Coke Zero 400 Betting Preview: Earnhardt Jr. Leads NASCAR Race Odds for Daytona

Defending Coke Zero 400 champion Dale Earnhardt Jr. will try to win Saturday’s NASCAR race at Daytona International Speedway for the third time in his career, as he is listed as a +550 favorite (bet $100 to win $550) to repeat at sportsbooks monitored by Odds Shark.

Earnhardt Jr. is also a two-time Daytona 500 winner and previously won the Coke Zero 400 in 2001 and 2015.

The 41-year-old Earnhardt Jr. is still looking for his first win of 2016 and ranks 12th in the Sprint Cup standings with 413 points, which is 149 behind leader Kevin Harvick.

Six-time Sprint Cup champion Jimmie Johnson and Denny Hamlin are tied as the +1000 second choices to win the Coke Zero 400, and both rank ahead of Earnhardt Jr. in the Sprint Cup standings at seventh (469 points) and 11th (421), respectively.

Johnson won the race for the first time three years ago, and he is also a two-time Daytona 500 winner.

Harvick won the Coke Zero 400 in 2010 and is listed at +1400 along with Kurt Busch and Joey Logano, who rank second (527) and fifth (493) in the Sprint Cup standings.

They all sit behind another group of five drivers, starting with Kurt’s brother, Kyle Busch, at +1100. After him, Brad Keselowski, Carl Edwards, Martin Truex, Jr. and Matt Kenseth are all +1200. Of that group, Kyle Busch is the only other driver to win the race, in 2008.

Two years ago, Aric Almirola pulled off an upset by winning the Coke Zero 400, and he remains a long shot to take the checkered flag a second time at +6600. That is his lone NASCAR victory in 170 races over nine years. He ranks 25th in the Sprint Cup standings with 278 points, 10 behind Danica Patrick, who is 24th.

Patrick is listed at +6600 with AJ Allmendinger and Regan Smith. Patrick’s boyfriend, Ricky Stenhouse Jr., is ahead of them at +5000, while David Ragan is +7500 and won the race in 2011.

Tony Stewart is a four-time winner of the Coke Zero 400, and he is coming off his first win since 2013 at Sonoma last week. Stewart is an intriguing sleeper pick at +2500, and he last won the race in 2012, a year after he earned the lone Sprint Cup title of his career.