NASCAR starts its 2023 Cup Series season on Sunday, as the Busch Light Clash at the Coliseum is scheduled for February 5. FOX has the broadcast, and the action gets underway at 8:00 pm Eastern time. This is an exhibition race, which means that no championship points will be given. However, you can still include the race in your sports betting. Joey Logano is not only the defending Cup Series champion but also won the first Clash last year. He and Chase Elliott enter as the co-favorites. Let’s look at the current NASCAR driver odds along with suggestions for your wager cards.
NASCAR News: Busch Light Clash at the Coliseum Preview
| Driver | Odds |
|---|---|
| Joey Logano, Chase Elliott | +750 |
| Kyle Larson | +850 |
| Christopher Bell | +900 |
| Kyle Busch, Ryan Blaney | +1000 |
| Denny Hamlin | +1300 |
| Ross Chastain | +1400 |
| William Byron | +1500 |
| Tyler Reddick | +1800 |
| Kevin Harvick, Martin Truex Jr, Chase Briscoe | +2500 |
| Brad Keselowski, Alex Bowman | +4000 |
| Bubba Wallace, Ryan Preece, Erik Jones | +5000 |
| Daniel Suarez, Chris Buescher, Aric Almirola, Austin Dillon | +6000 |
| Ty Gibbs, Noah Gragson, Austin Cindric, AJ Allmendinger, Justin Haley | +7500 |
| Harrison Burton, Michael McDowell, Ricky Stenhouse Jr, Ty Dillon, JJ Yeley, Todd Gilliland, Corey LaJoie, Cody Ware, BJ McLeod | +20000 |
Joey Logano is the favorite for a reason, after winning this race last year and then taking the Cup Series title by winning the Championship 4 race at Phoenix. The most comparable track to what the drivers will run at the L.A. Memorial Coliseum is Martinsville; at that track, Logano came in second and sixth, respectively, in the two races there in 2022.
Christopher Bell came in eighth at the 2022 Clash and won the fall race at Martinsville. In the playoff races last season, he cracked the top five in half of them and won two of them. His other win in 2022 came at Loudon, which is flat – like the Coliseum and Martinsville.
Kyle Busch will use the car that Ty Reddick used to qualify second in 2022. Reddick also won a Heat Race at the Clash in that car and would have been right there at the end if not for some bad luck. Busch also looked solid at the Clash last year in his old car. He posted the top qualifying speed, and he won his Heat Race. In the main event, he was the runner-up to Logano. He also has to be tired of not winning, so motivation should also play a factor.
Ryan Blaney came in fourth and third in the two Martinsville races last year, respectively, and he would have cracked the top five in last year’s Clash if he had not run into Erik Jones. Blaney went all of 2022 without a win that brought him points, although he did cruise to victory in the All-Star Race in 2022. Could he start 2023 with another win that doesn’t pay points? He had four top-four finishes in the last seven races of 2022 – and it was just his own mistakes that kept him from making that seven out of seven.
Chase Briscoe did win his first Cup Series race in 2022, although things trended downward for him after that – until the playoffs, where he found his mojo starting in the second round. In the last seven weeks, he had six fop-ten finishes, including a fourth-place finish in the Championship 4 race at Phoenix. He also demonstrated a great deal of speed in the 2022 Clash.
Austin Dillon is also running in an RCR car, and he happened to come in third at the 2022 Clash. He’s way down the odds list, which means that you could pull a ton of value with the right wager.
NASCAR Betting Odds
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