Jimmie Johnson’s 2019 NASCAR Championship Odds Improve to 24-1 After 4th Top 10 Finish

• Jimmie Johnson’s NASCAR championship odds have improved from +4800 to +2400
• Johnson has four top 10’s this season in eight races
• Johnson hasn’t won a race in 67 starts.

Jimmie Johnson hasn’t finished better than 10th in the Monster Energy Cup standings in four of the last five seasons. However, a fresh start with a new crew chief has produced some positive results of late. Is he worth a look at 24/1 odds to win the NASCAR Championship this season?

2019 Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Championship Odds

*Odds taken 04/11/19

Johnson is Warming Up

It’s been a while since Johnson had been competitive. Remember this is a driver who didn’t win a single race last year and had just two top 5’s. He’s now posted top 10’s in three of his last five outings and appears to be on the rise. On the season, he’s now collected four top 10’s. That’s why his odds have improved from +4800 all the way down to +2400.

That does it for the first practice session of the day.

Tune in to @FS1 at 11:05 a.m. ET to catch final practice.

6th: @JimmieJohnson
13th: @chaseelliott
16th: @WilliamByron
34th: @AlexBowman88 pic.twitter.com/G6l1QIeDUo

— Hendrick Motorsports (@TeamHendrick) April 6, 2019

The issue with Johnson is that while we know how dominant he was in the early 2000’s – he once won the Monster Energy Cup five years in a row – he has fallen off a lot. He hasn’t won a race in 67 starts. His recent showings are a big step in the right direction, but he has a long way to go still.

Laps Led is a Concern

It’s important to go beyond just the regular post-race stats and dive a bit deeper into some of his other numbers before deciding whether to invest at 24/1. One concern here is that Johnson has led for just 64 laps this season, which isn’t great. Those came recently (at Texas two weeks ago) but that’s been mostly it.

Putting in work on the @allyracing Chevy. @JimmieJohnson will restart seventh. pic.twitter.com/2iKL2JG9gM

— Hendrick Motorsports (@TeamHendrick) April 7, 2019

Qualifying is also something to keep an eye on. He’s been qualifying well all season long as he hasn’t started worse than 17th in any race. His average start position is 10.8. However, he’s not doing a lot with those starts as he hasn’t finished better than he’s started in six of his eight outings this year.

Johnson Has a Long Way to Go

Johnson is currently 13th the standings, which is decent for him, but he’s still got a long way to go. Part of that is on him, but part of it is the fact that four drivers are dominating this season. Only four have won a race and they are Kyle Busch (3), Denny Hamlin (2), Brad Keselowski (2) and Joey Logano (1).

Congrats little bro @kylebusch. Thanks @teamchevy @MonsterEnergy we will keep building towards a win.. RT if you think I should have wrecked him pic.twitter.com/2K2asrZnOM

— Kurt Busch (@KurtBusch) April 8, 2019

Busch, in particular, has been untouchable. Putting his numbers next to Johnson’s blows them away. He has three wins, eight top 10’s and six top 5’s. Johnson has zero wins, one top 5 and four top 10’s.

Johnson is a good story so far but he’s not someone I can bet right now. If he starts to get a couple of top 5’s and shows that he can win a race – something he hasn’t done in a long time – then I might start investing. Until then, I would stick with Busch for betting purposes or look for value elsewhere.

Pick: Kyle Busch (+300)