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The first of seven road course races on the 2021 NASCAR Cup Series schedule will drop the green flag Sunday at Daytona International Speedway's 14-turn, 3.61-mile road course, a hybrid layout of the infield course and high banks of the 2.5-mile oval.
Yes, seven road races. What happened? How did we get to seven after receiving blowback from fans when adding three races to the schedule three years ago?
From 1988 to 2017, there were just two NASCAR road courses -- Sonoma Raceway, Watkins Glen International -- and then NASCAR added the Charlotte Roval to the playoffs in 2018 giving us three on the schedule through 2020.
But the pandemic allowed only two road races in 2020 with California (Sonoma) and New York (Watkins Glen) being shut down which put Daytona's road course in play for the first time in NASCAR history as the schedule was released in staggered stages on the fly.
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- Date: Sunday, February 21, 2021
- TV-Time: FOX, 3:00 p.m. ET
- Venue: Daytona International Speedway
- Location: Daytona Beach, Florida
The original 2021 schedule had six road courses but with California Speedway being forced to cancel due to the state's strict COVID-19 protocols, Daytona's road course was there again on the fly and added. Seven road course events for the 36 points-paying dates.
The majority of Cup drivers aren't very good on road courses -- making left and right turns -- giving the few that do excel a huge advantage in season points. I'm thinking the majority of fans and drivers would probably prefer more short tracks than having a fifth of the schedule loaded with road courses.
'I would probably vote for short tracks just because of the fact that I think that short-track racing is a lot of fun to watch,' said two-time road course winner Kevin Harvick. 'The road courses will be great to mix it up, but when you look at the short tracks, everybody can see what's going on from their seat and not wonder what happens the next time around. I think there's a balance between adding more short tracks compared to road courses.'
Chase Elliott won last year's road race at Daytona in August and he's pegged as the top favorite on Sunday. (AP)
Handicapping NASCAR at Daytona Road Race
Sunday's O'Reilly Auto Parts 253 will be the second race of 2021 and also the second NASCAR points race ever held on the road course, although the Rolex 24 Hours of Daytona has been racing on it since 1962. The thing I like most about this course is the speed of the cars using the 750 horsepower and short spoilers ripping around the high banks.
NASCAR also scheduled the non-points Busch Clash on the Daytona road course for the first time since the exhibition invitational began in 1979 so the 21 drivers that participated two weeks ago will have a huge edge coming in this week. They got 35 laps of quality time on the track and the top drivers in that race were no surprise. It was the same guys that have been dominating road races for the past five seasons. Denny Hamlin led a race-high 25 laps and finished sixth.
'Yeah, we had a fast car during the Clash, and I'm sure this weekend won't be any different,' said Hamlin who the Las Vegas Westgate SuperBook set at 12/1 odds to win this week. 'We'll take that data and learn from it, and it will certainly help us as we return to the same course. It's going to be a tough race like all road courses are, but I'm confident in our team to put us in a position to win.'
Hamlin is one of those few drivers who excel on the road courses with seven top-fives in his last 12 of them, which includes a 2016 Watkins Glen win and runner-up on the Daytona course last season.
But he isn't one of the top-two favorites at the Superbook this week.
NASCAR Cup Odds - Daytona Road Race
- Chase Elliott +250
- Martin Truex Jr. +600
- A.J. Allmendinger +800
- Kyle Busch +800
- Denny Hamlin +850
- Ryan Blaney +900
- Kevin Harvick +900
- (Odds Subject to Change)
It's all about Chase Elliott at 5/2 and Martin Truex Jr. at 3/1 odds with everyone else at 12/1 or higher.
Without even seeing how they've done statistically, the odds immediately tell you something like no other NASCAR odds board has said. The odds say it'll be a major surprise if one of those two doesn't win and that's the dilemma everyone betting this race has to deal with.
The duo has combined to win nine road courses in their career and they've won eight of the last nine road races dating back to 2017.
Elliott leads all active drivers with five road wins and has won the last four in a row, not counting the Busch Clash where he was runner-up after wrecking his best friend Ryan Blaney who was leading on the last turn of the last lap. It's a great feeling betting Elliott when you know he'll wreck his best friend for the trophy.
