NASCAR odds for COTA show SVG and Connor Zilisch as faves. Chase Elliott an afterthought?

Take a moment and skip down to the odds posted below. Particularly those first two names.

Yep, it’s a brand new world for NASCAR on road courses, including this week’s visit to Austin’s Circuit of the Americas.

Can’t say I was shocked to see SVG atop the Hard Rock Bets board. But ain’t it a little early to suggest Connor Zilisch is ready to light things up?

Maybe, but maybe not. Connor Z has skedaddled up the ranks, and finally turning 18 last year only fueled the run. He’s the official property of Trackhouse Racing, but under an agreement with JR Motorsports, he has a full-time Xfinity Series ride with Dale Earnhardt Jr.’s team this year.

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This comes courtesy of Red Bull, which is sponsoring SVG, another Trackhouse racer, for five races this year, including this week at COTA. Some additional funding led to a one-off (maybe just one) Cup ride this weekend for Zilisch, who will also be wheeling Junior’s Xfinity ride, of course.

Just as SVG won his Cup debut two seasons ago in Chicago, Zilisch made his first Xfinity start last summer at Watkins Glen, and yes, he won. He grew up on road courses and is obviously capable. And after crashing out of the year’s first two races, at Daytona and Atlanta, he’s bound to be excited to see this 20-turn playground in Austin.

NASCAR Cup Series odds for COTA: The favorites

+450: Shane van Gisbergen

+650: Connor Zilisch

+700: Tyler Reddick

+750: William Byron

+800: Christopher Bell

+900: Kyle Larson

Notice a glaring absence among the above 6-pack? That’s right, Chase Elliott is no longer the go-to guy when picking road-course favorites.

Chase’s seven road-course wins came in a flurry. All of them posted over an 11-race road-course stretch from August of 2018 to July of 2021. He’s 0-for-19 since, if we include the two Chicago street races. Nine top-fives, though, so it’s not like he’s an actual longshot this week.

In fact …

We found Chase Elliott, NASCAR’s former King of the Road

+1000: Chase Elliott

+1200: Ross Chastain

+1300: AJ Allmendinger

+1600: Ty Gibbs, Alex Bowman

+2000: Chris Buescher

By the way, it’s also odd to see AJ Allmendinger behind so many on the board. You can make the argument that he’s the second-best natural NASCAR roadie, behind only SVG.

NASCAR at COTA potential: We’ve found possible gems at a good payoff

+2500: Kyle Busch, Austin Cindric

+3000: Michael McDowell, Daniel Suarez, Chase Briscoe

+4000: Joey Logano, Denny Hamlin, Ryan Blaney

+7500: Carson Hocevar

Depending on where the odds go after Saturday’s qualifying, you’d be quite negligent to ignore McDowell and Cindric at these numbers. Both are road-course aces.

Memo to Carson Hocevar: There are 20 turns at COTA, therefore 20 opportunities for some of the grumpy old(er) men to deliver some payback for perceived misdeeds last week at Atlanta.

Bubba Wallace and two Daytona 500 champions among the longest of longshots

+10000: Cole Custer

+15000: Brad Keselowski, Zane Smith, Bubba Wallace, Todd Gilliland

+20000: Josh Berry, Austin Dillon, Ricky Stenhouse Jr., John Hunter Nemechek, Ryan Preece, Justin Haley

+25000: Riley Herbst, Ty Dillon, Erik Jones, Cody Ware, Noah Gragson

Of the above, Cole Custer has the best career finishing average on road courses, and it’s an unimpressive 18.7 in seven road starts. But it’s better than Kez and Bubba, who both average in the 20th-place range.

And our two Daytona 500 winners are even worse: Stenhouse at 21.6 and Dillon at 22.9.

You’re better off giving this money to the Girl Scouts and taking home a box of thin mints.

— Email Ken Willis at ken.willis@news-jrnl.com

This article originally appeared on The Daytona Beach News-Journal: SVG and Connor Z: NASCAR COTA betting odds indicate new road warriors