Martin Truex Jr.’s NASCAR Championship Odds Back on Track After Winning Coca-Cola 600
- Martin Truex Jr. has won three of the last six races
- Truex Jr. has led laps in six of his last nine starts
- Kyle Busch has a win and a pair of third-place results in his last six starts
Martin Truex Jr. won last week’s race at Charlotte and has now vaulted up to third place in the NASCAR Monster Energy Cup standings. Now that his NASCAR Cup Championship odds have also improved, is he a good bet in this spot, or is Kyle Busch still the right choice to bet on to win the championship?
Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Championship Odds
| Driver | Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Championship Odds |
|---|---|
| Kyle Busch | +200 |
| Martin Truex Jr. | +500 |
| Brad Keselowski | +625 |
| Kevin Harvick | +625 |
| Joey Logano | +650 |
| Chase Elliott | +850 |
| Ryan Blaney | +1400 |
| Denny Hamlin | +1500 |
| Jimmie Johnson | +2000 |
| Clint Bowyer | +2200 |
*Odds taken 05/31/19
Truex Jr. is on Fire Right Now
There’s no hotter driver on the NASCAR series than Truex Jr. right now. He’s now won three of his last six races while putting up some very impressive numbers in the process. It’s not just the wins as the peripheral numbers look really strong too, suggesting that he’s Kyle Busch’s biggest competition.
Truex Jr. has led laps in six of his last nine races. That’s a huge contrast to the four laps he led in one race in his first six starts of the season.
Truex Jr. has led laps in six of his last nine races. That’s a huge contrast to the four laps he led in one race in his first six starts of the season. He led 116 laps last week, 132 at Dover, 11 at Talladega, 186 at Richmond, and 10 at Texas. He’s driving really well and his car looks great.
He’s also done a fantastic job of finishing in relation to his starts as he only started 14th last week before winning the race. He was 13th on the starting grid at Dover when he won, and fifth at Richmond before waving the checkered flag. He’s not finished better than he’s started in 11 of his last 13 races.
Busch Has Been Better
The challenge for Truex Jr. is that while he’s been fantastic this season, Kyle Busch has still been better. On the year, Truex Jr. now has five finishes of 10th or worse. That’s nothing to be ashamed of – especially since his worse finish on the season is 20th.
At the same time, Busch has just one finish outside of the top 10 – a 30th in Kansas – but outside of that, he’s been in the top 10 every single week. Sure, Truex Jr. has three wins in his last six but Busch has a win and a pair of third-place results in that span. It’s not like he’s fallen off.
And remember, this is supposedly Busch’s “slump” as a lot of people were “shocked” when Busch finished outside of the top 10 in Kansas. When that’s “surprising” the experts, you know you’re having a great year.
It’s time to grind for the No. 18 crew.@KyleBusch has led 79 laps in his bid for back-to-back #CocaCola600 wins. pic.twitter.com/SKpkvloG71
— #NASCARSalutes (@NASCAR) May 27, 2019
Both Are Great Bets
There’s no question that both are good bets at this point. Whether you like Truex Jr. and a little bit more value or Busch, who has shorter odds but has been better this season, you can’t go wrong. These are the two drivers I would bet on to win it all at this point, so either one is a smart choice right now.
For over 15 years, Dave has been working in mainstream media and sports betting. He hosted a station on Sirius Satellite Radio for four years, and is currently a senior writer for AskMen. He's interviewed hundreds of hundreds of high-profile sports stars like Shaquille O'Neal and Floyd Mayweather.
