Ladies and Gentlemen, we are back. The Daytona 500 officially kicks off the 2025 NASCAR season and kicks off the weekly BellyUp Racing picks! After a short off-season with numerous changes of drivers, crew chiefs, and rulebooks. We’re back in action at Daytona Beach! The Great American Race is a spectacle. We are assured of high-speed chaos, wrecks, and everything that makes NASCAR special. The biggest race of the year kicks off a NASCAR season we’ve all been waiting for. But Chris and I have some business to take care of before we get there. Let’s kick off this season of bets right, and deliver our official 2025 Daytona 500 picks!
Kaleb’s Picks: #8 Kyle Busch (+1100) & #48 Alex Bowman (+2800)
Something in my gut just tells me Kyle Busch will get the job done. After a brutal 2024, leaving questions on whether the 2x Cup Series champion still has it, Rowdy has something to prove. He came close to winning the August Daytona race last season before Harrison Burton swiped it away, just as I predicted. But Busch had speed that night. Daytona might’ve been his best showing in all of 2024. That storyline is on top of the Daytona 500 being the only crowned jewel race he hasn’t won yet. This could be a Cinderella story for Busch, and superspeedway odds are always crazy. If you have the same gut feeling I do, throw your money on Kyle Busch.
As for Alex Bowman, he’s also rock solid here, specifically at the Daytona 500. He’s brought the #48 car to two straight top fives in The Great American Race, including a P2 last year to teammate William Byron. Had the caution lights come on just a few seconds later, Bowman would’ve collected the most sought-after checkered flag in North America. +2800 for Bowman feels like a good bet and if you don’t want to commit to a win, he’s +800 for a top three and +360 for a top five.
Chris’s Picks: #9 Chase Elliott (+1000) & #17 Chris Buescher (+2500)
When you look at stats Chase hasn’t had a horrible run recently in the Daytona 500. Well, minus the 2023 season where he wrecked and finished 38th. In the last five Daytona 500s, he only has one finish outside the top fifteen. At +1000 it won’t be a huge money maker but at Daytona, making money as a gambler should be considered a win alone. We all know the big wreck is going to happen, it’s just who can get lucky enough to get through it and Chase has been lucky more often than not.
I looked twice when I saw the odds for Chris. Chris has been as solid a drafting racer as anyone since Brad became a part owner back in 2022. The performance of Chris at Daytona too is awesome. In the last three Daytona 500 races Chris has not finished outside the top twenty. At +2500 I like those odds. Chris is one of those drivers who just seems to know when things are going to go bad on these types of tracks and can avoid the disaster more often than not. So on a track where we should always expect the unexpected why not take a driver no one else is expecting to finish well.
Kaleb’s Wildcard: #51 Cody Ware (+360 Top 10)
Cody Ware is back in the Cup Series full-time after some off-track troubles, and it all starts here at the Daytona 500. Oddly enough, Ware has a really good average finish at this track with a 10.3. That’s third among active drivers with 3 or more races in the Next-Gen era behind Kyle Busch and #23 Bubba Wallace. He brought home a P4 finish in the 2024 Coke Zero Sugar 400 and a P6 in the 2022 version of that race. In the 500, it was just inside the top 15 at P14 in 2024. But Ware finds a way to stay out of trouble at these races and finish in the top half of the field. +360 for just a top 10 finish is very intriguing as a bet for me, and if you wanted to say screw it and go for massive chaos, he sits at +11000 for the race win.
Chris’s Wildcard: #16 A.J. Allmendinger
AJ is back in the Cup Series as well on a full-time basis for Kaulig once again. The veteran driver has a top-ten streak going right now finishing sixth in the last two Daytona 500 races. A.J. has been around the sport long enough to feel the atmosphere of a race shift for the wrong reasons and gets out of the area. At +220 to finish in the top ten, it almost is too good to not take “The Dinger”.
If you enjoyed this content, or hate it and want to argue with me, follow me on Twitter @KalebMcChesney! Also, read up on the rest of the NASCAR content Belly Up Sports offers here! Heck, for all your other sports needs, follow the main page. If you love racing of any shape or form, find Chris on Twitter, and let’s talk!
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