Get ready to place your 2022 online NASCAR bets. The new season begins on Sunday, February 6, with the Busch Light Clash at The Coliseum in Los Angeles, California. And while there will be plenty of wagers to place throughout the course of a jam-packed schedule in the coming months, there's no better time to tackle 2022 NASCAR Futures and the big-picture questions that come with them.
The most pressing question, of course, is whether Kyle Larson will repeat as the NASCAR Cup Series champion in 2022. He earned top billing by the end of 2021 with a dominant regular season and riveting NASCAR playoffs performance and should be considered a threat to win it all again. But his repeat bid will not go uncontested. So many talented drivers are at the top of the odds ladder.
With this in mind, here are the latest 2022 NASCAR betting odds to win the championship:
| Driver |  |  |  |
|---|---|---|---|
| Kyle Larson | +350 | +300 | +350 |
| Chase Elliott | +550 | +500 | +500 |
| Denny Hamlin | +650 | +600 | +750 |
| William Byron | +800 | +800 | +1000 |
| Kyle Busch | +1000 | +1000 | +1000 |
| Martin Truex Jr. | +1000 | +1000 | +1000 |
| Joey Logano | +1000 | +1000 | +1000 |
| Ryan Blaney | +1200 | +1200 | +1500 |
| Kevin Harvick | +1200 | +1200 | +1500 |
| Alex Bowman | +1800 | +2000 | +2000 |
| Christopher Bell | +2000 | +2000 | +2000 |
| Brad Keselowski | +2000 | +2000 | +2000 |
| Kurt Busch | +2200 | +2500 | +2500 |
| Tyler Reddick | +2800 | +3000 | +2500 |
| Austin Cindric | +8000 | +8000 | +10000 |
| Ross Chastain | +8000 | +8000 | +10000 |
| Chase Briscoe | +8000 | +8000 | +10000 |
| Austin Dillon | +8000 | +8000 | +10000 |
| Daniel Suarez | +8000 | +10000 | +10000 |
| Justin Haley | +10000 | +10000 | +10000 |
| Bubba Wallace Jr. | +10000 | +15000 | +10000 |
| Aric Almirola | +10000 | +15000 | +10000 |
| Harrison Burton | +15000 | +15000 | +25000 |
| Cole Custer | +15000 | +15000 | +25000 |
| Ricky Stenhouse Jr. | +25000 | +20000 | +25000 |
| Erik Jones | +25000 | +20000 | +25000 |
| Chris Buescher | +25000 | +25000 | +25000 |
| Todd Gilliland | +30000 | +25000 | +50000 |
| Michael McDowell | +30000 | +25000 | +50000 |
| Corey Lajoie | +50000 | +50000 | +100000 |
| Cody Ware | +100000 | +50000 | +100000 |
| Josh Bilicki | +100000 | +100000 | +100000 |
Please note these odds on the 2022 NASCAR Championship are accurate as of Sunday, January 31. They will shift before and during the season, so make sure you're double-checking them prior to settling on any NASCAR picks.
And since the NASCAR season is just getting started, it's also a great time to check out our reviews of the top online sportsbooks, like Bovada. These extensive guides can help you spot the best NASCAR betting sites in 2022.
Should Kyle Larson be the 2022 NASCAR Favorite?
Kyle Larson (+350) did not march toward his 2021 title without resistance. Martin Truex Jr. (+1000), Denny Hamlin (+650), and Chase Elliott (+550) ended up giving him a real run for his money.
Still, the regular-season performance Larson cobbled together was legitimately awe-inspiring. The 29-year-old driver bagged 10 first-place flags and 20 overall top-five finishes. Nobody else came nearly as close to matching his checkered-flag win total; Truex ranked second in total wins...with four.
There's little reason to expect Larson will slow down now. He remains under the age of 30 and is only just entering his prime. And while repeating as the NASCAR Cup Series Champion isn't easy, it can be done. Jimmy Johnson most recently did it, winning five consecutive titles in the mid-to-late 2000s.
Better NASCAR Bet: Kyle Busch, Joey Logano, or Martin Truex Jr.
Martin Truex Jr. (+1000) isn't getting enough love in our book heading into 2022. Indeed, he didn't have the strongest close to 2021, but he was still among the final four racers, and as we already mentioned, the reigning-champion Larson was the only one to nab more first-place victories.
For his part, Truex needs to put up better fights when he's not actually winning. Last year, he didn't notch a single pole-position finish outside of his first-place wins. That's going to hurt him in the standings if he does the same thing this season, just as it did last time around.
Kyle Busch (+1000), meanwhile, feels a tad overvalued at the moment. He finished ninth in the standings last season, with only two overall victories, and had a penchant for blowing positional leads in later laps. Joey Logano (+1000) is interesting as the more aggressive driver, but he suffers from a lot of the same issues as the former.
So, if you're going with one of the 10-to-1 options in 2022, the choice is clear. Truex is your guy.
Is Chase Elliott More of a Threat Than Denny Hamlin?
It feels like Chase Elliot (+550) is getting the former champion's bump on the early NASCAR Cup Series Championship ladder. And perhaps that's fine. He did, after all, win the whole dang thing in 2020.
But Danny Hamlin (+650) had him beat in just about every category for most of last season. He bagged just as many first-place (two) and pole-position finishes (one) while snaring even more top-five (19) and top-10 (25) flags.
Youth tends to win out when weighing the upside. That could be happening here, too. Hamlin is roughly 15 years older than Elliott and has never won a NASCAR Cup Series Championship. And yet, his driving last year was worthy of winning one. We don't expect him to fall off the map now.
2022 NASCAR Cup Series Championship Prediction
Martin Truex Jr.'s performance for most of last year resonated with us. There is not a guy in NASCAR more equipped to finish first in races on a regular basis, other than Kyle Larson.
And yes, that's saying something.
Following some bad beats toward the latter end of the schedule in 2021, you can count on Truex refining his approach in 2022. It too often looked like he was driving to protect his top-four position in the standings rather than advance his championship agenda. And if the way he drove in the final race of 2021 is any indication, he's not prepared to play it safe anymore. This is to say, the champion from 2017 could also become the champion of 2022.
Take a look at this list of the top online sportsbooks so you can decide which one to use for all of your NASCAR betting:
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