It's amazing how much difference a week can make in the NASCAR Cup Series playoff standings.
Chase Elliott entered Las Vegas as the playoff leader and exited the South Point 400 in third behind race winner and overall leader Joey Logano and Ross Chastain, who finished in second.
Check out our Dixie Vodka 400 odds for October 23 to see where the remaining contenders — and those looking to play spoiler — stand as the Round of 8 continues.
Dixie Vodka 400 odds
| Driver | Odds to win |
|---|---|
| Tyler Reddick | +700 |
| Denny Hamlin | +800 |
| Ryan Blaney | +900 |
| Ross Chastain | +1,000 |
| Kyle Larson | +1,000 |
| Joey Logano | +1,000 |
| Chase Elliott | +1,000 |
| William Byron | +1,200 |
| Kyle Busch | +1,200 |
| Martin Truex Jr. | +1,200 |
| Christopher Bell | +1,200 |
| Kevin Harvick | +1,800 |
| Bubba Wallace | +2,000 |
| Chase Briscoe | +2,500 |
| Noah Gragson | +3,000 |
| Daniel Suarez | +3,000 |
| Austin Cindric | +4,000 |
| Michael McDowell | +5,000 |
| Erik Jones | +5,000 |
| A.J. Allmendinger | +5,000 |
Odds courtesy of DraftKings as of October 18, 2022.
Looking to bet on some NASCAR action? Here are two of the best bonuses* available:
A) New users at FanDuel can get a no-sweat first bet of up to $1,000! Sign Up Now
B) New users at DraftKings can bet $5 and get $200 in free bets! Sign Up Now
*Eligible USA locations only.
Dixie Vodka 400 pre-race favorites
Tyler Reddick (+700)
Reddick may be out of the running for a Cup Series title in 2022, but the 26-year-old is putting a nice bow on his third full season on the circuit. He's captured three victories this year — he had zero prior to 2022 — and has performed well at Homestead-Miami Speedway.
He was the runner-up to William Byron at the Dixie Vodka 400 in 2021 and narrowly missed the podium with a fourth-place result in 2020. Reddick isn't an overwhelming favorite, but his strong showings at this race in consecutive years are the reason for optimism.
That and the fact that he won at this track on the Xfinity Series circuit in 2018 and 2019 after finishing fourth in 2017. Reddick knows this course and has no trouble adapting from Xfinity to Cup Series.
Denny Hamlin (+800)
Hamlin survived Vegas to finish fifth and is fourth in the overall playoff standings. A win in the Dixie Vodka 400 would give him some breathing room entering the final race in the Round of 8 in the Xfinity 500 on October 30. Otherwise, he's a bubble candidate with the Cup Series Championship around the corner.
However, like, he has historically done well on this track. While the race has gone by multiple names since his debut in 2005 (Ford 400, Ford EcoBoost 400, Dixie Vodka 400), it has hardly seemed to matter. In 17 races, Hamlin has three wins at Homestead-Miami, with the most recent coming in 2020 as he led for a career-best 137 laps.
Hamlin has also recorded a Top-10 finish in eight other trips to this venue, so you could hedge at +230 for a podium or +100 for a Top-5 result.
Ryan Blaney (+900)
Blaney's inclusion as one of the favorites is somewhat surprising. While he absolutely needs a big race to stay alive in the Cup Series playoffs, he hasn't raced particularly well at Miami-Homestead. A third-place finish in 2020 seems like something of an outlier as he hasn't finished within the Top-10 in any of his other six attempts, finishing worse than 25th in three of those.
Still, despite not winning yet in 2022, Blaney is putting together a relatively consistent season with 10 Top-5 results and a handful of others in the Top 10. He has hit the skids at perhaps the worst time, however, finishing 26th and 28th in the last two races, respectively.
How to bet on NASCAR
The most popular way to bet on NASCAR is by simply picking the winner of a race, which is also referred to as an outright. There are plenty of other ways to wager, including betting on whether or not a driver will finish in the Top 3 or Top 10 of a race.
Another popular betting option is head-to-head matchup betting, where sportsbooks pair up two drivers and you choose who you think will finish better in the race, which is far easier than trying to select someone to win out of a field of approximately 40 drivers. For tips on NASCAR betting check out our How to Bet NASCAR page.
