This is how you bet NASCAR parlays.
Key Points
– There is potential for big earnings when you bet NASCAR parlays.
– Stick to certain rules when you bet NASCAR parlays.,
How to Bet NASCAR Parlays
Prior to the 2022 Coke Zero Sugar 400 NASCAR Cup Series race, an energetic bettor placed a wager of $13.49 and won $1 million.
If you know anything about sports betting, the only way that is possible was by putting together a parlay bet. The bettor wagered on four drivers to finish in the top-10. All four were given odds of +950 and higher.
In the end, the parlay had odds somewhere in the neighborhood of +7500000. When all four drivers finished in the top-10, the resulting payout was a cool $1 million.
Parlay betting usually results in losses, but if used wisely it can be part of any betting strategy. So can betting motorsports futures.
While most sports bettors picture parlays in other sports, they don’t really think of motorsports and parlays. Like other sports, when you bet NASCAR parlays, you have a shot at some big payouts. The trick is knowing how to put them together.
Understand the Odds
You have to make sure that you are receiving fair odds on a parlay bet. Imagine you are considering a parlay of two bets each with odds of +500. What are fair odds?
Bettors can find a number of parlay calculators online that will help them determine the fair odds of this parlay. In this example, those odds are +3500. A $100 wager would pay out $3500.
A sportsbook is holding more money on each of the individual bets if it is offering less than this sum.
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Bet NASCAR Parlays – Each Leg
Here’s a general rule of thumb when you bet NASCAR parlays. If you wouldn’t wager on each leg separately, don’t wager on the parlay. It’s that simple.
Regardless of calculations, it’s not a good idea to bet a parlay if you wouldn’t bet each leg of the wager separately, assuming the wagers are unrelated.
If you think you are getting better odds on an individual driver or race by adding it to a parlay, you are not. If you aren’t confident enough to bet it alone, it has no business being part of a parlay.
Avoid Poorly Correlated Bets
In the example at the beginning, four drivers finished in the top 10 and contributed to the $1 million winning parlay. Even if each driver’s individual odds are even money, parlaying top-10 bets is a very poor value proposition at least 99.9% of the time.
This is due to the fact that we are “stealing” from one another by parlaying two even money bets. In other words, if you parlay two drivers to finish in the top 10, you really only need one of them to place in the top 10 and the other to place in the top nine.
The odds for finishing in the top nine should be higher than those for finishing in the top 10, but the book isn’t giving you those odds. They are still giving you the top 10 odds on each driver, though.
Avoid Ridiculous Multi-Leg Parlays
Everybody wants to win the massive, absurd, multi-leg parlay that provides a huge return. That’s a component of the thrill and allure of sports betting.
Regardless of the sport, these are typically very bad bets to place. This is due to the fact that there are numerous potential outcomes. And not just in terms of the outcomes, but also in terms of mathematics.
Multi-leg parlays are typically not good bets for a number of reasons. It could be that books hold more on a parlay or an actual race event like a driver shifts to the back of the pack. Regardless, huge multi-leg bets should not be the norm when you bet NASCAR parlays.
The Perfect Bet NASCAR Parlays
To hit the four-leg parlay for $1 million, the stars had to be aligned for the bettor. The sportsbook didn’t hold additional juice and there was strong positive correlation among the outcomes of all drivers.
Plus, the bettor actually used a free bet in this case. There was really no risk to the bettor, but the bettor was also armed with another key piece of information.
Wagering on drivers takes some research. The four drivers that were selected were each members of teams ranked in the bottom-four chartered NASCAR teams. Due to NASCAR’s rules to limit speeds at these high-speed tracks, cars frequently run in a big pack.
In what is known as “The Big One” in NASCAR lingo, many cars could crash if one car near the front of this pack crashes. Top drivers can get caught up in “The Big One” and their cars are so damaged they are out of the race.
Unbelievably, this is not the first time that it happened. It also happened in the 2021 Coke Zero Sugar 400. Three drivers from lower-ranked teams finished in the top-10 that year. It has happened at other superspeedway races too.
Final Thoughts
Winning the $1 million on this bet was truly amazing, but it still required a tremendous amount of luck. The win was the result of some very unusual circumstances.
The win also generated some media attention, which could lead to sportsbooks holding more juice or even not allowing a parlay in these types of races.
Sportsbooks have to provide accurate odds when you bet NASCAR parlays or bettors will be throwing their money away.
The bottom line is to bet NASCAR parlays wisely. They should be used sparingly and only when there is value.