NASCAR All-Star Race Betting Preview: Who Will Win The Chase For $1M?

The NASCAR Cup Series is back on track this Sunday for the All-Star Race at Texas Motor Speedway.

With a unique format and no points being paid out, the $1,000,000 in prize money for the winner is motivation enough to put on a show.

Here is everything you need to know to bet the NASCAR All-Star Race.

The Format: Normally, races are run in three stages, with points paid out at the end of each.

For the All-Star Race, the format is different with six rounds. The first four rounds will be 15 laps each and the starting order will be determined via random draw.

• After round one, part of the field will be inverted. The specific number of cars will be determined by a random draw.
• After round two, the whole field will be inverted.
• After round three, part of the field will be inverted again.
• For round five, the starting order will be determined by the cumulative finishes in the first four rounds. The top cumulative finisher will start first, etc. Round five is 30 laps.
• Round six, the final round, is 10 laps. The starting order is determined by the finishing position in round five.
• Only green-flag laps will count in the race.

Who Can Be in the All-Star Race? In order to be eligible for the race, drivers must have either won a race this season or last season, previously won an All-Star Race, or won a Cup Series Championship.

There are 17 drivers who meet at least one of these requirements and will be in the race.

Additionally, four spots will be given out on Sunday afternoon.

The winner of the fan vote earns a spot while the three winners from the All-Star Open will occupy spots. Drivers in the Open are those who are not already qualified for the All-Star Race. The Open race runs in stages of 20-20-10 laps and each stage winner advances.

Betting Preview: With such a convoluted format and short stages, picking the winner of the All-Star race is much more difficult than a normal event. Still, the fastest drivers will be the fastest, giving betters some insight into wagering.

All odds are courtesy of Draftkings DKNG

The Favorites:

• Kyle Larson (+350 to win, +100 top-3)
• Chase Elliott (+700 to win, +200 top-3)
• Martin Truex Jr. (+800 to win, +225 top-3)
• Kyle Busch (+800 to win, +225 top-3)

Larson enters the All-Star race with back-to-back wins and is the hottest driver in NASCAR. He has been fast at every track on the schedule and won the pole for the race via random draw. His Hendrick Motorsports teammate Chase Elliott won the All-Star Race at Bristol last season and starts 6th.

The Joe Gibbs Racing duo of Martin Truex Jr. and Kyle Busch start 10th and 2nd, respectively.

Truex is tied with Larson for the most wins in 2021 with three and is always strong at intermediate tracks. Busch is the most recent winner at Texas and has the most wins of any active driver at the track with four.

Find Value in the Longshots: Given the unpredictable format of the race and the likelihood to see carnage, longshot bets offer high payouts for drivers with past Texas success.

Joey Logano (+1100 to win, +300 top-3), Kevin Harvick (+1200 to win, +325 top-3) and Austin Dillon (+3000 to win, +700 top-3) all offer strong value.

Logano has one Texas win and has finished worse than 8th only once in 10 All-Star appearances, including a 2016 win.

Harvick has three Texas wins, all coming in the fall from 2017 to 2019. While he has not won this season, Harvick has been running better as of late and the All-Star Race could be a perfect setting for him to turn his season around.

Dillon is a true longshot at +3000 to win, but could shine if he finds track position. He won last summer at Texas, using pit strategy to get out front. He survived several late-race restarts that could resemble what will happen on Sunday with the short rounds and likelihood of cautions.

Dillon is an intriguing value for the NASCAR All-Star Race.

(Image by Clker-Free-Vector-Images from Pixabay)