Racers Odds
Buckle up for a high-octane show where speed meets strategy— each week, David Styles and Andrew Kurland preview this week's upcoming NASCAR race, betting angles, drivers to watch, and bold picks. From long shots to lock-ins, it’s all about chasing the checkered flag and the payout. It's time to lock in —this is where racing fans and gamblers ride together.
Racers Odds
Talladega Preview: Why Kyle Busch Will Silence The Haters This Weekend
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David Styles and Andrew Kurland are back to preview Talladega. They discuss:
- Why bet on the longshots
- Which dark-horse driver could steal it all
- Hocevar's winning potential at Superspeedways
- Kyle Busch's best shot to win this year
Welcome back to Racers Odds. Tyler Reddick snotches another victory on the season. Still leaves us with five winners after a overtime restart. We got that wrong last week. We both said, nah, it's not going to get overtime. And there we were, into the race, right into overtime. Kyle Larson, I thought was you had both of the winners on your side of the bet book. So either way, I was like, ah, Andrew's going to have a great week. But uh Tyler Reddick with a great move at the end of the race at Kansas. It gives him his fifth victory on the season. And now we head to Talladega for the Jack Lynx 500. And pretty much all bets are off. And I say that kind of tongue in cheek, because this is really a toss-up race. I've looked at a bunch of different sports books, and there's really not anything that I'm like, yes, this is what I'm going to bet on. And Andrew, I want to get your opinion as we get ready to head into Talladega.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, it's uh it's crapshoot, really, and the odds show that you your best driver, depending on the books uh that you look at, plus one thousand on DraftKings for Logano to win. Uh it's plus one thousand for Blaney to win on Caesars. Uh Benham GM has similar bets. So when your race winner and the top odd driver to win the race is at plus a thousand, you know it's gonna be a mess. So um I think the approach to this is pick the guys who you think are gonna win, pick a few of them, and cash out as the race goes on. That's at least the direction I'm going.
SPEAKER_00I think that's a decent strategy, and there's a few different strategies just around the race as we get ready to head into this one because we've seen some controversy at the last Super Speedway races where these drivers seem to be just driving around, not at full throttle, saving fuel. And so NASCAR has decided to flip the lengths of the stages, and so that first stage will be the longer stage, and then we'll have two shorter stages to end the race. Andrew, do you think that is affecting the way that these odds are coming out? And what does that do for our bet strategy?
SPEAKER_01I think uh you may see a little bit more chaos, hopefully, in the middle of the races. Um, and hopefully that means that the best drivers and the real racers, without having to worry about saving fuel, will be the ones charging at the front at the end when fuel doesn't matter anymore. But as Brad Gilly talked about on Fast Talk earlier this week, uh you're still right on the edge of the window. And Talladega is a place that you can go into overtime. And uh right now, looking at it on Caesars, will the race go into overtime? Yes, is at plus 110. If you can get plus odds on overtime at Talladega, I say freaking take it. So um I can't believe there's a those are plus odds, actually. But long story short, uh, you're right on the window. If you go into overtime, you might have to worry about it. And I think the odds of going in overtime, while the books may not agree with it, I think they're they're pretty likely.
SPEAKER_00I that was the first bet that I wrote down, something that I was interested in because I've won on that bet before. Like Daytona, will we go into overtime? Yes, we're gonna go into overtime. Thinking about it for this race, I think we will see it, and I'm surprised that it is at plus odds. Because last week, even for Kansas, a race that typically doesn't go into overtime, it was plus 105. Yeah. This one's plus 110. I'm gonna lay a few units on it. I think that we will see it. And like we talked before about these super speedway races, this is going to be a race of attrition. Who is going to be around at the end, and it's going to lend to the very aggressive drivers. And there's a few of those that are in some of these matchups and other places that I'm interested in, but I'm just not comfortable putting money on them. A couple of them, like Todd Gilliland, he had a runner-up finish here in the fall. Ricky Stenhouse Jr. is very good at this track. He has a couple of wins at Talladega, Bubba Wallace, Austin Cindrick, all those guys really good at Talladega. But in their group matchups, it's a little bit rich for me. I don't think I feel comfortable putting money on any of these group matchups this week. So if you're looking at those, I caution you, stay away from them. There's a few just head-to-head matchups that I like, but there's not many. And I think Andrew's kind of crystal ball-esque fortune that he gave a little bit earlier about you need to pick a couple of winners and then cash out if the money is right, I think that's the direction you need to head. So I'll turn it over to you, Andrew, first. Who are you really looking at this week as we get ready to go to Talladega? Who are you looking at to win the race and who are you going to put a few units on for this Talladega Jack Lynx 500?
