In sports betting a market is another word for a specific bet. The main markets for NASCAR betting are the straight-up winner, podium finish and head-to-head. Some of the most popular NASCAR bets, however, are prop bets and those can get more in-depth and are a lot of fun for punters.
Straight Winner Markets
Betting on an outright winner is the most basic bet you can make and tradiionally the most popular. Bet on a driver. If they win, you win. That’s it.
With large fields of competitors, even the most highly favoured drivers offer long odds because winning is so challenging. Bettors can also make field bets which are wagers on every driver outside of the listed group of favourites.
Place Markets (Podium Finishes)
If you’ve ever bet on horses or dogs, betting on a driver to place will already be familiar to you.
NASCAR wagering offers podium finish bets that require your driver to finish anywhere in the top three. While easier than a straight winner bet, these bets payout less as you now have a small cushion for driver to not win the race but still win your bet.
It is important to note that your wager will payout the same regardless if your driver finishes 1st, 2nd, or 3rd.
Head to Head Markets
NASCAR has a lot of rivalry and one of the ways oddsmakers like tol entice more action from bettors is from lines that put two drivers against each other. With these bets you simply need your driver to finish higher than the other driver and it doesn’t matter if one or both drivers doesn’t make it to the finish line.
Wherever they wind up in the finaly standings is the officil result Your ticket will pay out according to these standings.
NASCAR recently addded stages to their races and in so doing they’ve opened the door to a lot more strategy per team and a lot more betting opportunity for the public. With races sedmented into three parts we now see betting that poses questions pertaining to each specific stage rather than just the race as a whole.
NASCAR Prop Betting Market
With the progression and development of online sports betting, sportsbooks are getting more and more advanced and interesting with their offerings. NASCAR prop bets get going even before race day.
You can get in on the action with qualifying time wagers and predicting who will earn pole postion. This bet is neat because it is seeing which drivers can go fsterst on an empty track.
The following are some examples of poplar prop bets in NASCAR:
- Betting on the fastest lap of the race is an interest wager because some cars are built for short term speed but generally run into problems over the course of a long race.
- Props will also pose questions about how teams will fare against each other or how many laps a team or driver will lead for. What’s fun about these bets is that over the course of several hours the outcome can sway back and forth.
- Other prop bets might not even be specific to drivers or teams but rather ask questions of the race as a whole like will there be a crash or how many caution flags will be lifted.
- As well, you may wish to bet on the end of season winner and not just on the upcoming race. This is called a Futures bet and is usually juiciest at the start of the season when the oddsmakers have the toughest time setting accurate lines.
NASCAR Betting Resources
You may think that NASCAR is just a bunch of guys driving around a track in circles. In terms of complexity and data analysis, you couldn’t be further from the truth. Since the beginning of auto racing, the science and mathematics behind driving and engineering has evolved dramatically.
Every millimeter of every part of every vehicle is scrutinized and evaluated. The smallest adjustment can lead to huge gains in speeds, reductions in times, improved performances, and ultimately huge amounts of revenue.
NASCAR is a multi-billion dollar sport with a lot on the line. While the individual teams use the research to improve their cars and drivers, savvy gamblers can use the same data to help pick winners and earn profits.
Nowadays the resources and the data analytics are free, readily available, and accessible via the click of a button online. You can learn about anything. If you want to know which tires performed best on a specific track, it’s there. You want to see which drivers performed at maximum output for the longest coming out of a pit? It’s there. You think there is value in knowing what weather factors led to the most cautions at Bristol Raceway, the data is there. You just have to take the time to look for it.
Winning teams in race car driving try to learn as much relevant information as possible and use it to improve. The same goes for betting. It requires homework and problem solving to succeed.
The exact same thing is true for sports bettors.
- Make a list of podcasters, bloggers, vloggers, professional analysts and dedicated websited that offer free of paid NASCAR information services
- Head to Twitter and Youtube and subscribe or follow people who are passionate about NASCAR. Ask these people questions. Send them tweets or post on their videoa sna dstart a dialogue.
Even with a focus on fantasy sports, they are still an excellent source of data that can be used for your NASCAR betting research.
Over time you will develop a group of people and websites you trust that can help you make smarter bets. NASCAR season is long and with so many races there are lots of opportunities for smart betting if you put in the work.