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Denny Hamlin is favored – and the most popular bet – ahead of Sunday’s Daytona 500.

The three-time Daytona 500 winner is the +800 favorite at BetMGM, where he leads the field by being backed by 14.3 percent of the bets and 17.8 percent of the handle as of Tuesday. Attempting to become the first driver to win the event three consecutive times, Hamlin finished fifth in last year’s crash-filled race.



He is also the sportsbook’s biggest liability, with the largest Daytona 500 wager thus far a $10,000 bet on Hamlin to win.

Joey Logano’s Odds Shortening

The second betting favorite is Joey Logano (+900), who is coming off a win at the Clash at the Coliseum earlier this month. Logano opened with +1200 odds but is fifth with 7.9 percent of the bets and 8.8 percent of the handle at BetMGM thus far.

That is behind Chase Elliott, Kyle Larson and Kyle Busch. Elliott and Larson are each being offered at +1000, with Elliott being backed by 11.0 percent of the bets and 12.1 percent of the money and Larson backed by 10.8 and 12.3 percent, respectively.

Busch (+1600) has been supported by 9.3 percent of the bets and 10.3 percent of the money. He has been a popular bet as Busch has longer odds that Ryan Blaney (+1200) and William Byron (+1400). That makes him BetMGM’s second biggest liability behind Hamlin and ahead of Elliott.

Defending champion Michael McDowell is a heavy longshot at +600, with the public backing him with only 0.5 percent of the bets and 0.3 percent of the money.

–Field Level Media (@FieldLevelMedia)