NASCAR is BACK.
The 2022 NASCAR season officially kicks of on Sunday, February 20th with the Daytona 500.
We got Luke Combs handling the pre-race musical entertainment, Trace Adkins doing the national anthem, and the lineup is officially set.
Kyle Larson won the pole for Hendrick Motorsports on Wednesday, and will be joined by teammate Alex Bowman on the front row.
Brad Keselowski won the qualifying race on Thursday night, and will start third. RFK Racing teammate Chris Buescher, who won the second qualifying race Thursday, will join him on the second row.
Joey Logano was originally supposed to start 20th, but will go to the rear of the 40-car field after going to a backup car after a crash on the final lap of his qualifying race.
The four non-chartered cars making the field are Greg Biffle (Starting 28th), Kaz Grala (35th), Noah Gragson (39th), and Jacques Villeneuve (4oth).
So without further ado… let’s get to the odds, picks and predictions:
Daytona 500 Odds:
Denny Hamlin +900
Kyle Larson +900
Ryan Blaney +1000
Chase Elliott +1100
Joey Logano +1200
Brad Keselowski +1400
Kyle Busch +1500
William Byron +1500
Alex Bowman +1800
Austin Dillon +1800
Bubba Wallace +2000
Kevin Harvick +2000
Kurt Busch +2000
Martin Truex Jr. +2000
Aric Almirola +2200
Austin Cindric +2500
Chris Buescher +2500
Christopher Bell +2500
Ricky Stenhouse Jr. +2500
Tyler Reddick +2500
Chase Briscoe +3000
Justin Haley +3500
Ross Chastain +3500
Harrison Burton +5000
Corey LaJoie +5500
Daniel Hemric +6000
Erik Jones +6000
Cole Custer +6600
Daniel Suarez +6600
Michael McDowell +6600
David Ragan +7000
Greg Biffle +7500
Jacques Villeneuve +10000
Todd Gilliland +10000
Predictions:
Daytona baby… anything can happen.
As we saw last year (and this year’s Duel) when Brad Keselowski and Joey Logano wrecked on the last lap and Michael McDowell snuck in for the checkered flag… Daytona is fickle beast and picking the winner always comes down a little bit of luck. Not to mention, they’re behind the wheel of the brand new Next-Gen car… there’s a learning curve.
Drivers need to put themselves in the best positions to win and sometimes, that simply means staying out of madness. One driver gets loose and it can end the day for a quarter the field.
That being said, I like Team Penske on Sunday.
Ryan Blaney looks good, Joey Logano looks good (if he can finish the race) and of course, and even Austin Cindric looked good in the first Duel.
I also like the Fords on Sunday. We’re gonna see the drivers stick with their fellow manufacturers so add Brad Keselowski and Kevin Harvick into the mix as well.
I’m also high on William Bryon, and you can never bet against the favorite, Denny Hamlin, to win. Longshots include solid superspeedway drivers like Bubba Wallace, Ricky Stenhouse Jr., Corey LaJoie and Justin Haley.
Picks:
Here’s what we’re going with for the Daytona 500:
Winner: Ryan Blaney
Top 3: Joey Logano
Top 5: William Byron
Top 10: Corey LaJoie, Christopher Bell
LET’S GO.
