NASCAR betting: Long-shot bets for the Daytona 500

The Daytona 500 is just days away (Feb. 14 at 2:30 p.m. ET on FOX), and as we get closer to that date, anticipation is building for the start of the 2021 season. The odds for the race have posted at BetMGM, and Denny Hamlin is the favorite as he strives for three Daytona 500 wins in a row. But at a track where anything can happen and surprise winners are not uncommon (see Trevor Bayne in 2011), it would not be stunning to see someone further down the odds board walk off with the Harley J. Earl Trophy. With that in mind, NASCAR.com's RJ Kraft examined the resumes of several long shots for the 63rd running of The Great American Race.

Noah Gragson

Beard Motorsports, No. 62 Chevrolet

Odds: 500-1

Notable Daytona stats: No Cup starts, but did win in Xfinity there in 2020.

Outlook: Gragson will be attempting to make his first start in the Cup Series in the 2021 Daytona 500. He has fared well on superspeedways in the Xfinity Series, but keep in mind again, this would be his first Cup start if he makes it into the big race.

Corey LaJoie

Spire Motorsports, No. 7 Chevrolet

Odds: 200-1

Notable Daytona stats: Two top 10s; his best Daytona 500 finish is eighth (2020).

Outlook: LaJoie was in the thick of things in the 2020 Daytona 500 and flirting with a top-five finish before his involvement in a last-lap wreck, and he still nabbed a top-10 finish. All three of his top 10s in Cup have come at superspeedways. He has moved to a new team in Spire Motorsports, but this organization is no stranger to Daytona success -- see Justin Haley's long-shot win in the 2019 summer race at Daytona.

Ty Dillon

Gaunt Brothers Racing, No. 96 Toyota

Odds: 200-1

Notable Daytona stats: One top five, three top 10s; his best Daytona 500 finish is sixth (2019).

Outlook: Dillon will need to race his way into the Daytona 500 field in this ride. That said, five of his six career top 10s in the Cup Series have come at Daytona and Talladega. He had a three-race run at Daytona from July 2018 to both 2019 races where he averaged a 5.3 finish. The downsides are this car didn't qualify for last year's Daytona 500 and the Toyotas don't have strength in numbers when it comes to drafting on superspeedways.

Daniel Suarez

Trackhouse Racing Team, No. 99 Chevrolet

Odds: 200-1

Notable Daytona stats: Best Daytona 500 finish is 29th (2017).

Outlook: Suarez is on his fourth team in four years as he joins the brand-new Trackhouse Racing Team. The organization will have a technical alliance with Richard Childress Racing, which bodes well for its superspeedway program since that has been a strong point for RCR and its past technical alliances. The downside is Suarez always seems to find trouble at Daytona -- he has crashed out of six of his seven starts there and did not qualify for the 2020 Daytona 500 with Gaunt Brothers Racing after crashing out of his Duel.

Jamie McMurray

Spire Motorsports, No. 77 Chevrolet

Odds: 150-1

Notable Daytona stats: Won the Daytona 500 in 2010; three top fives and five top 10s.

Outlook: McMurray has four superspeedway wins (two at Daytona and two at Talladega) among his seven career Cup wins. One of the two at Daytona came in the 500. On the other end, he has crashed out four of the last six starts he made at Daytona and his last start came in the 2019 Daytona 500.

Kaz Grala

Kaulig Racing, No. 16 Chevrolet

Odds: 100-1

Notable Daytona stats: No Cup starts but won in the Camping World Truck Series in 2018.

Outlook: In two Xfinity Series starts at Daytona, Grala has two top fives. Kaulig ran a Cup car at Daytona in the 2020 Daytona 500 with Justin Haley finishing 13th.

Ryan Preece

JTG Daugherty Racing, No. 37 Chevrolet

Odds: 80-1

Notable Daytona stats: One top 10; best Daytona 500 finish is eighth (2019).

Outlook: Three of Preece's five career Cup top 10s have come on superspeedways -- one at Daytona and two at Talladega. That said, in four Daytona starts, he has one top 10 and three crash-related exits.

Erik Jones

Richard Petty Motorsports, No. 43 Chevrolet

Odds: 65-1

Notable Daytona stats: Won summer race in 2018; his best Daytona 500 finish is third (2019).

Outlook: Jones is in a new ride, moving from Joe Gibbs Racing to Richard Petty Motorsports. The No. 43 car has been a solid customer on superspeedways with the high mark coming in Bubba Wallace's runner-up finish at the 2018 Daytona 500. The concern with Jones is his high crash rate on superspeedways -- in 16 starts at Daytona and Talladega, he has wrecked out of seven of those. In the nine he hasn't wrecked out of, he has four top fives and six top 10s. Lots of peaks and valleys on the record.

Michael McDowell

Front Row Motorsports, No. 34 Ford

Odds: 65-1

Notable Daytona stats: Two top fives and six top 10s at Daytona; his best Daytona 500 finish is fifth (2019).

Outlook: Half of McDowell's 12 career top 10s have come at Daytona and two of his three career top fives have come there as well. He has not exited early from the last six Daytona 500s and only had an early exit once in his last 12 Daytona starts, so the veteran knows how to stay out of harm's way. Front Row has a pretty good superspeedway program as evidenced by David Ragan’s 2013 Talladega win and solid performances in recent years from Ragan, McDowell, Matt Tifft and John Hunter Nemechek on those track types.

Ryan Newman

Roush Fenway Racing, No. 6 Ford

Odds: 65-1

Notable Daytona stats: Won Daytona 500 in 2008; five top-nine finishes in his last seven starts; battled for the lead on the final lap of the 2020 Daytona 500 before a last-lap crash.

Outlook: Newman has a knack for being patient and being there at the end of superspeedway races. Going back to his last 14 superspeedway races (Daytona and Talladega combined), he has two runner-up finishes, four top fives and 10 top 10s. And lest we forget, he was battling Denny Hamlin and Ryan Blaney for the lead before a last-lap crash in the 2020 Daytona 500.