The 2023 NASCAR Cup Series Championship is almost upon us after an amazing 2022 season, which saw Joey Logano claim his second title in the year's final race.
36 drivers will be competing this season to claim the crown of the top driver this year, but a handful have a far better chance to lift the trophy after 36 races.
We'll take a look at the favorites to become champion at the end of the year and break down their chances of success to see if we can earn you some extra cash with our best free NASCAR picks.
| NASCAR Futures |  |  |  |
|---|---|---|---|
| Chase Elliott | +575 | +600 | +500 |
| Kyle Larson | +600 | +600 | +600 |
| Denny Hamlin | +800 | +800 | +800 |
| Ryan Blaney | +1000 | +1000 | +1200 |
| William Byron | +1200 | +1000 | +1200 |
| Kyle Busch | +1200 | +1400 | +1400 |
| Joey Logano | +1200 | +1000 | +1200 |
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2023 NASCAR Cup Series Championship information
- Regular season: February 5th - August 26th 2023
- Round of 16: September 3rd - September 16th 2023
- Round of 12: September 24th - October 8th 2023
- Round of 8: October 15th - October 29th 2023
- Championship 4: November 5th 2023
NASCAR Cup Series Favorites
Chase Elliott - (+600)
Chase Elliott won the title in 2020, was the 2022 NASCAR Cup Series Championship Regular Season champion, and was usually the oddsmakers favorites to win a vast majority of the 26 races on the circuit last year, including the Championship 4 race.
He and his Chevy Camaro did win five races last year and did better than 90% of the teams competing, and he will be furious at missing out in the playoffs. He will surely have a chip on his shoulder and be looking to come back here with a vengeance.
This young star of NASCAR finished in 4th place in Phoenix, and those memories will fuel Elliott and Crew Chief Alan Gustafson to get back to that Final Four and be in a position to win this season.
But it won’t be easy and it’s always seemingly hard to find any real perceived value in Elliott’s odds for individual races or even to win the 2023 NASCAR Cup Series Championship. In the 2022 NASCAR Playoffs, Elliott had just three Top 10 finishes.
You can argue that +600 is short for him, but his reptuation precedes him and it will be tough to get good value on him as the season progresses and he inevitably wins races.
This may be your best chance to back him to win the championship, so if you're convinced it's his then don't let it pass you by.
Check out our review for BetUS sports betting here.
Ryan Blaney - (+1200)
Ryan Blaney didn’t win a race in the 2022 NASCAR Cup Series season but he did manage 12 Top 5 finishes, and he was the only driver in the NASCAR Playoffs without a win, performing well until his eventual elimination.
The Round of 8 ruined any championship hopes for Blaney and his team with Homestead-Miami and Las Vegas costing him a shot at making that Final Four.
But with four Top 5 finishes in his final seven races and a 2nd-place finish in the season finale at Phoenix, Blaney and the No. 12 team showed that they are, and will be, a force to be reckoned with this season.
With odds of 12/1 he's a longshot, but his form if carried into the 2023 season is a great value bet for him to make it to the final four this time around and then we all know that anything is possible.
There is plenty of value in these odds and if you a fancy a new star to be born this season, then Blaney is the man to back.
Check out our review for Bovada sports betting here.
Joey Logano - (+1200)
Joey Logano was fantastic last season, with the No. 22 winning the 2022 NASCAR Cup Series in Phoenix as the 2009 Sunoco Rookie of the Year captured his second Cup Series title after winning back in 2018.
Logano opened up the 2022 calendar year with a checkered flag in the Busch Light Clash at the LA Memorial Coliseum and had five wins, including the NASCAR Cup Series' inaugural race at World Wide Technology Raceway in June.
The 32-year-old Middletown, CT resident now has 31 wins on the NASCAR circuit, including the 2015 Daytona 500, as well as 30 victories in the NASCAR Xfinity Series and one 1st-place finish in the NASCAR camping World Truck Series.
Logano won in Las Vegas in the Playoffs and didn’t look back en route to bringing home the championship for Team Penske.
Being the defending champion is always a good reason to back someone in the new season, and Logano's record in the past makes him a great bet.
Kyle Busch - (+1400)
Kyle Busch will no longer be behind the wheel of the M&M’s car, leaving Joe Gibbs Racing after last season for Richard Childress Racing where Busch actually performed pretty well, all off-the-track things considered.
Needing a win at Bristol, the Las Vegas native came through when he really had to and qualified for the Round of 16 and the 2022 NASCAR Playoffs.
However engine failure at Darlington and a spin-out in Kansas ultimately did Busch in, and he finished 13th on the year, which wasn't awful considering.
In his last race for JGR in the finale in Phoenix, Busch finished in 7th place. So what can we expect from the veteran driver with a new team for the coming 2023 NASCAR Cup Series season?
Not much in reality, but someone with experience and a new team will likely be looking to make an impact and could be a great shout for a long shot winner.
