The NASCAR Cup Series odds rolls out a pair of appetizers for Sunday's Daytona 500 tonight as the Duels at Daytona are set for Thursday, February 13.
We break down the odds for each field below while giving you your best free betting picks for these qualifying events.
Odds to win 2025 Duels at Daytona (Duel 1)
| Driver |  |
|---|---|
| Kyle Busch | +550 |
| Chase Elliott | +700 |
| William Byron | +850 |
| Justin Haley | +1000 |
| Bubba Wallace | +1000 |
| Chase Briscoe | +1100 |
| Michael McDowell | +1500 |
| Tyler Reddick | +1600 |
| Ryan Preece | +1600 |
| Ty Gibbs | +1600 |
Odds as of 2-13.
Odds to win 2025 Duels at Daytona (Duel 2)
| Driver | |
|---|---|
| Ryan Blaney | +650 |
| Joey Logano | +650 |
| Denny Hamlin | +700 |
| Brad Keselowski | +700 |
| Christopher Bell | +750 |
| Austin Cindric | +750 |
| Kyle Larson | +900 |
| Alex Bowman | +900 |
| Todd Gilliland | +1000 |
| Chris Buescher | +1100 |
Odds as of 2-13.
Duels at Daytona expert picks and predictions
Odds listed below courtesy of DraftKings.
Duels at Daytona favorites
DUEL 1
Chase Elliott (+750)
Chase Elliott has two Duel wins and a runner-up finish last year contributing to eight Top-8 finishes in his last nine tries. He has plenty of Chevrolet drafting help in this Duel.
Bubba Wallace (+1000)
He finished seventh in 2022 and 2023 and 11th last year. He has Reddick to draft with in his Duel tonight.
Justin Haley (+1000)
Spire Motorsports finished fourth and sixth in the two Duels last year and Corey LaJoie was fifth in 2023. Justin Haley, who is back with Spire this season, is a strong superspeedway racer, too.
DUEL 2
Ryan Blaney (+650)
He won a Duel in 2018 and has scored seven Top-6 results in 10 Duels starts including a third-place finish in 2022 and 2023. With all three Team Penske drivers (Blaney, Joey Logano, Austin Cindric) in this Duel, watch out.
Joey Logano (+650)
Since 2017, Joey Logano has three Duels victories and other finishes of ninth, second, fourth, ninth and seventh, respectively.
Brad Keselowski (+700)
He has just five Top-10 finishes in his last 11 Duels, however, four of those five have occurred in the last five years. That includes a win in 2022, a third place run in 2023, and seventh last year. There are plenty of blue ovals in this Duel to draft with.
Duels at Daytona sleepers
DUEL 1
Ryan Preece (+1600)
Just a few years ago, RFK Racing swept the Duel races. Ryan Preece is a strong superspeedway racer and starts on the front row in his first race for RFK Racing.
Tyler Reddick (+1600)
He won last year’s first Duel and finished eighth in 2022. Tyler Reddick has teammate Bubba Wallace to draft with tonight.
Austin Dillon (+2200)
Not the best Duel finishes lately (18th, 13th, 18th), however, Austin Dillon has plenty of bowties (13 in total) around him to draft with. He starts fourth.
Zane Smith (+3500)
He has won two NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series races at Daytona and finished sixth in last year’s Duel.
DUEL 2
Kyle Larson (+900)
He’s never won a superspeedway race but does have nine Top-9 finishes in his last 11 Duel tries. He finished ninth last year and sixth the year prior. The Fords will line up to draft together, but Kyle Larson and teammate Alex Bowman will stick to each other’s bumpers in an effort to steal a victory away.
Alex Bowman (+900)
Due to his six consecutive front row starting spots for the Daytona 500, Alex Bowman raced the Duels conservatively. Last year, he didn’t have a front row guarantee, so he raced and finished third.
Duels at Daytona fades
DUEL 1
Chase Briscoe (+1100)
The Daytona 500 pole winner will likely pull the parachute and get out of the draft to ensure he starts on the top spot Sunday.
