NASCAR championship odds: Can Ryan Blaney protect his Cup Sequence title in 2024?

Defending Cup Sequence champion Ryan Blaney doesn’t uncover himself atop the checklist of favorites to bewitch the 2024 title.

Blaney gained final yr’s Cup Sequence title after he executed in second within the winner-ranking-all season finale at Phoenix. Blaney beat Kyle Larson and William Byron to the manufacture line — Christopher Bell had a brake failure early within the flee — as he grew to became the principle driver to bewitch a Cup Sequence title with out a success the final flee since NASCAR went to its winner-ranking-all season finale playoff format in 2014.

The 2023 season wasn’t Blaney’s simplest statistical performance. He tied a career-excessive with three wins but had excellent eight top-5 finishes and 18 top 10s. His moderate manufacture of 14.1 modified into once worse than his moderate manufacture in each of the past four seasons.

But Blaney modified into once gargantuan when it mattered the most. He gained two playoff races and executed within the head six in 5 of the final six races while ending 12th within the opposite.

This season, Blaney finds himself within the lend a hand of 5 drivers among BetMGM’s title odds and that neighborhood of 5 entails both Larson and Byron. Right here’s a test out at how the percentages stack up ahead of Sunday’s season-opening Daytona 500.

The contenders

• Kyle Larson (+525)

• William Byron (+625)

• Denny Hamlin (+800)

• Streak Elliott (+800)

• Martin Truex Jr. (+900)

It’s no longer hard to command how Larson is the preseason well-liked. The 2021 Cup Sequence champion gained four races in 2022 and has been the fastest driver within the Cup Sequence all around the final three seasons. It’ll be a surprise if Larson isn’t racing for the championship for the third time in four seasons.

Larson’s Hendrick Motorsports teammate Byron led the Cup Sequence with six wins in 2023 and had 21 top-10 finishes. He modified into once the absolute best driver to fabricate within the head 10 extra than 19 times. He and Larson had been the absolute best drivers to lead over 1,000 laps in 2023.

Hamlin is tranquil trying for his first Cup Sequence title as he appears to shed the imprint of the most performed Cup Sequence driver ever with out a title. He desires to be within the thick of the playoff mix all but again.

Elliott is asking for a leap lend a hand season after missing seven races because of the a damaged leg. Elliott can also absorb made the playoffs no topic that lengthy absence, but he never purchased a bewitch to originate a playoff grunt. Elliott had excellent seven top-5 finishes a season ago.

Truex is additionally hoping for a rebound after the kind his season cratered within the playoffs. He scored the most points of any driver all around the usual season but executed 17th or worse in each of the principle 5 playoff races. After 15 top-10 finishes within the principle 26 races, Truex had excellent two over the final 10 races of the season.

The second tier

• Ryan Blaney (+1100)

• Christopher Bell (+1100)

• Joey Logano (+1100)

• Kyle Busch (+1400)

• Brad Keselowski (+1400)

Blaney has the an analogous odds as Bell and his Team Penske teammate Logano. Bell modified into once tied for second with 19 top 10s in 2023 and ended up because the second-fastest Joe Gibbs Racing driver by the head of the season. Logano, the 2022 Cup Sequence champion, gained excellent once in 2023 and led most attention-grabbing 308 laps.

Busch’s first season at Richard Childress Racing started strongly and ended poorly. Busch gained three times within the principle 15 races but never essentially rebounded after a summer walk. Keselowski modified into once eighth within the standings in 2023 after a dejected first season at Roush Fenway Keselowski Racing. He enters 2024 on a two-yr winless proceed that spans 98 races.

Dark horses?

• Tyler Reddick (+1600)

• Ross Chastain (+1600)

• Chris Buescher (+2000)

• Ty Gibbs (+2500)

Reddick modified into once sixth in 2023 and had a mumble-or-bust season. He had 10 top-5 finishes. And 9 finishes outside the head 25. Some consistency can also proceed a super distance. Chastain modified into once the motive force who beat Blaney to the manufacture line in Phoenix a yr ago and has gained twice in each of his first two seasons with Trackhouse Racing.

Buescher ripped off three wins in August to beget the playoffs in a hot proceed that magnified excellent how consistent he modified into once all season long. Byron (11.0) modified into once the absolute best driver with a manufacture higher than Buescher’s 12.1 over the course of the season.

Gibbs enters his second yr within the Cup Sequence and scored all four of his top-5 finishes within the final 16 races. He can also beget a gargantuan leap in 2024.

Long shots

• Alex Bowman (+3500)

• Bubba Wallace (+4000)

• Josh Berry (+6000)

• Daniel Suarez (+8000)

Bowman overlooked three races in 2023 because of the a lend a hand peril. And, take care of Elliott, he additionally struggled to envision the plod of his teammates Larson and Byron. Bowman had excellent four top fives and 10 top-10 finishes.

Wallace modified into once winless in 2023 after getting a bewitch in each of the earlier two seasons. But he made the playoffs for the principle time and executed 10th. Can he salvage to the third round of the playoffs in 2024?

Berry is in his first full Cup Sequence season and locations Kevin Harvick within the No. 4 vehicle at Stewart-Haas Racing. Except SHR has upped its sport enormously from 2023, Berry gained’t be a title chance.

Suarez made the playoffs in 2022 with a bewitch at Sonoma but posted excellent three top fives in 2023 and executed 19th within the standings.

All people else

• Streak Briscoe (+10000)

• Noah Gragson (+10000)

• John Hunter Nemechek (+12500)

• Erik Jones (+12500)

• Michael McDowell (+20000)

• Ricky Stenhouse Jr. (+20000)

• Austin Dillon (+20000)

• Austin Cindric (+20000)

• Ryan Preece (+20000)

• Daniel Hemric (+25000)

• Carson Hocevar (+25000)

• Zane Smith (+25000)

• Justin Haley (+30000)

• Harrison Burton (+50000)

• Corey LaJoie (+50000)

• Todd Gilliland (+50000)