Motorsports Betting at Bally Bet Sportsbook

When you fire up the motorsports section of our sportsbook, you’ll notice the depth and variety available right away.

Here at Bally Bet, we offer markets and lines for many of the world’s leading motor racing competitions including, but not limited to, NASCAR, IndyCar and the Indy 500, MotoGP, Supercars, and Formula 1 and Formula 2.

If you love motor racing, be it on two wheels or four, you may want to make your knowledge count in your motorsports betting, with so much to choose from right here at Bally Bet.

Here, we’ll guide you through everything you need to know about how to bet on motorsports, including how to read betting odds (vital for understanding the context of your wagers), the most popular motorsports betting lines, and strategies to maximize the potential of your motor racing bets.

How to Read Motorsports Betting Odds

There are three distinct ways that motorsports betting odds are displayed: American or moneyline, fractional, and decimal.

For the most part, it’s likely that your default will be the American form, although at Bally Bet you can switch to decimal or fractional if you prefer.

Many of the best motorsports bets, or certainly the most popular types anyway, are futures. Who will win a particular race? Who will win the season-long championship?

The motorsports odds will show you a list of drivers, who have been listed in order of who’s most likely to win. The market favorite tops the list, followed by the second best, and so on. A race winner market will look like this:

• Denny Hamlin (+400)

• Christopher Bell (+450)

• Martin Truex Jr. (+600)

• Kyle Larson (+900)

• William Byron (+1100)

In these scenarios, understanding what the motorsports betting odds mean is straightforward. The positive odds (+) reflect how much you would win from a $100 wager, e.g. Denny Hamlin ($400), Christopher Bell ($450), Martin Truex Jr. ($600) etc.

That’s not to say you have to bet $100 — this is just for illustrative purposes. You could wager $1 on Hamlin to win $4, or $5 to win $20, and so on.

There will be times when you come across negative odds (-), which is often the case when betting on two-way markets like head-to-heads. In this case, the numbers show how much you would have to bet to win $100.

Let's use the following as an example:

• Hamlin -150, Byron +125

If you wanted to back Hamlin in this scenario, you would have to wager $150 in order to win $100 (or $1.50 for $1 of profit, $15 for $10 of profit etc.). The greater the negative number, the more favored the selection and, so, the smaller your return.

You can use these odds as the basis for deciding which bets to place. Sometimes, you will see a selection and perhaps think that the odds are too valuable to miss out on.

Popular Motorsports Bets

In sports like football and basketball, there’s a trio of betting markets that are by far and away the most popular: moneylines, spreads, and totals.

But it’s a bit different when it comes to wagering on racing.

The most important motorsports bets are the futures.

Race Winner

And the most popular motorsports futures bet is on the race winner, which is exactly as the name suggests.

Simply predict who you believe will win a specific race. If you want to hedge your bets, you can even "Dutch" two or three selections together, where the odds are such that a win for one of your picks would net an overall profit.

Championship Winner

If you’ve set your sights on the long term, you can also wager on the futures market for the season-long Drivers’ or Riders’ Championship.

You’ll see championship winner odds available across our range of motorsports, with markets for NASCAR’s Cup Series, Xfinity Series, and Craftsman Truck Series just three such examples.

Top Finish

The reckoning for each motor racing series is unique to each sport, although there are some similarities across each of them.

You can normally bet on a participant to finish on the podium in a race — that is, they must finish in the top three, although it doesn’t matter exactly where. In other motorsports, drivers score points for finishing within a specific number of places on the leaderboard. Where applicable, you can wager on that, too.

The NASCAR Cup Series features its vaunted Championship 4 group, and you can wager on which of the drivers you believe will make the grade.

Parlay Betting

A unique betting option available to motor racing fans is to parlay their race winner bets across the various disciplines.

For example, imagine an upcoming weekend saw races being contested in both NASCAR and Formula 1. You could parlay the two drivers together that you predict will win both races, like so:

• Denny Hamlin (+400) & Max Verstappen (-300)

In a parlay, the odds of your picks are multiplied together, creating the possibility of a greater payout. However, you should note that if one selection in your parlay loses, the whole ticket is settled as a loss.

• Hamlin (+400) - $10 wins $40 in profit

• Verstappen (-300) - $10 wins $3.33 in profit

• Hamlin & Verstappen - $10 wins $56.67 in profit

Live Betting

Some bettors prefer to wait until a race is underway before placing their wagers.

This strategy lets you see how each of the vehicles is handling the track, while providing a more accurate picture of the weather conditions and how the circuit is racing.

At Bally Bet, you’ll notice that our live odds change all the time once the race gets started. This reflects the fluidity of the action out on the track, so you know that the odds you take are relevant to what’s happening right then and there.

Motorsports Betting Tips

Although motor racing can be chaotic and unpredictable, there are still motorsports betting tips and strategies that you can deploy that will at least provide more context to your bets.

Do your research

Knowing the drivers, their current form, and their preferences is key. Do they perform well at certain types of track (e.g. long and straight, tight and winding, elevation changes etc.)? Have they been recording fast laps in recent races? Can their vehicle handle the demands of that particular circuit?

Watch the qualifiers

Some motorsports have qualifying sessions to determine which position a driver will start from on the grid.

Not only will this have a considerable bearing on how the race plays out, it will also offer valuable clues as to how each driver handles the track. They don’t necessarily need to be in pole position in order to offer encouragement ahead of race day.

Although the footage isn’t always readily available, one significant piece of motorsports bet advice is to try and watch qualifying or practice unfold.

Watch and bet

Sometimes in sports betting, there’s no better advice than to watch the start of an event before placing your wagers.

The insight provided by watching the opening laps of a race can be crucial. The weather could change in an instant, one of the favorites could retire early, the safety car could come out... there are many different, unpredictable variables that aid live bettors who are watching along with the action.

How to Place a Motorsports Bet

Imagine you want to bet on the next round of NASCAR action. How do you go about it?

First things first, you’ll need to set up an account, whether that's through our website or app (more on that shortly). This process is quick and easy, and we keep all of your personal details perfectly secure.

You can then make a deposit into your account, with a wide variety of payment methods accepted. Once your deposit has been verified – this is usually instant – you can start placing your bets.

Head to our motorsports section, where you’ll see the various disciplines listed. You’ll see NASCAR odds here when they're available.

Scan through the list of drivers, decide whether you want to bet on the next race or the season-long championship, and click on the odds of your selection. This will add them to your bet slip, where you can enter your stake.

Double-check all of the details before clicking to confirm your motorsports bet.

How to Use a Motorsports Betting App

If you want to wager through your smartphone or tablet, then we highly recommend downloading our motorsports betting app.

Not only will you enjoy all the benefits of our desktop site, you’ll also have instant access to thousands of live betting odds, so you can place in-play wagers with just a couple of taps of your screen.

You can use mobile betting apps to live stream the latest sporting action as well, so even if you want to kick back and watch the drama unfold without placing a bet, you can.

Betting app users can make the most of bonuses and promotions that aren’t available in person, as well as unique app-only specials and boosted odds.

Placing a motorsports bet with our mobile app is easy. Simply cycle through the A-Z of sports until you find motor racing, find your chosen sport and event and then tap the odds of your selection.

Complete the bet slip with your stake, double-check you’ve got the right pick and stake amount, and then tap to place your wager.