Kyle Larson is no longer the NASCAR Cup Series championship favorite

Hendrick Motorsports’ Kyle Larson opened up the 2026 NASCAR Cup Series season as the favorite to defend his championship from a year agoone thing no driver has performed since seven-time champion Jimmie Johnson received his first 5 championships in consecutive seasons from 2006 to 2010.

The 2026 season is the first season underneath NASCAR’s new “Chase” postseason formatwhich carefully resembles what was used to crown a champion from 2004 to 2013.

The a lot maligned “win and in” knockout format that was used from 2014 to 2025 was lastly abolished after the controversy which saw Larson crowned champion over Joe Gibbs Racing’s Denny Hamlin in November at Phoenix Raceway.

Larson notably would have won the 2025 championship even when the new 2026 format had been in place, though it goes with out saying that drivers would have been compelled to change their season-long method had the guidelines been totally different.

Just one race into the 2026 season, Larson is no longer the favorite.

DraftKings Sportsbook now lists Hamlin as the +370 favorite to win the championship, simply forward of Larson at +400.

It’s an attention-grabbing change, contemplating the significance of factors underneath the new format. Sure, you possibly can’t actually learn into the outcomes of a single race at superspeedway, however Larson completed sixteenth in the Daytona 500, whereas Hamlin completed thirty first. Larson is in a 14th place tie in the standings, whereas Hamlin is in thirty third.

So the proven fact that the shift occurred after this race, of all races, is considerably shocking. Hamlin finds himself 19 factors beneath the provisional playoff lower line, the lower line that sits between sixteenth place Noah Gragson and seventeenth place Michael McDowell. Larson is three factors forward of the cutoff.

It could also be onerous to nail down a real favorite after this weekend’s race at Atlanta Motor Speedway (now EchoPark Speedway) as effectively, since this monitor is additionally a superspeedway. But past this weekend, simply three of the common season’s remaining 24 races are superspeedway races.

Daytona 500 winner and points leader Tyler Reddick is at present listed eighth to win the championship at +1400.

Full NASCAR Cup Series championship odds could be found here.