Frankly, I’m not sure if there’s an actual Kyle Larson Nation out there.
But if there is, the oddsmakers suggest its long national nightmare is almost over.
No, Kyle isn’t the odds-on favorite for Sunday at Kansas. Hard to elevate a guy to that top rung when he’s gone 32 races without a whiff of Victory Lane. But he’s second on the wagering pylon, and other than the fact he’s presumably still Kyle Larson, there’s good reason.
New Dale Earnhardt book coming out soon
Kyle’s last Cup win came at Kansas, last year when the AdventHealth 400 was still run in May. In fact, of the last four springtime races at the “other” Kansas City, Kyle has two wins and two runner-up finishes.
If you prefer recent trends, there’s this: Late pit strategy relegated Kyle to a third last week at Bristol, but before that, he’d led over half the laps.
And then there’s this: It’s Kyle Larson in a Hendrick Motorsports race car. This winless skid simply can’t last much longer.
NASCAR favorites at Kansas: Only minor gripes
+400: Denny Hamlin
+600: Kyle Larson
+650: Christopher Bell
+900: Tyler Reddick
+1000: Ryan Blaney
+1100: William Byron
+1200: Chase Briscoe
+1300: Chase Elliott
Bell has led laps in each of the previous eight Kansas races, and the only time he finished worse than eighth was when he was crashed three years ago. Chase Elliott won the Kansas race this past September, yet he’s still not the top Chase on our board.
Can Ty Gibbs make it two NASCAR wins in a row?
+1400: Ty Gibbs
+2000: Bubba Wallace
+2500: Carson Hocevar, Chris Buescher, Joey Logano
+3000: Brad Keselowski
+4000: Ross Chastain
+5000: Alex Bowman, Austin Cindric, Ryan Preece
Seems like Ty Gibbs should’ve been in that upper tier of favorites, right?
The weekly Kyle Busch search ends here
+6000: Corey Heim
+7500: Kyle Busch
+15000: Daniel Suarez, Josh Berry
+20000: Connor Zilisch, Erik Jones, Michael McDowell, Shane van Gisbergen, Zane Smith
+25000: AJ Allmendinger, Austin Dillon, John Hunter Nemechek
Corey Heim gets one of his occasional Cup starts for 23XI this week. He won twice at Kansas in a truck, but that’s hardly surprising since he wins everywhere in a truck.
Did Cody Ware trade his Chevy for a milk truck?
+50000: Noah Gragson, Ricky Stenhouse Jr., Riley Herbst, Todd Gilliland
+100000: Cole Custer, Ty Dillon
+250000: Cody Ware
Not sure what Cody Ware did to get dumped from that +100000 group.
— Email Ken Willis at ken.willis@news-jrnl.com
This article originally appeared on The Daytona Beach News-Journal: NASCAR betting odds: Will Kyle Larson’s winless skid end at Kansas?
Reporting by Ken Willis, Daytona Beach News-Journal / The Daytona Beach News-Journal
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
