Shane van Gisbergen favored to win the Chicago Street Race?
Sure, sounds reasonable, given his history with road-racin’. And given that he won the Cup Series’ most recent road race, a few weeks back in Mexico City.
But THIS MUCH of a favorite? It seems the wagering public is a little too in love with SVG’s chances.
Granted, he might win by 10 seconds Sunday. No one would be shocked. But let’s repeat, for the umpteenth time, a time-honored truth: There’s a lot more that can go wrong than can go right.
Example? How about SVG’s Chicago run last year. It lasted less than a third of the prescribed laps. His left-rear was barely clipped by a skidding Chase Briscoe and his car ended up in a barrier and done for the day.
So, not his fault, but basically proves the point. A lot can go wrong.
SVG laps the NASCAR field in Chicago betting odds
+180: Shane van Gisbergen
+700: Christopher Bell
+750: Kyle Larson
+1100: Ty Gibbs, Tyler Reddick
+1200: Chase Elliott
+1300: William Byron
Reminder, that +180 means you’d net $180 if you bet $100 on SVG to win (and if he wins, of course). Doing that math, that means a $10 bet nets you just $8. These are Tigers Woods odds at Bay Hill during his peak decade. Frankly, I’m more bullish on Chase Elliott here, now that he’s gotten the smell of victory back on his firesuit.
Who is Will Brown and why is he way up here?
+2000: Will Brown, Alex Bowman, Chris Buescher, AJ Allmendinger
+2250: Michael McDowell
+2500: Ross Chastain, Chase Briscoe
+3000: Kyle Busch, Daniel Suarez
Downplay Will Brown’s chances if you wish. He’s the reigning Aussie Supercars champ, making his second-ever NASCAR start this weekend, driving for Kaulig Racing. Last year, with RCR, he was third-fastest in Sonoma practice before throttle and electrical issues ruined his weekend. SVG was a visiting Supercars racer two years ago when he introduced himself in Chicago.
Ryan Blaney, Carson Hocevar paired on Chicago odds board
+4000: Carson Hocevar, Ryan Blaney
+5000: Denny Hamlin, Austin Cindric
+7500: Joey Logano, Ryan Preece
+10000: Corey Heim
+15000: Brad Keselowski, Zane Smith, Bubba Wallace, John Hunter Nemechek, Cole Custer, Todd Gilliland, Justin Haley
This is pretty deep on the board for Blaney, you might think. You might be wrong. He won on Charlotte’s Roval in 2018, but in his other 37 career road races, he’s been mediocre to poor.
Two Daytona 500 winners among Chicago longshots
+20000: Austin Dillon, Ricky Stenhouse Jr., Erik Jones
+25000: Austin Hill, Josh Berry, Noah Gragson
+50000: Riley Herbst, Ty Dillon
+100000: Katherine Legge, Cody Ware, Josh Bilicki
The first three names in this group are Cup Series race winners. But study their career road-racing records, and you’ll see why they’re down here.
— Email Ken Willis at ken.willis@news-jrnl.com
This article originally appeared on The Daytona Beach News-Journal: NASCAR betting for Chicago Street Race: Odds for this guy look ridiculous
Reporting by Ken Willis, Daytona Beach News-Journal / The Daytona Beach News-Journal
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
