The NASCAR season officially kicks off on Sunday, Feb. 15, with the 2026 Daytona 500 at Daytona International Speedway. William Byron enters as the defending Daytona 500 champion, while Kyle Larson looks to defend his NASCAR season championship. Joey Logano is the favorite at +1000 in the latest 2026 Daytona 500 odds, with Ryan Blaney right behind at +1100. Logano enters the regular season coming off a seventh-place finish in last year’s standings. He won the season championship in 2018, 2022 and 2024. Blaney finished sixth in last year’s season standings.<\/p>\n
Other favorites include Austin Cindric at +1300, Chase Elliott at +1400, Byron at +1500 and Larson +1600. Longshots include Austin Hill, B.J. McLeod and J.J. Yeley (+12500). The 200-lap race from the 2.5-mile asphalt track is scheduled to start at 2:30 p.m. ET from the 2.5-miles asphalt track. Before making any 2026 Daytona 500 picks or NASCAR predictions,\u00a0you need to see the projected leaderboard from Mike McClure’s proven model<\/a>.<\/p>\n McClure is a legendary professional DFS player with more than $2 million in career winnings. He uses a powerful prediction model that simulates every lap of NASCAR action 10,000 times. All told, the model has nailed a whopping 29 winners since 2021 and hit 11 winners in 2025. Anyone following his NASCAR betting<\/a> picks at their favorite\u00a0sportsbooks<\/a>\u00a0could have seen huge returns.<\/p>\n Now, McClure has turned his attention to the NASCAR season-opening Daytona 500.\u00a0He’s only sharing his best bets at SportsLine<\/a>.<\/p>\n New users can also check out the latest\u00a0FanDuel promo code<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0get $200 in bonus bets instantly at FanDuel if your $5 bet wins<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n 2026 NASCAR Daytona 500 expert picks<\/p>\n For the 2026 NASCAR Daytona 500 at Daytona International Speedway, McClure is fading Logano, who is the +1000 favorite. The model says he doesn’t even crack the top 5, making him a driver to avoid. Blaney was the runner-up in the 2020 Daytona 500, but he has not finished higher than fourth (2022) since, so the model doesn’t love his value as a co-favorite.<\/p>\n Another surprise: The model is high on Kyle Busch at +2200, calling him a top-five contender and giving him a better chance to win than his odds imply. Busch has been a top-six finisher twice since 2019, and he finished last season with 10 top-10 finishes, including fifth in the season finale in Phoenix.\u00a0See which other drivers he’s backing at SportsLine<\/a>.<\/p>\n New users can target the\u00a0DraftKings promo code<\/a>, which offers\u00a0$300 in bonus bets if your bet wins<\/a>:<\/p>\n How to make 2026 Daytona 500 predictions<\/p>\n McClure is also high on two other NASCAR Daytona 500 longshots of +2000 or higher, potentially netting any backer a huge payday. You can only see who they are here<\/a>.<\/p>\n So who wins the 2026 Daytona 500 and which massive longshots could stun NASCAR? Visit SportsLine now to see the 2026 NASCAR Daytona 500 picks and best bets from a NASCAR insider,<\/a> and find out.<\/p>\n 2026 NASCAR Daytona 500 odds, lineup<\/p>\n