'Road courses have been good to us the past few trips, but that doesn't mean it's going to go good every time,' Elliott says.
'There has not been one part of me that watched the schedule change, saw seven road courses and thought, ‘Yeah, we've got it now.' That's just not how I am. At the end of the day, you have to be good everywhere and I want to be good everywhere. We as a team want to get to the point where we can win on any given week: road course, circle track, intermediate, dirt…whatever it is, we want to be able to win at any time. The great teams and the great drivers are capable of doing that, and I think we are capable doing that. So that's where my head's at – trying to be good everywhere.'
And that's our 2020 NASCAR Cup Champion. He says all the right things all the time, but not like a robot. He's a calculated cool. But the oddsmakers certainly added some bump into his odds to win his second straight title with William Hill sportsbooks offering him at 5/1 odds.
It's not quite Jimmie Johnson in-his-prime future odds, but it's close. Hamlin and Harvick, who combined to win 16 races last season, are both 6/ to win the championship.
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Blaney is the interesting look this week as the SuperBook is offering him at 16/1 odds to win Sunday. We just saw him almost win the Busch Clash two weeks ago with a great set-up. He has top-fives in four of the last six road course races, including a 2018 win on the Charlotte Roval hybrid where he scooped a scavenger win as Jimmie Johnson wrecked leader Truex on the last turn of the last lap.
Kyle Busch was the scavenger winner in the Busch Clash, coming from third to win, after the Elliott-Blaney dust-up. Busch is a four-time road course winner from what seems like way back, but there appears to be a new sense of urgency to run well with a new crew chief, the Clash win, and running well in the Daytona 500 until a late wreck. It's all positive vibes and he's 16/1 to get his first points-paying road win since 2015 at Sonoma.
William Byron is also offered at 16/1 odds this week. He's a driver I think will be the next driver with no road course wins to grab one.
I don't know when, but I'll suggest it'll be either Charlotte or Daytona because of the speed incorporated on the banking. In his last four road races he was sixth in the Busch Clash two weeks ago, sixth on the Roval last season, eighth at Daytona, and sixth at the Roval in 2019. He's led 21 laps or more in three of his last six road starts.
'I don't have a ton of experience on road courses, but I have gotten much more comfortable with them the last couple years and I think our most recent races show that,' Byron said. 'We haven't had a ton of track time at the Daytona road course but running the Clash last week helped us dial things in a bit better. Starting position is a big factor as well and, unfortunately, we won't have the best starting spot based off the scoring metric. There are ways to make up positions on road courses, depending on the strategy you use. We'll take the notes we have and do what we need to do to get a good finish.'
Byron will start 22nd, last week's Daytona 500 Michael McDowell will start second, Elliott starts from the pole.
I think this is one of those weeks where regardless of your betting strategy or who you like to win, Elliott should be somewhere in that equation. Don't be that guy that throws the favorite out this week.
And the last thing, get a piece of Blaney as well.
O'Reilly Auto Parts 253 Contenders
O'Reilly Auto Parts 253
Top-5 Finish Prediction
- 1) #9 Chase Elliott (5/2)
- 2) #12 Ryan Blaney (16/1)
- 3) #19 Martin Truex Jr. (3/1)
- 4) #11 Denny Hamlin (12/1)
- 5) #18 Kyle Busch (16/1)
Odds Subject to Change - Per the SuperBook
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As I lay down my value bets for the 2020 O'Reilly Auto Parts 500, I can't pretend to know exactly what's on your mind.
But you might feel as though you missed out on a great opportunity to make serious money last weekend at Kentucky, right? But come on — did anyone really see Cole Custer winning that race? I didn't. Neither did the oddsmakers at the top NASCAR betting sites.
Anyway, Custer will have a lot of attention from the gambling public this week, but as my beloved late grandmother once told me, lightning never strikes twice in the same place.
Unfortunately, she was hit by lightning not long after saying that and… yeah, I'll stop right there. That was clearly a joke.
What isn't a joke is Aric Almirola's chances at the Texas Motor Speedway this weekend. He is one of my NASCAR O'Reilly Auto Parts 500 value bets on merit, and I think he could do a decent job.
