The start of the 2026 NASCAR Cup Series season is just days away, weather permitting, with the 68th annual Daytona 500 scheduled to get the 36-race campaign underway.
Throughout much of the offseason, the favorites to win the Daytona 500 have been from Team Penske. Ryan Blaney has spent time as the favorite, as has 2015 winner Joey Logano. Even 2022 winner Austin Cindric has been up top from time to time at the sportsbooks.
Now at DraftKings Sportsbook, there's a new favorite to win Sunday's 200-lap "Great American Race" around the four-turn, 2.5-mile (4.023-kilometer) high-banked Daytona Beach, Florida oval.
And it's not William Byron.
Byron, who is aiming to become the first driver to win the race in three consecutive years after becoming just the fifth to win it in back-to-back years a year ago, is listed in a second place tie at +1000.
The new favorite to take the checkered flag this year is three-time Daytona 500 winner Denny Hamlin. Just two drivers, Richard Petty and Cale Yarborough, have ever won the Daytona 500 on more than three occasions, and Hamlin is aiming to become the third. He won the race in 2016, 2019, and 2020, and his own three-peat bid was derailed with a fifth place finish in 2021.
That fifth place finish is the best ever for a driver coming off of back-to-back Daytona 500 wins. Before Hamlin's back-to-back wins, only Petty, Yarborough, and Sterling Marlin had ever done it.
What better way for him to start the 2026 season, given the tumultuous offseason he has endured, than by becoming a four-time Daytona 500 winner?
Success has eluded Hamlin in the Daytona 500 in recent years. He hasn't finished higher than 17th since that aforementioned fifth place finish five years ago.
Byron is tied with Blaney and Hendrick Motorsports' Kyle Larson. Logano is now listed at +1200. Cindric has dropped to +1600.
Hyak Motorsport's Ricky Stenhouse Jr., the most recent Daytona 500 winner not named Byron (2023), is listed at +3500, making him one of four former winners that are being slept on as the race approaches.
Full Daytona 500 odds can be found here and are always subject to change.
Tune in to Fox at 2:00 p.m. ET on Sunday, February 15 for the live broadcast of the 68th running of the Daytona 500 from Daytona International Speedway. Start a free trial of FuboTV now and be sure to catch all of the action from the "World Center of Racing"!