The NASCAR Cup Series 10-race playoff is underway and after two races Martin Truex Jr. has been bumped from the favorite to win the championship.
The honor now belongs to Kyle Larson and his No. 5 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet with FanDuel Sportsbooks setting the odds at +400. Truex in the meantime dropped to 13th in the drivers’ standings but still remains tied for third best odds with Kyle Busch and Tyler Reddick to clinch the title at +800.
Larson took over the No. 1 in the Cup Series standings by clinching the victory at Darlington Raceway and finishing fourth at Kansas Speedway. The 2021 NASCAR Cup Series champion is looking for his second title in three years.
How the rest of the field shakes out behind the leader:
William Byron +450
Denny Hamlin +500
Kyle Busch +800
Martin Truex, Jr. +800
Tyler Reddick +800
Chris Buescher +1200
Brad Keselowski +1500
Christopher Bell +1600
Ryan Blaney +1700
Ross Chastain +1800
Joey Logano +1800
Kevin Harvick +200
Bubba Wallace +7500
Rickey Stenhouse Jr. +10000
Michael McDowell +10000
The playoffs are broken down into four rounds of three races in which four drivers are eliminated at the end of each round. In the final round, four drivers will battle for the championship over the course of the final three races in Las Vegas, Homestead-Miami and Martinsville.
The first round of the playoffs will end this Saturday at the conclusion of the Bass Pro Shops Night Race at Bristol Motor Speedway with Larson and Reddick the only two locked into making it to the Round of 12 with wins at Darlington and Kansas respectively.
Truex, Wallace, Stenhouse and McDowell are the four drivers at risk of being eliminated after the race at Bristol. They can stave off elimination by securing a podium placement. The four drivers have never won at Bristol, but both Truex and Stenhouse have captured a second-place finish at least once on the track. McDowell’s best finish was seventh while Wallace raced to 10th in 2020.
