NASCAR is back with a bang with the Daytona 500 for 2025, as the season opener takes place on February 16th 2024, with everyone looking to make the best possible start to the campaign.
This will be the first race of the 2025 Cup Series season, and last year's championship winner Joey Logano will look to kick off his title defense with a victory at the track where he has won once before but had a torrid time in recent years with some poor performances.
We'll take a look at the race and provide you with our best free NASCAR picks while seeing if we can earn you some extra cash for the weekend as you take in the action on the track.
| NASCAR: Daytona 500 |  |  |  |
|---|---|---|---|
| Kyle Busch | +1100 | +1400 | +1200 |
| Kyle Larson | +1100 | +1200 | +1800 |
| Ryan Blaney | +1200 | +1200 | +1200 |
| Denny Hamlin | +1200 | +1400 | +1600 |
| Joey Logano | +1400 | +1200 | +1400 |
| Brad Keselowski | +1400 | +1200 | +1600 |
Learn more about how to bet on NASCAR here.
NASCAR Daytona 500 information
- Sunday, February 16th 2025
- Daytona International Speedway, Daytona Beach, Florida
- 200 laps, 500 miles
- Live on FOX Sports
NASCAR Daytona 500 favorites
Below you'll find a list of the favorites to win the 2025 NASCAR Daytona 500.
Ryan Blaney - (+1200)
Ryan Blaney is always one to watch for on tracks like Daytona, and having barely missed out on becoming a back-to-back champion last season there will arguably be nobody more motivated than him to start the season well in 2025.
Blaney has been the man to win at superspeedways on four different occasions in his career, including a Daytona triumph in August 2021. With 169 laps led at superspeedway since 2022, only reigning champion Logano has been more successful (2008 laps led), and that bodes well for this bet.
In his final three races of 2024, he placed second, first and second, while he's twice finished as the Daytona 500 runner-up (2017, 2020) and five times cracked the top 10.
At +1200 the value is pretty good for him to have success at the season-opener once again, and he's our pick for victory.
Check out our review for BetOnline sports betting here.
Kyle Busch - (+1400)
The 2024 season was the first time in 16 years that Kyle Busch didn't win a single race during the season. Now he will look to end that streak, along with another, during the Daytona 500.
Nearly 40 now, Busch's only win on this track came back in 2008 and the best he's managed since then was a runner-up spot in 2016. He's well overdue a win, and having not won any race last year he'll be desperate to get that done as quickly as possible. He's never won the Daytona 500 though, and this will be his 20th attempt.
He nearly won at this track last summer and has a whopping seven career top-threes in points-paying races at the race, including a win in the 2008 summer race.
If you're looking for value, taking Busch at +1400 before qualifying could be the best bet of the weekend.
Check out our review for BetUS sports betting here.
Joey Logano - (+1400)
The 2022 and reigning 2024 series champion has one Daytona 500 victory to his name in his career, and will be hoping to do it again this year.
These odds should be in no danger of shifting as any big bettors are likely to stay away from the No. 22 car for this race. Joey Logano has an average finish of 16th in his last four Daytona 500 outings, having finished 21st in the 2022 edition of the race, 2nd in 2023 and 32nd in 2024.
As the current champion and a former winner of this race you'd be crazy to look past him at this price, but it would be somewhat of a surprise if he started off the season with a victory - something he hasn't done since 2015.
There will be plenty of people whoever who are looking at the fact he's champion and at a high price who will back him, so if you're one of those then it's probably best to get it early.
+1400 is a solid price and if anyone can snap their bad luck then it's the reigning two-time champion, so this could be the perfect opportunity to get a winning slip with Logano's name on it at the Daytona 500.
Denny Hamlin (+1600)
Denny Hamlin won three of the five Daytona 500s contested from 2016 to 2020, and he has the most laps led (676) of any active driver over this course, and has multiple race wins in each of the last six seasons.
Hamlin will be the most successful driver in the race's history on the track come Sunday, and he remains one of only six men to win three or more Daytona 500 races throughout their career. In fact, Denny will be the only driver entered who's won more than one of them.
His problem will be how the car performs, and the best time to figure that out will be after Thursday's events. By then however, it may be too late to get such a good price on him. Take a risk and go early on securing the +1600 price for the event's most successful driver to get the job done once again.
