NASCAR odds are unique when the Cup Series visits drafting tracks, like Sunday’s YellaWood 500 (2 p.m. ET, NBC) at Talladega Superspeedway.
Ryan Blaney is the race favorite at +1000 odds, which isn’t exactly a shock, but due to the unpredictability of superspeedway racing, the 10-1 price tag is much longer than where we see favorites priced at most other tracks.
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Still, I rarely take favorites at Talladega and typically opt to embrace the potential chaos with low-risk, high-upside sleepers.
However, that’s all changing today as my two NASCAR best bets for Talladega come right from the top of the odds board.
Let’s take a look.
NASCAR Odds, Best Bet Pick for Talladega
*Odds as of Sunday morning
Ryan Blaney (10-1) to Win — BetMGM
Team Penske always brings fast cars to superspeedways, and Blaney has made the most of them at this race track.
The driver of the No. 12 Ford has three career Cup Series wins at Talladega, and since NASCAR debuted the Next Gen car in 2022, you can make an argument Blaney has been the top performer at this track.
Over that span, Blaney has one win, the most top-three finishes (three) and is second in laps led (just behind Joey Logano).
Throw in the fact Blaney won the most recent superspeedway race in August at Daytona, and we have a driver very capable of scoring the win at very enticing 10-1 odds.
Joey Logano (11-1) to Win — BetMGM
Like teammate Blaney, Logano is always a factor at drafting tracks, and the numbers back that up once again this season.
Across five total races at Daytona, Atlanta and Talladega this year, Logano sports the best driver rating (by far), the top average running position, and has led the most laps (also by far).
And similar to Blaney, Logano has three career wins at Talladega, so he certainly knows how to find Victory Lane at this race track.
With both Team Penske drivers needing to run up front and potentially win to keep their championship hopes alive, it wouldn’t surprise me to see other fast Fords do all they can to help push and keep both Blaney and Logano at the front of today’s race.
Does it mean they’re guaranteed to win? Of course not.
However, at 10-1 and 11-1 odds, respectively, I’ll take chances on Blaney and Logano to maneuver their ways to the front of the field as the laps wind down at Talladega.
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