NASCAR: New Daytona 500 favorite emerges after Sunday's postponement

Rain did not allow the 2024 NASCAR Cup Series season to get underway on Sunday afternoon as scheduled, as the 66th annual Daytona 500 had to be postponed until Monday afternoon.

The 200-lap race around the four-turn, 2.5-mile (4.023-kilometer) high-banked Daytona International Speedway oval is now scheduled to get underway at 4:00 p.m. ET this afternoon. According to The Weather Channel, the forecast looks far more promising for Daytona Beach, Florida at this time, with just a 15% chance of precipitation.

Team Penske's Joey Logano, who took the pole position for the race in Wednesday night's qualifying session, entered Sunday as the favorite to win the Daytona 500 at FanDuel Sportsbook.

But FanDuel, which is giving fans an added bonus $150 for placing a winning $5 bet (effectively a +3000 odds boost), has now listed a new favorite to win this year's running of the "Great American Race".

That driver is three-time Daytona 500 winner Denny Hamlin. The Joe Gibbs Racing driver is listed at +850, slightly ahead of Logano at +900.

Denny Hamlin the new Daytona 500 favorite

Hamlin is the fourth different driver to be the outright Daytona 500 favorite in the last week. Team Penske's Ryan Blaney entered race week as the favorite, but that title shifted to Richard Childress Racing's Kyle Busch following Wednesday night's qualifying session.

After both Blaney and Busch crashed out of their Bluegreen Vacations Duel race on Thursday night, thus relegating them to the 32nd and 34th place starting positions, respectively, Logano became the favorite. While Logano's odds have remained the same, that title now belongs to Hamlin.

The driver of the No. 11 Toyota won the Daytona 500 in 2016, 2019, and most recently in 2020, when the race was also contested on Monday (though it was able to begin on Sunday).

Last year's Daytona 500 winner, JTG Daugherty Racing's Ricky Stenhouse Jr., is listed at +2800. He won the race from 31st place last year and is set to start in 35th this year.

Tune into Fox at 4:00 p.m. ET this afternoon for the live broadcast of the 66th annual Daytona 500 from Daytona International Speedway. Begin a free trial of FuboTV now and don't miss it!