The NASCAR Cup Series is the top racing series of the National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing. The Series is winding down, with just one race left before the playoffs begin. The second-to-last race took place on Sunday, Aug. 21, from the Watkins Glen International track in New York. The race began in wet-weather conditions with a delay of almost 2 hours thanks to lightning and excessive rain.
Kyle Miyata Larson took his first lead of the race with five laps remaining and held off road-course ace and fellow Californian AJ Allmendinger for a trophy. Kyle Larson completed the rare weekend sweep at Watkins Glen International with a clutch win in the NASCAR Cup Series’ Go Bowling at the Glen New York.
Kyle Larson finished .882 seconds ahead of Kaulig Racing’s AJ Allmendinger. It is Larson’s 18th career win. The victory is also his second of the 2022 season for the defending NASCAR Cup Series champion. What is interesting is that both of Larson’s victories this season have come at the expense of hot favorite Chase Elliott.
Viewers were able to watch the race on the USA Network channel in the United States, with streaming options also available through Peacock, the NBC Sports app or NBCSports.com. More importantly, bettors located in states with legal mobile or online sports betting were able to wager on Watkins Glen from the comfort of their own home. The betting odds below were supplied by DraftKings Sportsbook, which is available to users who are at least 21 years old in the states of Arizona, Colorado, Connecticut, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Michigan, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Virginia, West Virginia and Wyoming.
While the most popular wager concerned betting on Sunday’s outright winner, you could have also bet on a driver to finish in the top three, five or 10, or bet on who will win the pole position with the fastest qualifying time. Betting on an outright win usually carries the highest possible payout, but it’s also the riskiest wager. This is illustrated by the odds associated with favorite Chase Elliott, whose odds to win outright were +500, while his odds for a top-3 finish were +140, top-5 are -140 and top-10 are -500.
Behind Elliott, there were four other drivers with +1000 or better odds to win the race. Those drivers are Tyler Reddick (+600), Kyle Larson (+900), Ross Chastain (+1000) and Austin Cindric (+1000). Chastain’s racing talent makes him an intriguing value, but his reckless style has left him anything but wreck-less in recent races, as his feud with Denny Hamlin came to a head last month in Pocono, leading to a DNF for Chastain after he had been running at the front of the pack.
Speaking of Hamlin, he’s part of a capable group of veteran drivers that present some nice value at longer odds, as he, Kyle Busch and Kevin Harvick all sit at +2500 odds to win, +700 to finish top-3, +350 for top-5 and -110 for top-10. Harvick is red hot at the moment, having claimed back-to-back victories at Michigan International Speedway and Richmond Raceway heading into Watkins Glen.
All eyes are on the Daytona International Speedway, Daytona beach, FL on 8/27/2022 for the regular season finale of the NASCAR cup series!
In addition to betting on Sunday’s race, you can also make future bets on the eventual winner of the 2022 NASCAR Cup Championship in DraftKings Sportsbook’s NASCAR Cup futures section. Elliott has built a significant lead in that regard and is the favorite to win at +275, (Kyle Larson +600) but Hamlin, Chastain and Larson are all hanging around at +800 odds, followed by Busch at +900 and Harvick at +1200.
