2026 NASCAR Prop Bets
In just a few short hours, the Craftsman Truck Series will wave the green flag for the first official points race of the 2026 season at Daytona International Speedway. As always, I am excited for another season of racing and attempting to grind out profits on a weekly basis. With that being said, our official race picks do not start until Sunday’s Daytona 500 which is an annual tradition. Until then, I wanted to take a moment to review some of the season-long prop bets and win totals that bettors should consider if they can stomach the wait of a full-season of racing. We were very successful with last year’s season-long prop bets and I believe I have another couple that are destined to cash again this season!
Last year, we placed our biggest bet of the season (5 units) on Connor Zilisch to win over 1.5 races. Looking back, that may have been one of the easiest bets in history. As everyone is aware, Zilisch broke an O’Reilly Auto Parts (formerly Xfinity) Series record with 10 victories on the season and I have consistently dubbed him the best outright talent the sport has seen since Kyle Busch and perhaps Jeff Gordon. With Zilisch moving to the Cup Series, the remaining core talent in the O’Reilly Auto Parts Series is unchanged and I think that will open up opportunities for a few drivers to hit their win totals for the 2026 campaign!
O’Reilly Auto Parts Series
Sheldon Creed over 0.5 (-180) wins (2 units)!
If I am going to lay season-long prop bets for nearly 9 months, I am not going to be scared by the extra chalk on any of these season-long betting lines. The first obvious candidate that should finally break through in 2026 is Sheldon Creed who will enter his 5th full-time season in O’Reilly Auto Parts Series competition. Over the last two seasons, Creed has posted 24 Top 5 finishes which includes an unbelievable 8 runner-up finishes in that same timeframe. With Haas Factory Team’s move to Chevrolet this year, I believe that will be beneficial for Creed who is long overdue for that first victory and this bet should have a very high likelihood of cashing!
Jesse Love over 2.5 (-140) wins (2 units)!
If I had to point to a single driver that should benefit the most from Zilisch’s departure to the Cup Series, I would likely point to budding star Jesse Love. Love won two races during the 2025 campaign which included the season finale at Phoenix. During the 2nd half of the 2025 season, Love was consistently a top 5 car despite the fact that Richard Childress Racing struggled on most of the traditional ovals. If the RCR program can improve slightly, I would feel like this is a sure bet. However even if RCR continues to struggle to some degree, I believe Love will take a big step forward this year because of the talent factor. As a result, this is another confident play!
Cup Series
Chase Briscoe over 2.5 (-135) wins (4 units)!
Chase Briscoe silenced a lot of doubters last season by winning 3 times in his first season with Joe Gibbs Racing yet somehow bettors are getting a total that is less than last year’s accomplishment? While obviously drivers can regress in terms of win totals, I don’t expect that to be the case with Briscoe. In fact, I would argue that Briscoe performed as well as any driver in the Cup Series during the 2nd half of the 2025 season with the only exception being Denny Hamlin. Briscoe led the Cup Series with 7 poles on the season and tied both Kyle Larson and Ryan Blaney for the most top 5 finishes (15) on the season. Last year, Briscoe did not get his first win until the summer race at Pocono but was a weekly contender afterwards. I expect that trend to continue which is the reason this prop is my most confident and biggest of the season!
Joey Logano under 2.5 (-180) wins (2 units)!
This is another chalky line that I refuse to back away from. Joey Logano was largely a non-factor last season despite his early win at Texas. The truth is that the #22 team has been struggling for a while and has just 7 top 5 finishes in each of the last two seasons. While the team made several changes over the off-season, I am not willing to grant Logano any grace considering the amount of time he raced outside of the top 10 throughout the majority of the season. Do I believe that Logano is washed? Not necessarily, but I don’t expect them to get 3 wins this season either.
Brad Keselowski over 0.5 (+100) wins (2 units)!
A couple of years ago, I stated that Brad Keselowski ruined his career when he took partial ownership at RFK Racing and that prediction has held water with the former champion winning just once over the last 4 seasons. With that said, I must give credit where credit is due because RFK Racing is becoming a bigger threat on a weekly basis. More importantly, I still believe Keselowski is a talented driver that is capable of winning at many different layouts. After a few close misses in 2025, I expect that he will make it back to victory lane in 2026 especially after seeing how strong the entire RFK brigade was at the beginning of speedweeks in Daytona!
