After Kyle Larson's red-hot six-race start to the 2026 NASCAR Cup Series postseason made him the seemingly clear favorite to win his third title and second in a row, Sunday's race at Phoenix Raceway turned the championship battle upside down.
Larson has led the standings since taking the lead from regular season champion Denny Hamlin in the third playoff race at Bristol Motor Speedway, and he had extended that lead to 49 points heading into Sunday's race at Phoenix.
But after his DNF in the Freeway Insurance 500, Larson suddenly has six drivers within 56 points of him. Hamlin himself moved from 49 points to 31 points behind, even with a disappointing race result that saw him drop from second to fourth in the standings, illustrating just how close the battle is.
And with that, DraftKings Sportsbook's championship betting odds got their most significant change yet.
Christopher Bell the top favorite to challenge Kyle Larson, but is he really?
For the first time since Larson became the points leader and then the championship favorite, somebody other than Hamlin is listed as his top challenger.
Larson, whose odds before his Phoenix disaster were the shortest odds for any driver at any point this season, is still the favorite at +175. But second place is now Joe Gibbs Racing's Christopher Bell, and he's only listed slightly behind Larson at +250 after moving to within five points of the championship lead at Phoenix.
But is Bell really Larson's top threat?
The reality is that nobody knows. It truly has become a seven-way fight. 23XI Racing's Tyler Reddick, who had no wins since April, looked like he had no chance, sitting 114 points behind. Then he goes and wins at Phoenix and cuts that lead by more than half, taking 58 points out of that deficit to reduce the gap to 56.
A few days ago, +10000 on Reddick would've seemed like a trap. Now +2000 almost seems like a bargain.
Given the 15 bonus points NASCAR now awards to race winners (55 instead of 40), we have seen how quickly things can shift, especially throughout the playoffs. A 56-point deficit, especially heading to the wild card of a track that is Talladeaga Superspeedway, might not be as big as it seems.
The same can be said about Bell's five-point deficit, Chase Briscoe's 24-point deficit, Hamlin's 31-point deficit, Ryan Blaney's 40-point deficit, and Joey Logano's 44-point deficit.
According to DraftKings Sportsbook, behind Larson and Bell, in order, are Briscoe (+400), Hamlin (+550), Blaney (+800), Logano (+1400), and Reddick (+2000).
Despite the jump up to second, the best position he's been in all year, Bell is the only one of those seven drivers who hasn't won multiple races in 2026. That might very well need to change for him to have a real shot.
Full NASCAR Cup Series championship odds can be found at DraftKings Sportsbook and are always subject to change.
Live coverage of Sunday's YellaWood 500 is set to be provided by NBC from Talladega Superspeedway beginning at 2:00 p.m. ET. Begin a free trial of FuboTV now and don't miss any of the action!
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