How to Bet on Auto Racing: F1, NASCAR, and Indy 500 Strategies for Memorial Day Weekend

We are entering Memorial Day Weekend, which means three different types of auto racing will hit your TVs on Sunday as part of “The Greatest Day in Racing”. The day starts off with F1’s Monaco Grand Prix from Monte Carlo, followed by the Indy 500 from the Indianapolis Motor Speedway and then NASCAR’s Coca-Cola 600 in Charlotte. 

Betting on auto racing has some similarities to betting basketball, football, baseball or other sports such as winner and matchups, but also has many differences. This guide will walk you through it.    

What Can You Bet on? 

Outrights: For starters, much like every other sport, you can bet on who wins. The odds are similar to golf event outrights in that you are throwing your money on one racer to win the event. Want to bet a favorite at +250 or a longshot at +7000, the options are yours. 

Top Finishes: If you want to shorten the odds a bit and give yourself some runway, you can bet on a racer to finish top 6, top 10, etc. This gives you more slots to win, but also at much shorter odds.

Podium Finish: Formula 1 puts an emphasis on top 3 finish, also known as a podium finish. As you’ve seen, the top 3 go to the podium during the trophy presentation. This is the same as top finishes, but only 3 spots.

Stage Winner: Formula 1 has Podium betting and NASCAR has stage betting. Each NASCAR race is broken up into different stages, so you can bet on who will win each stage as well.

Winning Team/Manufacturer/Constructor: The racing circuits have both individual standings and team/constructor standings. You can choose which team will win the race, giving you more than one racer. 

Fastest lap: exactly what it sounds like. Bet on who will have the fastest lap during the race.

Qualifying: An added element that racing has over other sports is the qualifying races. You can bet on these as well, picking who will qualify and where. 

Head-to-head: Each race will have matchup props, where you pick one racer to finish higher than the other. The odds on these will depend on what the match up is. 

Group Betting: Found mostly in NASCAR, you can bet who will finish the best out of a group of four drivers.

Props: as with all sports, there will be various props depending on the race. These can center around how many racers finish, how many cautions there will be, will you see a safety car, number of pit stops, top driver for each manufacturer, etc. 

What Should You Look at When Handicapping?

Qualifying: The qualifying position will dictate a lot of the odds movement. You could go from favorite to longshot very quickly with poor qualifying or the other way around. 

Previous Track Results: Does a particular driver have particular success or lack of success here?

Track Type: Just as important as track history, does a particular driver have more success on ovals, street circuits, short tracks, superspeedways?

Weather: The big forecast can change everything in a race. Make sure to pay attention to if the track will be dry or wet before betting.

Pit Crew: Does one driver or team have a better pit crew than another? Getting those tires changed or adding fuel can make or break the race. 

Practice Results: Some tracks have practice before qualifying. Seeing who does well in practice can help you bet ahead of the qualifying. You can see results for who had fastest lap in practice, who had the fastest 5 lap average, 10 lap average, etc

What Are Differences Between F1 and NASCAR racing?

Format: NASCAR races are much longer, with 200-500 laps, while F1 has 50-70 normally

Track Type: Most F1 races are on road circuits or street courses, while NASCAR mostly has courses on ovals.

Favorite/Underdog: There are not many upsets in F1 due to the track types, limited laps and much bigger gaps in performance between teams compared to the more parity in lead changes in NASCAR races. You are way more likely to win a NASCAR race from later in the qualifying grid then you are in F1. 

Teams: Team racing plays a bigger role in F1 racing, where teams can prioritize who they want to concentrate on. NASCAR isn’t as team oriented with racers more out for themselves. 

Cautions: There are a lot more stoppages or delays in NASCAR due to more laps, more cars and more accidents with more opportunity to pass other cars. 

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