The 67th annual Daytona 500 is scheduled to get the 2025 NASCAR Cup Series season underway at Daytona International Speedway this Sunday afternoon.
The 200-lap race around the four-turn, 2.5-mile (4.023-kilometer) high-banked Daytona Beach, Florida oval is the first of 26 races on the regular season schedule, and a victory for a full-time driver would effectively lock them into the four-round, 10-race postseason with 25 races to spare.
But as we see time and time again, the championship comes down to who performs best when the autumn months roll around. No Daytona 500 winner has gone on to win the championship since Jimmie Johnson did it in 2013.
Who are the favorites to capture this year's title? Here are the top five.
All odds are provided by FanDuel Sportsbook.
1. Kyle Larson, Hendrick Motorsports: +500
Kyle Larson missed a race last year, yet he still led the series in total points scored and wins. So naturally he missed the Championship 4, right? Such is the modern playoff format.
But there is no disputing the fact that the 2021 champion is capable of getting the job done both throughout the season and during the playoffs. He is widely considered the most talented driver in the field, and as long as he executes, he should at least be back in the Championship 4.
2. Christopher Bell, Joe Gibbs Racing: +600
Christopher Bell was pretty much the second best driver behind Larson for much of the 2024 season, and he too missed the Championship 4, albeit on a controversial penalty issued to him after the round of 8 had seemingly ended.
Bell had been the only driver to make it to back-to-back Championship 4s head into 2024, and 2024 turned out to be his best overall season yet, despite his round of 8 elimination. Anything less than a Championship 4 appearance this year would be a huge disappointment.
T-3. William Byron, Hendrick Motorsports: +750
It's kind of hard to believe that it's almost been a year since William Byron most recently visited victory lane, since thanks to Bell's penalty, he still managed to make it to the Championship 4 for the second year in a row, something only one other driver did.
The reigning Daytona 500 winner will be looking to bounce back after a relatively pedestrian second half of 2024, but after having consecutive championship chances in race number 36, he knows that the postseason is when it really starts to count.
T-3. Ryan Blaney, Team Penske: +750
Ryan Blaney, the other driver who hasn't missed the Championship 4 since 2022, nearly became the first back-to-back champion since Jimmie Johnson won five straight titles from 2006 to 2010. He finished in second place behind teammate Joey Logano, who, for whatever reason, is basically a Championship 4 lock (six for six) in even-numbered years.
Blaney isn't the most dominant regular season driver, but he knows how to get the job done in the playoffs. The 2023 champion is very Logano-esque in that way, but in odd-numbered years as well.
5. Denny Hamlin, Joe Gibbs Racing: +850
The winningest non-champion in NASCAR Cup Series history is aiming to shed that title yet again in 2025. He came just a few miles away from clinching his first Championship 4 berth since 2021 last year at Homestead-Miami Speedway, but it was simply not meant to be for Denny Hamlin.
His late-season penalty for a race that he had won five months prior certainly didn't help his momentum heading into the playoffs, and one would have to think that that bizarre situation was a one-off. But he too enters 2025 on a relatively lengthy win drought, having not won a race since April.
Full odds can be found here.
Tune in to Fox at 1:30 p.m. ET (note the late schedule change) this Sunday, February 16 for the live broadcast of the 67th annual Daytona 500 from Daytona International Speedway. If you have not yet begun a free trial of FuboTV, do so now and don't miss it!