NASCAR betting sites

How the bets work, and why tracks bet so differently, is on how to bet on NASCAR.

A short list

Few of the books we have reviewed name NASCAR on their own sports pages, so the list below is short. That doesn't mean the others don't take a bet on a race. It means their review doesn't say they do, and we don't list a book on a guess. If you bet NASCAR, I'd check a book's racing menu before funding an account for it.

Matchups first

A matchup asks which of two drivers finishes ahead of the other, and the rest of the field doesn't matter. It is dealt like a game, usually at a small cut. At -115 on both sides, the book keeps about 6.5 percent of the money, and you need to win about 53.5 percent of your bets to break even. That is a long way from what the outright board takes, and it is where I'd put a NASCAR bankroll. A book that deals plenty of matchups, and doesn't only pair the two favorites, is a better NASCAR book than one with a long outright list.

The outright and finishing positions

The outright board prices every driver in a field of three dozen or more, and the cut across the whole board is far larger than on a matchup. Top 3, top 5 and top 10 bets are in between. They lower the price and raise the chance, but they bring in the dead heat rule when drivers tie for a place, and a book should say how it handles that.

The rules that grade it

Read what the book does when a race is shortened by rain, when it is moved to another day, when a driver doesn't start, and whether a result stands as it is announced on the day. NASCAR has all four, and I'd want each one in writing before I bet a race. The house rules page covers what most books do; the book's own rules decide your ticket.

Small and steady

A season is a long string of races, each one a field. I'd bet the matchups I had a reason for, at 1 or 2 percent of the bankroll, and treat the outright as a small long shot when I took one at all.