High as in “being excited or enthusiastic about something,” just in case. The Coke Zero 400 will be the 17th auto racing betting event in the 2017 Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series, to be held on July 1, 2017 at Daytona International Speedway in Daytona Beach, Florida. The Coke 400 is notable for producing many drivers’ first career NASCAR win. On the other hand there have been several multiple winners, which will provide an interesting mix for fans who bet on auto racing. Below are a few strong candidates.
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
Like his daddy before him, DHJr has won the Coke Zero 400 two times – in 2001 (when it was known as the Pepsi 400, in a bit of retroactive irony) and in 2015. Earnhardt has also won the Daytona 500 twice, which as the name implies is also run at Daytona International Speedway. Additionally, the Son of Dale has nine top 5 finishes and six top 10s in that track.
Kurt Busch
Jimmie Johnson
JJ has three wins at Daytona International Speedway, including the 2013 CZ400. Moreover, he came in 2nd place in the 2004, 2009, and 2015 editions of this race. Johnson is as much of an auto racing betting favorite as a seven-time NASCAR C up Series champion can be.
Kevin Harvick
Harvick won the 2007 Daytona 500 and 2010 Coke Zero 400. While he has finished 39th in the latter race twice, he also has seven top 5 and four top 10 finishes at Daytona International Speedway. Harvick is coming off a win in the 2017 Toyota/Save Mart 350 in Sonoma on Sunday, his first win of the season.
Kyle Larsson
The 2017 Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series drivers’standings leader made a qualitative leap in 2016, finishing 7th at the Daytona 500 and 6th in the CZ400 from 34th and 39th respectively in 2015 – though he dropped to 12th in this year’s edition of the former race. On the other hand, Larsson had his worst finish of this season on Sunday, coming in 26th place at Sonoma Raceway.
Auto racing betting long shots
Brad Keselowski won the 2016 Coke Zero but that has been his only top 5 finish in that race; his second best finish was a 8th place in 2012. Additionally, he came in 4th and 3rd in the 2013 and 2014 editions of the Daytona 500 but has finished 41st, 20th, and 27th in the following three runnings. Meanwhile, 2014 winner Aric Almirola has similarly done poorly at Daytona International Speedway and historically kept his distance from the top 10 – though he did place 4th in the 2015 Daytona 500. These two are what people who bet on auto racing label as ‘long shots.’