The 16 NASCAR Playoffs Drivers Think This Is Who Will Be Champion
The vote wasn’t unanimous, but it was a majority.
The Athletic asked the 16 NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs drivers to answer several questions anonymously, including who they thing will win the championship at Phoenix in November.
The winner also won the there in March.
Christopher Bell was the overwhelming favorite, receiving eight votes, one of which was not his as drivers were not allowed to vote for themselves.
“They’ve been really clutch in the playoffs the last couple years, and as good as they were at Phoenix in the spring, they’ll be tough to beat,” one of the drivers said.
The Toyota teams dominated the race, but Bell came out on top by leading the final 40 laps and winning by more than five seconds.
Bell made the Championship 4 the past two years in a row and has three wins under his belt this year.
Kyle Larson finished second with four votes and Tyler Reddick third with two votes, while Denny Hamlin was the only other driver to get a vote.
One driver abstained from answering the question, saying ““I don’t care if it’s not me.”
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The oddsmakers at BetMGM don’t entirely agree with the results, but aren’t too far off. According to them, Larson is the favorite at +375 followed by Hamlin at +400 and Bell at +500, but that’s before any of the 10 races that make up the playoffs have been run.
The first is coming up on Sunday, Sept. 8 at Atlanta Motor Speedway where Ryan Blaney is the favorite at +1000 followed by his teammate Joey Logano at +1,100 and fellow Ford driver Brad Keselowski at +1,200.
All three of them are playoffs drivers with one win each.
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