NASCAR: New championship odds paint a clear picture

The NASCAR Cup Series championship odds heading into the penultimate round of the 2021 playoffs paint a clear picture, as the changes are few and far between.

The round of 12 of the 2021 NASCAR Cup Series playoffs came to a chaotic end on Sunday afternoon at the Charlotte Motor Speedway Roval, with Kyle Larson winning the race and teammate Chase Elliott overcoming intentional contact (some would call it a “chickensh*t move”) from a bitter Kevin Harvick to advance to the round of 8 for the fifth straight season.

The round of 8 is scheduled to feature races at the same three tracks as it did last season, though in a slightly different order.

While Martinsville Speedway is still slated to host the round of 8 finale, Texas Motor Speedway, not Kansas Speedway, is set to host the round of 8 opener, while Kansas Speedway is set to host the round’s middle event.

Entering the round of 12, Harvick, Christopher Bell, Alex Bowman and William Byron all still had a chance to win this year’s championship, but they were the four who failed to advance to the third of four rounds in this year’s 10-race postseason.

With them out of the picture, how much of a chance do the remaining eight title contenders have to win the 2021 title?

Here are the full championship odds among those eight drivers, courtesy of WynnBET (In parenthesis are the odds of each driver before the round of 12).

NOTE: +225 odds mean a $100 bet wins $225.

• Kyle Larson: +225 (+200)
• Denny Hamlin: +350 (+450)
• Chase Elliott: +750 (+1000)
• Martin Truex Jr.: +800 (+600)
• Kyle Busch: +1000 (+1100)
• Brad Keselowski: +1200 (+2200)
• Joey Logano: +1200 (+1600)
• Ryan Blaney: 1200 (+1200)

Make your pick now at WynnBET!

Two drivers saw their odds get worse while one saw no change and five saw theirs get better with four more drivers no longer in contention.

Kyle Larson, who is set to open up the round of 8 with a 35-point lead not over the Championship 4 cut line but over the next highest driver in the updated standings, has been the favorite ever since his win at Sonoma Raceway back in June, and with a win in each of the first two rounds of the playoffs, he has solidified himself as the favorite with four races remaining in the season.

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What is interesting is the fact that his odds actually got slightly worse, despite the fact that he made it through the round of 12 and added a win to his series-high win total in doing so; this could be a great time to bet on him.

The Autotrader EchoPark Automotive 500 is scheduled to get the round of 8 underway this Sunday, October 17 at Texas Motor Speedway. NBC is set to broadcast this race live beginning at 2:00 p.m ET, so be sure to start your free trial of FuboTV today if you have not done so!