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NASCAR Betting Tips - The Basics of NASCAR Handicapping
NASCAR is one of most underrated betting opportunities in all of sports. It is unique in that all of the information needed to make an informed bet is readily available. We hope to take some of the mystery out of this great sport (yes, sport).
Las Vegas and NASCAR
As popular as NASCAR racing has become around the country, Las Vegas has been slow to embrace the sport. Las Vegas sports books offer NASCAR, but more as a service to their customers than as a solid moneymaker. Remember, football and basketball are the kings of the sports betting world. The end result is that Las Vegas odds makers do not put much time into making their NASCAR betting lines. Less time means more chances for mistakes. That benefits you!
Types of NASCAR Bets:
- Race winner - The most popular type of NASCAR bet is to choose the race winner. These bets are presented in the same manner as futures bets for the more traditional sports, where you get odds for each driver to win the race.
- Match ups - These are also known as head-to-head match ups. Here, the linesmaker matches up two drivers against each other. You choose which one you think will finish higher in the race. These are money line bets, rather than point spread or futures bets.
- Top five - You don't have to bet a driver to win. The top five bet is just what the name implies; you choose a driver to finish in the top five. It's similar to making a place or show bet in horse racing.
The Basics of NASCAR Handicapping:
The key elements of NASCAR handicapping are past performance on this week's track, current performance this year, practice session performance, and the driver performs on similar tracks.
Past performance on this week's track is similar to the horses-for-courses angle in horse racing. The Internet is full of sites where you can find finish information for past races. We like racingone.com (www.racingone.com) for our statistical needs. They have a section that shows the average finish position for all drivers in their last ten races at all NASCAR tracks.
Keep in mind that when we refer to drivers, we really mean "team." NASCAR drivers, while highly skilled, are only as good as their team. The margin for error is very small in racing. Teams that are in good form have consistently high finishes, while teams in poor form can struggle for weeks at a time.
Current form applies to the trend of drivers/teams over the past several weeks. You may want to track teams by their finish position over the past several weeks. Some NASCAR handicappers even use their own custom statistics. This isn't necessary, but you must know what drivers are in positive and negative trends.
NASCAR teams are in a constant fine tuning process. This means regular practice and testing of their cars. You can find practice and testing times for all drivers at jayski.com (www.jayski.com). Use this information to gauge how well prepared a team is for race day. Teams that practice and test well generally perform well on race day.
I liken the testing and practice runs as the equivalent of a golfer who plays practice rounds before a PGA tour event. Players and their caddies (golfers have teams too) make notes about the course to help them during the tournament. Race teams take the same approach when studying a race track for, as we will see in the next section, not all NASCAR tracks are the same.
To be successful at NASCAR wagering, it is very important to know which drivers fare better or worse on particular types of tracks. Before you can research this, however, you must first know the different NASCAR tracks.
Types of NASCAR tracks:
- Super Speedways - These are also known as restrictor plate tracks. Speed is restricted and all cars are set to go the same speed. These tracks include Daytona and Talledega. NASCAR fans can tell you that Michael Waltrip and Dale Earnhardt, Jr. excel on this type of track.
- Road Races - These tracks feature several turns rather than the standard oval shape. These races feature, in addition to the standard stable of drivers, Road Race specialists who focus on just these races. Jeff Gordon is well-known as a great road racer. Some of the lesser-known specialists include Boris Said, Ron Fellows and Scott Pruett.
- Short Tracks - These are small oval tracks. Examples include Bristol and Martinsville. There are many solid short track drivers. Rusty Wallace and Mark Martin are two well-known drivers who are successful on the short track.
- Intermediate Tracks - This is the most common type of NASCAR event. Intermediates are any track that is not a Super Speedway, Road Race or Short Track. Some of the younger, less experienced drivers have been successful on the intermediate tracks. Kasey Kahne, Ryan Newman and Jimmie Johnson are a few of the more well-known among this group of drivers.
NASCAR is a long season where trends change. Use the above information and a sound money management plan and start on your way to NASCAR betting profits. As always, think long-term profit and strive to make excellent value bets.
NASCAR Betting Resourses
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