As for my four remaining sleepers? Well, read on, and all will be revealed.
Almirola might not have a race win to his name since Talladega in October 2018. But as of late, the Florida native has been in very impressive form. Odds of +2200 from Bovada are, therefore, worth a look.
Almirola has finished third in three of the last six races, as well as fifth in two others from that same six. An 8th-place finish at Kentucky last week wasn't as impressive, but that was just a crazy event in general.
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To the point, Almirola is one of my sleepers for the 2020 O'Reilly Auto Parts 500. Why? Well, he has been up there with the best of them over the past six races and is well worth considering for a top-five finish, at least.
While the Stewart-Haas man has failed to win in Texas in 18 starts, he finished 2nd behind Kevin Harvick at the 2019 AAA Texas 500 in November.
Worth a shot? I think so.
Jimmie Johnson +2200
Johnson has seven wins from 33 starts at the Texas Motor Speedway, making him the most successful active driver on this track.
The NASCAR Cup Series legend is set to retire at the end of the current campaign and is still chasing his first win of 2020. Johnson has featured on my list of value picks and sleepers a few times this season, but his third-place finish at Bristol has been his best result to date.
Can he get the win here? It's unlikely, I'll give you that. But with his track record here, anything can happen. His last win here came in 2017's version of this race, and he also finished 5th in last year's race.
Johnson is definitely being slept on. At odds of +2200, he could be someone to take a closer look at ahead of Sunday's event.
With an average finish of 9.43 from seven starts at 'The Great American Speedway,' Jones' odds of +2700 look interesting.
From his last five races here, his worst finishing position was 10th. That was in the November race in 2019. Prior to that, Jones clocked in at 4th in three consecutive starts. That is a pretty impressive return, in anyone's book.
Jones has been up and down this season — when he has been good, he has been very good; when he has been bad, he has been, well, underwhelming, to say the least.
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The 24-year-old placed 5th at Talladega and 3rd at Pocono, but the three other races from his last five have been disappointing. Can he turn things around on Sunday? Sure. What's more, he will be fired up, having watched rookie Cole Custer take the checkered flag at Kentucky last weekend.
William Byron +3500
Byron has four Cup Series starts at Texas, finishing 17th, 6th, 16th, and 10th, stretching back to his rookie season in 2018. An average finishing position of 12.25 might look impressive, but it's not a lot to go by considering his relative inexperience here.
Still, this is a driver that has the capability to surprise on Sunday. On recent form, the 22-year-old is hardly the most impressive driver in the Cup Series. But he is young and developing and is well worth keeping an eye on.
I'm not confident in Byron's chances of winning here. But what I will say is that he does offer value for a top-ten finish. I could be wrong — Byron might come out of the traps like a possessed greyhound, but I'll be conservative here and pick him to finish anywhere between 6th and 12th.
You'll be taking a punt on Byron, but his odds are worth pocket change.
Finally, we have Matt Kenseth. Here is a guy that should not be underestimated ahead of Sunday's race.
Kenseth is great value to win the O'Reilly Auto Parts 500 — he has two wins from 30 starts at Texas and a very impressive average finish of 9.47 in that timeframe. Can Kenseth win this race? Well, I think he has a great chance of putting in a strong performance.
A multiple-winner at Texas, Kenseth is still being slept on by many NASCAR bettors because of his age and recent form. Yes, he was drafted in to replace Kyle Larson following time away from the big time, but he has turned the clock back in recent weeks.
11th and 12th at the Pocono weekender were impressive, but 2nd at Indianapolis was a real indication that there is still talent there. I'd be surprised if he won this race, but it wouldn't shock me to see him finish in the top three.
Wrap Up
Cole Custer's remarkable win at Kentucky last week has led to plenty of NASCAR bettors trying their hands at backing the next big money winner.
And while I'm not exactly confident in saying that the winner of the 2020 O'Reilly Auto Parts 500 will come from one of the guys above, it could. What's more, these five represent value in terms of the betting odds the bookies are handing out.
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As usual, it's your call. We'll catch up ahead of next week's race in Kansas and see what's what, so make sure to bookmark our blog for more news, odds, bets, and picks ahead of the remaining Cup Series races.