SPEAKER_01David, before we get too far into the show and get into the moments that we might start clipping, I I do need to ask you a question. Do you think my hair looks okay on this racer's odds? Because everyone was up in arms raising hell about my, you know, Conan look last week. Freaking.
SPEAKER_00So you think it looks good? Yeah, it looks great. And you know, I I gave you a hard time. I was like, you look a little bit more like Rick Astley to me, but I don't see the Conan.
SPEAKER_01I didn't see it at all. And I I I went in yes last week thinking everything looks good. And then all of a sudden, and of course, Dale Jr. has to be the one to lead the charge. Like, what is wrong with your hair? He ratios our tweet, and I'm like, I didn't think anything was wrong with my hair. So I really I put the pomade in uh heavy today. Hopefully there's less of a you know a wave for people, but in order to make sure that I look good, and just for you, Dale, this is this is just for you on this show, I'm gonna put a hat on.
SPEAKER_00If you can get the hat to go, there you go. Yeah, you go.
SPEAKER_01Uh so hope you're happy, Dale.
SPEAKER_00Well, I mean, it it's I think it's funny that they gave you a hard time, but I've got the quaff kind of going too, and and mine's kind of crazy. I mean, it just kind of does what it does. So it I think that's funny that uh they gave you the Conan treatment and then I don't get anything, but hey, I'm not jealous.
SPEAKER_01Hey, Conan's a good looking guy, so I don't know what to tell you.
SPEAKER_00He's also like almost seven feet tall. He's a very large person, so that I do not have from Conan.
SPEAKER_01But let's get into some bets now that I look presentable for all you folks. But um, as I said, David, I think it's it's gonna be about picking a winner and it's gonna be about just kind of hoping they do well. So I wrote down one, two, three, four, five race winners. Wow. Um, that I think I'm just gonna go in on and we're gonna see what happens.
SPEAKER_00Are you putting a dollar on Tyler Reddick or are you going to double down like you did last week? You did 10 on Tyler Reddick last week plus a thousand units. He won the race. You got a hundred units. So are you gonna are you putting more or less?
SPEAKER_01Absolutely. I'm putting uh I'll put two dollars on Tyler Reddick this week at plus twelve hundred. I feel like those aren't bad odds if Reddick wins, and you know, but again, this is kind of like I'm gonna spread the wealth a little bit here and hope one of them hits to make all of the money back on the others, if that makes sense. So I'm just gonna go down the list. Hosefar, Carson Hosevar, he led on the final lap of the Daytona 500, finished sixth last year at Talladega. If fuel saving isn't an issue, which we cross our fingers and hope that's going to be the case, he's gonna be a guy making aggressive moves because he has the tools to do so. I could totally see the storyline leaving Talladega being that Carson Hosevar finally won his first race. He's plus 2,500. Tyler Redick, Daytona 500 winner, finished seventh last Talladega. I don't think there's any disputes that he is good at these super speedway races because he won the biggest one of the year this year. Um, he obviously had to be in the right position. There were crashes on the final lap, but $2 for Tyler Reddick. Brad Keslowski, six wins here, but even more important, RFK. They work tremendously well together at these super speedway races. They have speed, they've got more speed than they had last year. Brad Keslowski has all the skills and tools to win at Talladega. He's plus 1600. Um, do you want me to keep going or do you want to throw some drivers in the mix?
SPEAKER_00Keep going because you've mentioned one that I'm going to lay money on, and and that it's that last one, Brad Keslowski. I think that this is his best opportunity, other than that Darlington race earlier in the season, to pick up that win. And I'm kind of doubling down on this because I've also got him in my futures to win a race this year. I think this is one of the better opportunities that he has. Again, plus 1600. I'm willing to put about 10 or 15 units on that because I've got about three or four bets that I'm looking at, and I'm not going all in on winners. I'm kind of spreading this out. So that's my guy to win. I think that that to me will pay off in the long run. And he's due. And they've been running very, very well, and he's very, very good at this track, like you said. I I like the Hosefar bet. I actually will think about taking him not as the winner, but at plus 135 to top 10. He's finished sixth here in both the races last season. He's got a pretty decent average finish, and like we said at the top of the show, if you're aggressive, this track will be good to you. So Hosevar top 10 plus 135. Who else do you have? That so those are two of my big ones.