Ross Chastain (+1200)
He’s struggled in this race. In three tries with Trackhouse, Ross Chastain has finished 10th, 11th, and 11th, respectively.
DUEL 2
Austin Cindric (+750)
His last three Duels finishes are first, second, and second, respectively. However, Austin Cindric earned a front row starting spot in qualifying. Likely wanting to save his car for the Daytona 500, look for Cindric to get out of the draft to salvage his starting position on Sunday.
Duels Prop Bet: Christopher Bell Top 3 Finish
Christopher Bell's last four Duel finishes have been second, fifth, second, and first, respectively. He has some drafting help this Duel but there are plenty of Fords to push each other to a win. That’s why I think the safe play here is for Bell to finish in the Top-3 over an outright win.
Pick: Christopher Bell Top 3 Finish (+220 at DraftKings)
Popular motor sports futures odds
Daytona International Speedway track analysis
Why this is nothing like the Daytona 500
Daytona International Speedway is a fast 2.5-mile high-banked superspeedway that differs from all but two other tracks on the schedule — Talladega and Atlanta. These three tracks produce six of the 36 points-paying races over the course of a season and look entirely different than the other 32 events.
That’s because they use a tapered spacer on the engines to restrict speeds and by the design of the aerodynamic package used on these two tracks, it forms a pack to race in.
Basically, these cars are flat-out pedal to the metal without using the brake, and all are pretty much going the same speed. Drafting is key here, and that on its own is an art itself.
However, the Duels are entirely different from the Daytona 500 in the sense that there’s half the field in each race. The energy levels built up inside of the draft are less since there are fewer cars.
These speedway races nowadays are manufacturer-dependent, with Fords working with Fords, Chevys with Chevys, and so on. The Duels are different because you may not have many drafting partners compared to having a full complement of them on Sunday.
Also, 38 drivers already know that they’ll race on Sunday, so they don’t want to tear up their equipment, especially the pole-winners.
Drivers also tend to take care of each other more on Thursday night compared to Sunday and the fact that the pair of Thursday night races are 140 laps shorter than Sunday’s Great American Race, leads to a different style and length.
That’s led to quick races. 17 of the last 18 Duels have run to completion in less than one hour. The longest Duel since 2009 lasted 85 minutes. As a result of that, track position is key. Tires aren’t a factor since the races are at night, which means pit stops aren’t an issue so long as no one is speeding.
That’s why these races will look aesthetically similar in nature to the Daytona 500 but are also mostly tamer in nature too.
Duels at Daytona trends
- The last Duel winner to win the Daytona 500 was Matt Kenseth in 2012. He’s the only one to do so in the last 19 years.
- Blue ovals are the favorites: Last year, there were only four Ford drivers in the first Duel and one was the pole sitter who tried to get away from chaos. That contributed to just two laps led in 60 laps. The year previous, Fords went 1-3-4-5-6-8-9 in Duel 1 (led 26 of 60 laps) and 1-2-3-4 in Duel 1 in 2022. For the second Duel, Ford’s went 2-5-7-9-10 and led 25 of 60 laps. The Fords went 1-2-4-7 in 2023 (led 50 of 60 laps) and 1-2-3 in 2022. They’ve led a combined 50.8% (183-for-360) laps led the last three years and taken 16 of the 30 potential Top 5 finishing positions.
Previous Duels at Daytona winners
| Year | Duel 1 Winner | Duel 2 Winner |
| 2024 | Tyler Reddick | Christopher Bell |
| 2023 | Joey Logano | Aric Almirola |
| 2022 | Brad Keselowski | Chris Buescher |
| 2021 | Aric Almirola | Austin Dillon |
| 2020 | Joey Logano | William Byron |
| 2019 | Kevin Harvick | Joey Logano |
| 2018 | Ryan Blaney | Chase Elliott |
| 2017 | Chase Elliott | Denny Hamlin |
| 2016 | Dale Earnhardt Jr. | Kyle Busch |
| 2015 | Dale Earnhardt Jr. | Jimmie Johnson |
How to make Duels at Daytona picks
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