Online NASCAR Betting
Back in the sixties and seventies, NASCAR used to be a cult sport that was truly appreciated almost exclusively by American racing enthusiasts. However, the situation has changed since then, as over the past few years NASCAR became one of the fastest growing spectator sports in the entire world. With more than 75 million fans watching the show on TV in over 150 countries, it was simply impossible for NASCAR to avoid the attention of online sports betting sites. As a result, NASCAR fans who’d like to start betting on their favorite sport have plenty of reliable bookmakers to pick from, which allows them to get some of the best bonuses and odds available anywhere on the web right now.
Best Sites to Bet on NASCAR Online
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Ways to Bet on Stock Car Races Online
While there are many types of NASCAR bets, most handicappers prefer to wager whether a particular driver will win the race or place in the top 3 and whether a particular driver manages to place higher than one of his rivals. Consequently, betting on NASCAR is very easy and intuitive – if you’re capable of reading the current trends and predicting how the races will go, you’ll be able to start earning money pretty much as soon as you learn how each of those popular bet types works. Even better, once you feel comfortable with the basics, you’ll be able to take advantage of a number of additional betting opportunities, such as NASCAR futures or a wide selection of interesting prop bets.
Outright NASCAR Betting
Outright betting in NASCAR is very similar to betting the money line in basketball or soccer – your job is to simply pick which driver will win the race. Quite obviously, this is easier said than done, as the number of people taking part in each race can be fairly high. Consequently, outright bets in NASCAR tend to pay higher than in the other sports, but the principle remains the same: you have to risk $100 in order to have a shot at winning the amount listed on the site. Let’s take a look at the following example:
Johnny Sauter +700
Timothy Peters +800
Jeb Burton +5000
Matt Crafton +1100
Ron Hornaday +2000
In this case, wagering on Sauter allows you to win $700 for every $100 you put at risk, while wagering on Burton gives you a shot at claiming $5000 for the same price. Quite obviously, the lower the odds, the lower the chance that a particular driver will win the race. Many handicappers prefer to bet on more than one driver, usually mixing the favorites and the underdogs. That way they improve their chances of receiving a small payout while aiming for the big win in case of an unexpected outcome of the race.
Betting to Finish Top 3
Placing a wager of this type requires you to guess whether a particular driver will place in the top 3 during the race. The odds offered on top 3 bets are significantly lower, as making this kind of prediction is significantly easier than picking the outright winner. For example, top 3 odds for the race we’ve used as an example above could be very similar to this:
Johnny Sauter +200
Timothy Peters +250
Jeb Burton +1500
Matt Crafton +300
Ron Hornaday +350
It’s also worth pointing out that there are many sites that will allow you to wager whether a particular driver will manage to make it to the top 5 or not. As you’ve probably already guessed, the odds for top 5 bets are even lower than in the case of top 3 bets – a +200 line could be worth about $120 when wagering $100, while a +1500 line would probably offer a $900 return on your investment.
Match-up Betting
The third most popular type of wager allows you to put your money on the outcome of a specific head-to-head match-up between two drivers. In this scenario, the bettor doesn’t care what place the driver he picked actually takes as long as he finishes the race faster than his rival. Unlike in the case of outright bets and top 3 bets, placing a match-up wager requires you to pick between a negative and a positive line. A positive line requires you to risk $100 in order to win the amount of money listed on the site, while a negative line requires you to pay a pre-determined amount of money to have a chance of winning $100. For example:
Johnny Sauter +120
Timothy Peters -130
In this case, you have to bet $130 on Peter to win $100. On the other hand, if you wager $100 on Sauter, your payout will total $120 as long as he manages to finish the race before Peters.
Futures Betting
Betting on NASCAR futures usually involves predicting which driver will win the Sprint Cup for the upcoming year. Quite obviously, bets of this type involve a lot of risk and freeze your money for quite a long time. Consequently, it is very uncommon for bettors to wager a large part of their bankroll on NASCAR futures even if they’re fairly sure that the driver their picked will win. On the flip side, the potential returns on your investment are significantly higher than in the case of picking the outright winner of any single race. Furthermore, you have to keep in mind that while you aren’t required to place a bet of this kind before the first race starts, the odds will get significantly worse as the season goes on.
Proposition Bets
Proposition bets or simply prop bets are wagers that don’t really fall into any of the categories listed above and can range from trying to guess which manufacturer will provide the car that wins the race to wagering whether a particular driver will place higher than a group of his rivals. The specifics tend to differ from site to site, so if you like to spice up your betting experience with an exotic wager or two, you should definitely keep an eye out for sites that offer the best selection of props.