SPEAKER_01I think I think we're gonna get a uh a storyline winner out of Talladega. And what bigger storyline than the guy who's been in the news all week and weekend long? He won a race in RCR equipment, so there's no doubting that he can do it in a Chevrolet. He has speed, he won the Daytona 500 poll. I think Kyle Bush gives a middle finger to the whole field, all the doubters, and wins the race at Talladega. I think he's got speed, obviously, uh at the super speed ways at qualifying on the poll at Daytona. And again, I'm just here for the storyline, I'm here for the chaos. He's plus 2,200 to win it. Give me Kyle Bush.
SPEAKER_00I like that too. I was going to say if this is the week to bet RCR, it's it's now. Bet both of them. I mean, Austin Dillon's that's it. He's very good here as well. Both of those cars, I think, will be just stellar. And oh yeah, Kyle Bush, like you said, huge chip on his shoulder. Right. And and and he's good in the the trucks, and he's good in in O'Reilly. So it's not like he's lost it. He still knows how to drive. They're just having to overcome so many equipment issues at RCR. But when we went to Daytona early in the season, both of those cars were very, very good. I like that bet. Me, I I almost want to bet him this week, but it kind of goes against my uh my early bet of he won't win a race this year. So I don't know if I can actually lay money on it and hedge it. But I I think I will. I I might I'm gonna put a few units on Kyle Bush to win this week. I think that the stars are aligning, and plus 2200 is almost it's almost perfect. And then if it doesn't pay off, it's like, ah, oh well. I lost my coffee money. That's not that big a deal. I I like that one a lot. And and if you're looking at Austin Dillon, he's he's also at uh plus 3,000. So that's that's another one that's not terrible. It's a little bit more risky, but um, those RCR cars, they're really, really good at these super speedway tracks.
SPEAKER_01I got one more.
SPEAKER_00Go for it.
SPEAKER_01Actually, maybe I want you to guess who do you think has the best series best average finish at Taladeg?
SPEAKER_00I know Todd Gillilins is way, way up there, but I don't see Todd winning a race. Uh, is it a Chevy driver?
SPEAKER_01You actually got him. It's Todd Gillin's. Is Todd Gillillan? Oh my gosh. Yeah, I I did not think you would be able to pull that out of uh out of your life.
SPEAKER_00I was thinking, honestly, I was thinking William Byron or Kyle Larson, but yeah.
SPEAKER_01Todd Gilland, um he has an average finish of 13.5, which is the series' best, and that's pretty darn good for an unpredictable track like Talladega, but even more importantly, it's what have you done for me lately? He finished second to Chase Briscoe at Talladega in the fall. I like Todd Gillan to win the race. He is uh plus two thirty-five to top ten, which I wrote that down uh as something that I really liked. And I actually need to look up his odds to win the race because um I originally had him to just top five. I gotta keep scrolling. He's plus thirty-five hundred oh, plus five thousand.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, on DraftKings, plus five thousand for Todd Gilland.
SPEAKER_01Um I mean, if you if that that pays off, that that rocks.
SPEAKER_00That's a huge payday right there. I I like this strategy. I like I like where you're going where you're picking and choosing certain guys and laying money on it because if one of them does hit, you're gonna win big. And that's what this race is. This these super speedway races, they're very different from the typical mile and a half or the short tracks, the tracks that we've been racing on here recently. Here is where you pick your underdogs. If you've got a guy that you feel good about, they don't typically win. They have a shot this week. So put some money on stint house, put some money on Todd Gillillan. Those aggressive drivers, they're gonna pay off this week. So here is my other uh bet. It's a matchup bet. Ross Chastain versus Alex Bowman. Both of them are minus 115. Track house, they've been trending in the wrong direction. And I know that my Bowman bet last week didn't really pay off for me because I wanted him to top 10. He was running in the top 10 at Kansas all day, and then late in the race, the strategy didn't really pay out, and he ended up finishing 18th. But again, I think they are on a different strategy than everybody else. He has to win races. He's got so much ground to make up points wise. So I think you just go for wins at this point. Just revert back to the strategy of last year when there was a playoff system. You've got to go after wins, you've got to make every race count. And so I'm looking at Bowman to have another good day, and he's pretty decent at Talladega as well. So I'm going to put some units on that. It's at minus 115. I know it's minus odds, but these matchup bets to me, I've found a lot of success in them, and that's where I go just because of the probabilities. So everywhere else, yeah, you you're seeing all these other plus odds, and they they start to get a little bit out there, but that's the risk that you're taking with these super speedway tracks. Either you're going to go all in and try to hit big and it might not pay off, or you can kind of go for that probability bets like I am and stay around that 115 mark and minus 115 mark and see if you can hit that flip of the coin. So that's what I'm doing. I'm going to take Alex Bowman over Ross Chastain at minus 115. That one may come back to bite me, but I feel pretty good about the about the Hendrick cars and about Bowman as we get ready to go into Talladega.
