Austin Dillon won NASCAR’s Coke Zero Sugar 400 on Sunday, but a couple of FanDuel bettors are a lot happier about drivers a few spots behind him at Daytona International Speedway. And the wait through a lengthy rain delay was worth it.
One bettor parlayed Cody Ware (+2000), B.J. McLeod (+2000), and Landon Cassill (+1500) all to finish in the top 10 at +7055000 (70,550-t0-1 odds) and turned $10 into $70,560.
Another added David Ragan (+950) to that group at +7408700 and turned a $13.49 free bet into $999,433.63 with a four-leg parlay on the FanDuel app.
Cassill finished a relatively safe fourth in the No. 77 Chevrolet, Ware sixth in the No. 51 Ford, McLeod seventh in the No. 78 Ford, and Ragan a sweat-worthy ninth in the No. 15 Ford. All four drivers began the final 16-lap green-flag stint after a red flag period inside the top 10.
In the final few laps, the eventual parlay winners could loosen their vice grips on their armchairs, even knowing the eruptive, wreck-filled nature of racing at Daytona. At that point, only 10 cars remained on the lead lap. Once Dillon took the white flag to signify the 160th and final lap, the parlay particulars could not be caught by the lapped car of 11th-place Bubba Wallace.
Cassill started 35th, Ware 33rd, McLeod 36th, and Ragan 34th, but just 17 of 37 cars finished the race.
Parlay Publicity Worth Financial Hit for Sportsbooks
FanDuel’s Twitter account posted a screenshot of the near-million dollar parlay, quipping that “our finance department is in a shambles,” which would have been humorous even before the company became the first online sportsbook in the United States to announce a quarterly profit. Parlays are long-term huge winners for the house, and these golden tickets — trumpeted by FanDuel — are worth way more than the payout, as they encourage bettors that it could happen to them, too.
https://twitter.com/FDSportsbook/status/1564016593981554688
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Hindsight Handicapping
Although racing at Daytona and its sister track Talladega Superspeedway can be incredibly unpredictable, drivers need to be sound at this high-banked, high-speed, highly-volatile form of racing to spring when wrecks and opportunities afford them the chance to advance. Ragan fits that bill. The other three drivers common in the winning parlays took some faith.
- Ragan has won at both Daytona and Talladega in the NASCAR Cup Series. Eighteen of his 43 career top-10s have come at those two tracks.
- Both of Cassill’s two career top fives and top 10s have come at Daytona and Talladega.
- Both of McLeod’s top-10s in Cup have come at Daytona.
- The top 10 was the first of Ware’s career in Cup.
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