Ever since winning the round of 12 opener to lock himself into the round of 8 for the fifth year in a row, Team Penske's Ryan Blaney has been the betting favorite to win the 2025 NASCAR Cup Series championship at FanDuel Sportsbook.
Though his odds did dip from +350 to +430 ahead of the round of 8 opener at Las Vegas Motor Speedway on Sunday following a somewhat mediocre finish to the previous round, he was still listed ahead of the other seven drivers remaining in championship contention.
Now that is no longer the case, which comes as no surprise after he dropped from second to last place in the eight-driver playoff picture, 31 points below the Championship 4 cut line, following his first DNF of the playoffs at Las Vegas in Sunday's South Point 400.
Ryan Blaney no longer the NASCAR championship favorite
Blaney has dropped all the way down to sixth on the list at +850, though given the fact that he has won the round of 8 finale at Martinsville Speedway in each of the two most recent seasons, these odds may be viewed by some as too good to pass up, even though he now faces an uphill battle to advance. He is also notably a three-time winner at Talladega Superspeedway.
Hendrick Motorsports' Kyle Larson has been arguably the strongest driver since the start of the round of 12, posting no lower than a seventh place finish in four races, averaging a finish of 4.25, and recording back-to-back runner-up results. But the 2021 champion is the second-favorite, not the outright favorite, to win this year's title.
The new favorite? Joe Gibbs Racing's Denny Hamin, the sport's all-time winningest driver (60) among those who have never won a championship. Hamlin won Sunday's race at Las Vegas to become the first driver to punch his ticket to the Championship 4 this year, and it is set to mark his first Championship 4 appearance since 2021.
Three of the four and four of the seven most recent winners of the round of 8 opener have gone on to win the championship, and Hamlin is a two-time winner at Phoenix Raceway. He has also notably never before locked himself into the Championship 4 this early.
In fact, over the past 15 seasons, his Las Vegas win was only his third win in any one of any season's final four races, and it was only his second while still eligible for the title. The other one came in the round of 8 finale at Phoenix back in 2019, so perhaps the extra time to prepare will be exactly what he needs to return the title of "winningest non-champion in Cup Series history" back to the late, great Junior Johnson.
Hamlin is now listed at +270 to win the championship, ahead of Larson at +390.
Full NASCAR Cup Series championship odds can be found here and are always subject to change.
The YellaWood 500 is race number two on the round of 8 calendar, and it is scheduled to take place at Talladega Superspeedway this Sunday, October 19. NBC is set to provide live coverage beginning at 2:00 p.m. ET. If you have not yet begun a free trial of FuboTV, do so today and catch all of the upcoming NASCAR Cup Series playoff action!