SPEAKER_01100%. Uh that's all I have. So do we want to get into the Pick'em game?
SPEAKER_00Yeah, let's do the Pick'em game. Uh, you uh actually did very, very, very well last week. So Chris Busher. Yeah. It it went it went very well for you. Let me get over here to the Pick'em side. And let's go. Busher scored 29 points. Bowman netted me 19 points. So you gained 10 points on me. What was a nine-point lead is now a 19 point lead for you. And now uh, you know, we get to pick our guy as we get ready to go into Talladega, and I'm I'm gonna double down. I'm gonna pick first. I'm taking Brad Keslowski this week. Wow. I think that he he's due. Solid. I think he's due, and those RFK cars are so good, and that's just it's just part of my strategy. This is where I had him slotted even before we've got to this point in the season. I thought that this would be the race to take him at Talladega because I'm still holding on to those guys, my other good guys, towards the end of the season.
SPEAKER_01Very solid. I like that. Um I'll double down as well. Give me Todd Gilland this week. I like it.
SPEAKER_00I think that's a solid, that's a solid pick. He's so good here.
SPEAKER_01Both of these are solid. Uh but here's the thing: you want a guy who can run in the top 10 in stages as well, too. And I feel like Hislavski and Gilland are both capable of that at Talladega, and that's what screws you the points for the pick'em game.
SPEAKER_00Yeah. And again, in this pick'em game, we can only pick one driver one time, each of us. And so I've already picked Gilliland. I picked him back in Martinsville, and he got me 14 points. So I feel like I got the good out of Todd Gilliland for for my for my purposes. So um, yeah, you've looking at the drivers that you've picked, I mean, you've already used Larson and then I hit at Bristol with Ty Gibbs, and that was kind of our biggest week. Both of us scored in the 50s, and then everything else has been pretty even. I mean, 19 points, that we're pretty close. Like this isn't a huge lead for you in this pick'em game.
SPEAKER_01No, no. It takes one winner and uh everything gets reverse. So it's pretty dang close.
SPEAKER_00Well, Talladega, it will be a crapshoot, just like Andrew said, and hopefully we've given you some information to kind of educate you a little bit and help you lay some money on who you think will be good. There's a lot of data out there, and pick those underdogs this week. Those plus, huge plus odds, those are who you need to look at. If you feel confident about a certain guy, don't be afraid this week to lay some money on it because this show's about putting you onto those sharp bets, helping you have more fun while you watch these races, and hopefully you're growing your bankroll. I know Andrew, he is up big right now. He's almost uh 200 plus on his bankroll. I'm I'm the opposite direction of about 200 down, but I've been way more aggressive in my bet slip over the course of the season. So uh I've won more bets, but I've also placed a lot more bets, and Andrew's been spot on this year with picking Tyler Reddick almost every single week. So that strategy's really paying off for him. So that that may be something for for you to try if you're looking at just one guy, and maybe you should start just putting a little bit of money on Tyler Reddick every week because the last time we saw someone win five of the first nine races, it was Dale Earnhardt back in 1987. He went on to win the championship and won 11 races that season. If he continues at this trajectory, we could see Tyler Reddick do the same or eclipse that mark. And so, Andrew, I I I just want to applaud you for your strategy so far. It's it's paid off.
SPEAKER_01Thank you. Yep. Keep it going. The Tyler Reddick train, get us to win at Talladega. That's all I'm glad to say.
SPEAKER_00There you go. There you go. So catch us anywhere you listen to podcasts. That's Apple Podcasts or on Spotify. If you're watching us on YouTube, make sure to like and comment and subscribe. That'll really help out the channel. And check out some of our other videos like Fast Talk. And then I know some other some of our other podcasts like Garage Pass. And uh yeah, just get your racing information here. For Andrew Curland, I'm David Stiles. We'll talk again next week. Thanks for stopping by Racers Odds.