCAR Odds: Daytona 500 Odds

Note: Odds are before qualifying races

Kyle Busch: +1000

Denny Hamlin: +1000

Brad Keselowski: +1100

Ryan Blaney: +1200

Kyle Larson: +1200

Joey Logano: +1200

Chase Elliott: +1400

Chris Buescher: +1600

William Byron: +1800

Bubba Wallace: +1800

Martin Truex Jr.: +2200

Erik Jones: +2500

Christopher Bell: +2500

Tyler Reddick: +2800

Ty Gibbs: +2800

Ross Chastain: +2800

Alex Bowman: +2800

Ricky Stenhouse Jr.: +3000

Austin Dillon: +3000

Austin Cindric: +3000

Michael McDowell: +3500

Ryan Preece: +4000

Chase Briscoe: +4000

AJ Allmendinger: +4000

How to Watch the Daytona 500

Time: 2:30 PM ET/ 11:30 AM PT

TV: Fox

Stream: fuboTV (Click for free trial)

Favorites To Daytona 500

Kyle Busch is the co-favorite to win this race, tied with Denny Hamlin. Busch has won at this track before, winning the 2008 Coke Zero 400 on this track. Still, luck had not been on his side at the Daytona 500 many times. He led six laps last year before crashing and finishing 19th. Considering he has started 36th, it was a quick move up the ranks before the crash. In 2022, he led 28 laps but would finish sixth. Busch also crashed in 2021 and left to engine trouble in 2020 after leading laps. He has come close to winning the Daytona 500. In 2019 he was second, and third in 2016. Busch also wins at similar tracks, with two wins at Atlanta and Talladega.

Denny Hamlin is also a co-favorite to win this race. Unlike Busch, Hamlin has won this race before. In 36 total races at this track, he has three wins, 11 top fives, and 12 top ten finishes. At Daytona, he has led laps in five of the last six Daytona 500s, with the only time missing being in 2022, where he crashed early in the race. Hamlin has not won the race since 2020, finishing 17th last year, but leading six laps, while crashing in 2022 and finishing fifth in 2021. Hamlin also has a win at Atlanta and two at Talladega.

Brad Keselowski is looking for his first-ever win at the Daytona 500. Last year, it was a crash that took him out as well, as he finished 22nd. Still, he led 42 laps in that race, and he led 67 laps in 2022 before finishing ninth. The biggest issue for Keselowski here has been finishing races. In his last 14 races at this track, he has failed to finish the race ten times, crashing in nine of them. All of these have come since he won the 2016 Coke Zero 400 at this track. Still, Keselowski has done well in similar tracks. He has 11 top tens in 18 starts, plus two wins at Atlanta. At Talladega, he has won six times in 30 races.

Ryan Blaney is the defending series champion and looks to add a Daytona title to his list. Blaney has run well at this track, outside of recent races that he did not finish. In his last race here, that is what happened, as he crashed in the 2023 Coke Zero Sugar 400. Still, Blaney has had some good finishes at the Daytona 500. He finished eighth in 2023, and fourth in 2022. He was second in 2020 but did crash in 2021. Blaney also won the 2021 Coke Zero Sugar 400 and was a runner-up in 2017 at the Daytona 500. Blaney has also won three times at Talladega and has a win at Atlanta. He is more than capable of winning this year and starting his title defense strong.

Kyle Larson is a threat to win every race. Last year, he led the most laps of any driver, was tied for the most top-five finishes, and was second in wins. In 2021, Larson won ten races. Still, Dayton has not been kind to Larson. In his last five races, he has won the pole three times, starting second, and seventh. He has finished just one of those races, and his top finish in those five was 28th last year at the Daytona 500. He has also led a total of 23 laps in ten total starts at the Daytona 500. Larson has also struggled at Talladega and Atlanta, so he will need to find a way to bounce out of this rut if he wants to content.

Joey Logano also needs to be looked at for this. He just took the pole running great already at this track. Among drivers in this race, only Denny Hamlin and Kyle Busch have more top-ten finishes. He has finished in the top ten 11 times at this track, with eight top-five finishes. He won this race in 2015 and finished second here last year. Logano's odds of winning moved well up the board after his qualifying and could go up more after the Duels.

Sleepers To Win Daytona 500

Last year, Ricky Stenhouse Jr. won the race after being a heavy underdog going in. He is in the same spot this year. Something similar happened in 2021 when Michael McDowell won. McDowell had some solid races at the track but had not gotten the big win. Before his win, McDowell had two top fives and six top tens on the track at Daytona. Two drivers come in with similar statistics. First is Austin Dillon. Dillon won the 2018 Daytona 500 and has won at this track twice. He has three other top-fives and nine top-ten finishes as well. A bigger sleeper is A.J. Allmendinger. In almost the same amount of races as McDowell, he had three top fives and seven top ten finishes, almost identical to McDowell.

Daytona 500 Prediction & Pick

With crashes and the high stakes of this race predicting a winner is very difficult. Kyle Larson has had horrible luck here and does not perform well on these tracks. Both Hamlin and Busch have not been good as of late here. Still, Hamlin does have a win here and is going for history. There are three main plays though. First, A.J. Allmendinger is a perfect sleeper pick, but for safer odds, take him top ten. Joey Logano won the pole, but the pole sitter has not won since 2000. He will not win here, but take him top five Ryan Blaney has been hot here, and is the defending champion, he wins the race.

Daytona 500 Prediction & Pick: A.J Allmendinger Top 10 (+140), Joey Logano Top 5 (+150), Ryan Blaney to Win (+1200)