Harry Gagnon’s NASCAR Odds Primer for 2020
The end of the 2019 season could not have been much closer as Kyle Busch (5040 points) captured his 2nd title and held off seven-time winner, Martin Truex Jr. (5035) by five points and Kevin Harvick by seven. 2019 was the third straight season Kevin Harvick finished the season in 3rd position.
It was a season that Toyota and Ford couldn’t complain about as they featured seven of the top nine racers. As we enter the 2020 season there are many possibilities for drivers to move up the ranks if they can just work the tracks they specialize in.
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2020 NASCAR Championship Odds
Kyle Busch—Busch comes into this season hungry and is looking for his third championship in six seasons. Busch has 56 cup wins and is second in wins among active drivers behind only Jimmy
Johnson (83 career wins) who is retiring after this season.
Denny Hamlin—The defending Daytona 500 winner turns 40 this year and absolutely has his sights set for a championship and is hoping for not yet another second-place finish.
Kevin Harvick—Harvick had another solid season with 15 top 5’s and six poles. He also had his second highest starting average of his career at 8.5, which is promising for his 2020 season. However, at 44 years old and 49 career wins, how many more years will Harvick keep attempting to win his second Cup Championship?
Joey Logano—Logano enters his 8th season with Team Penske. The Daytona 500 will mark his 400th career start and Logano will be the youngest ever (29 years old) driver to make that many starts in NASCAR history.
Kyle Larson—The 42 car had a strong Daytona 500 last year, finishing seventh after starting in 26th. Larson has an opportunity to do special things this year as long as he continues to finish well in his preferred tracks. While he might not be the best pick for the Daytona 500, he dominated in Delaware last year, grabbing a win and a third place finish at Dover in the two races.
Martin Truex Jr.—What a season it was for Joe Gibbs’ most consistent driver, Martin Truex Jr. last season; despite having zero poles, he still won seven races and had an astonishing 24 Top 10’s. Truex Jr. is primed to have one of the greatest NASCAR seasons ever and knock Kyle Busch from the top spot in racing.
Chase Elliott—Elliott had three wins and finished 10th overall in 2019. Many people are expecting big things from him, but he needs to work on his oval game and not just dominate road courses. No one is better than Elliot at Watkins Glen (which he won the last two years) and I expect him to make a serious run at Daytona.
Ryan Blaney—Blaney is a guy who should also improve his stats from a season ago where he finished 7th overall and had 11 Top 5’s.
Brad Keselowski—Keselowski is looking for a shakeup this season as evidenced by hiring Ryan Blaney’s former crew chief, Jeremy Bullins. Keselowski and Bullins have to make sure if they want to compete for the Cup, they have to figure out a way to perform well at flat tracks. Keselowski has a first and a second-place finish in two of the last three years at Indy. And at Pocono, he has finished in the Top 8 in eight of the last nine years.
Clint Bowyer—Bowyer had 18 Top 10’s, but he needs to improve more overall, and not just rely on his expertise on short track where he has four straight Top 10s at Richmond.
Kurt Busch—Busch finished 13th last season and is another racer who is looking to improve on flat tracks. Last year was no surprise as he continued his solid form on road courses and short tracks.
Jimmy Johnson—The 7-time champion is retiring after this season and it will be must see TV when he makes his farewell tour from track to track. Johnson will go down as one of racings all-time greats. Like any All-Time great, he might have one more run left in him this season, so it’s worth thinking about taking a flyer on the champ.
Alex Bowman—If you are looking for a more out of the box type pick, look no further than Alex Bowman who many figure will disrupt some people when it comes to the intermediate courses. All it takes is one one in the season to get a guy feeling good behind the wheel, and Bowman is a guy many think is due for big things.
Harry’s NASCAR Championship Odds Top 10 Prediction
This season will be action packed with different names challenging Kyle Busch for the Cup. Speaking of different things, NASCAR will have its first ever night race at Martinsville on May 9. I think one of the things to look out for this season is Chase Elliott; many people are sleeping on Elliot and I think he will make serious strides in challenging for the Cup. With that being said, here are my predictions for the 2020 season which kicks off on February 16 in Daytona.
Harry’s Top 10 Finishers in the 2020 NASCAR Cup Series Standings:
10-Kurt Busch
9-Ryan Blaney
8-Clint Bowyer
7-Kyle Busch
6-Brad Keselowski
5-Kevin Harvick
4-Denny Hamlin
3-Joey Logano
2-Chase Elliott
1-Martin Truex Jr….Truex was so close last season… this year… he gets it done.
Harry Gagnon spent 14 years as a Vegas Sportsbook Supervisor and holds a Communications degree from SUNY-Oswego. You might know him better as part of the Degenerate Trifecta on the award nominated betting podcast “Against All odds with Cousin Sal” on the Ringer Podcast Network. Feel free to find him on Twitter (@AAOHarry) and tweet him a message if you want to talk casinos, sports, or just shoot the breeze about betting in general cause, hey, that’s what Twitter is for, right?
