The 67th running of the Daytona 500 will kick off the 2025 NASCAR season on Sunday and seven former winners are entered, including 17-1 longshot William Byron, last year’s champ. The 27-year-old Byron has 13 NASCAR Cup Series victories and 104 top-10 finishes since competing in his first race, the 2018 Daytona 500. The Hendrick Motorsports racer has run in 252 races over the past seven years. Among the other former Daytona winners entered into the 2025 Daytona 500 starting lineup are Denny Hamlin (2016, 2019, 2020), Ricky Stenhouse Jr. (2023), Austin Cindric (2022), Michael McDowell (2021), Austin Dillon (2018) and Joey Logano (2015). The latest 2025 Daytona 500 forecast is calling for rain and temperatures in the 80s. Chase Briscoe will be on the pole.
Kyle Larson is the +1200 favorite in the 2025 Daytona 500 odds from FanDuel, followed by Joey Logano (+1300), Kyle Busch (+1300), and Ryan Blaney (+1300). Sunday’s race is scheduled to start at 2:30 p.m. ET. Before making any 2025 Daytona 500 picks or NASCAR predictions, you need to see what NASCAR insider Steven Taranto has to say.
Taranto, who moonlights as a sim racer and has 20 career wins in iRacing, is the lead NASCAR writer for CBSSports.com and chronicles stock car racing with the same thoroughness and passion he’s had since becoming a full-time race fan in 2001. He has an annual NASCAR medial credential and also publishes a popular weekly NASCAR predictions column, famously calling Ross Chastain and Daniel Suarez’s breakthrough wins in 2022.
Taranto was red-hot for SportsLine in 2024 as he nailed 17 winners, including 16-1 longshot William Byron at the Daytona 500 and 14-1 longshot Chase Elliott at Texas. Anyone following his NASCAR picks could have seen huge returns.
Now, Taranto has analyzed the starting lineup and odds for Sunday’s Daytona 500. He’s sharing his best bets at SportsLine.
For the 2025 Daytona 500, Taranto is high on fourth-year Cup driver Todd Gilliland, even though he’s a longshot at 20-1. The 24-year-old third-year generation driver led for 16 laps in last year’s Daytona 500, before finishing 35th. The Front Row Motorsports driver has logged 108 races over three seasons and has 10 top-10 finishes in his young career. He has had success at every level of his racing career.
In ARCA Menards Series West, he ran 30 races over four years, earning 13 wins and 28 top-10 finishes, along with 12 poles. He finished first overall in the series in both 2016 and 2017. In his ARCA Menards Series East career, he ran 24 races over four years, earning seven wins. He added 22 top-10 finishes and two poles. In the ARCA Menards Series, he raced nine times in three years, earning two wins, two poles and eight top-10 finishes. Over a six-year span, he ran 94 races in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series, earning three wins, 53 top-10s and two poles. See which other drivers he’s backing at SportsLine.
Another surprise: Taranto is fading Michael McDowell, even though he won the Daytona 500 in 2021 and finished seventh in 2022. McDowell changed teams from Front Row to Spire Motorsports this offseason, trading in his Ford for the No. 71 Chevrolet. He will have his crew chief, as McDowell brought Travis Peterson on board. The 40-year-old from Phoenix had his struggles at the 2024 Daytona 500, placing 36th overall.
McDowell has had plenty of success in his 17-year career, driving in 501 races at the NASCAR Cup Series level. He finished 23rd overall in 2024. He has two wins and 44 top-10 finishes with six poles since making his debut at the 2008 Goody’s Cool Orange 500 at Martinsville. He registered his last win at the 2023 Verizon 200 at the Brickyard in Indianapolis. See all of Taranto’s picks at SportsLine.
Taranto has also identified four other drivers for his 2025 NASCAR Daytona 500 best bets. He’s also high on a huge NASCAR longshot who’s going off at more than 70-1, potentially netting any backer a huge payday. You can only see who they are here.
So who wins the 2025 Daytona 500, and which massive longshot could stun NASCAR? Visit SportsLine now to see the 2025 NASCAR Daytona 500 picks and best bets from a NASCAR insider who nailed a colossal 17 winners last year, and find out.
See full NASCAR at Daytona picks at SportsLine
Kyle Larson +1200
Ryan Blaney +1300
Kyle Busch +1300
Joey Logano +1300
Denny Hamlin +1400
Brad Keselowski +1500
Chase Elliott +1600
William Byron +1600
Christopher Bell +1600
Todd Gilliland +2000
Chase Briscoe +2200
Austin Cindric +2200
Chris Buescher +2600
Bubba Wallace +2600
Tyler Reddick +3000
Ross Chastain +3000
Alex Bowman +3500
Martin Truex Jr. +4000
Ricky Stenhouse Jr. +4000
Austin Dillon +4000
Erik Jones +4000
Ty Gibbs +4500
Josh Berry +4500
Ryan Preece +4500
Noah Gragson +4500
Michael McDowell +4500
Justin Haley +5000
Justin Allgaier +6000
Daniel Suarez +6000
AJ Allmendinger +6500
Riley Herbst +7000
Cole Custer +7000
Carson Hocevar +7000
Shane Van Gisbergen +7500
Jimmie Johnson +7500
Zane Smith +7500
Ty Dillon +8000
Corey Lajoie +9000
John Hunter Nemechek +10000
Cody Ware +20000
Helio Castroneves +25000
