With three road course wins to his credit in 2021 and three podiums in the first five road races of 2022, Alex Palou is the PointsBet Sportsbook favorite at Road America (Sunday, 1 p.m. ET on NBC and streaming on Peacock, the NBC Sports App and NBCSports.com).
Last week, Palou finished sixth in the final race at Bell Isle, which was the 11th time in the past 13 road course races that he finished seventh or better. That consistency contributes to his line of +450 for Sonsio Grand Prix.
One way to view American Odds is to move the decimal point two positions to the left. That will let a bettor know what they will make on a $1 bet, so the return on investment this week for Palou is $4.50. For bettors more comfortable with fractional odds, a bet of +300 is the same as 3/1.
Palou is narrowly favored over Josef Newgarden, who opened 30 points higher with a line of +480. Newgarden has earned inconsistent results in 2022 with a win at Long Beach and fourth-place finish at Belle Isle being offset by three results outside the top 10 on road and street courses. Newgarden has one win at Road America in 2018 and started on the pole there three times. Last year, Newgarden finished 21st after leading the field to green.
Ranked third this week are Will Power and Pato O’Ward with lines of +500.
Power has the best record on road courses this season with a sweep of the top five in five races and his win last week at Belle Isle. Power won the 2016 race at Road America and finished on the podium in three of his last four starts.
O’Ward has three top-fives in his last four road course attempts, including a win at Barber Motorsports Park. He has made four starts at Road America in the IndyCar series with a best finish of second in the second race of 2020’s doubleheader.
Colton Herta rounds out the top five with a line of +575. He enters the weekend with eight top-10s in his last nine road course attempts. Three of these were victories at Laguna Seca and Long Beach last year and on the Indianapolis road course, where he was listed as the favorite with a similar line of +560.
No other driver is currently listed below 10/1 for Road America, which leaves bettors with a few attractive dark horses including Scott McLaughlin (+1200) who won the season opener at St. Petersburg, Romain Grosjean (+1100), who finished second at Long Beach and Rinus VeeKay (+1600) who was third at Barber.
Previous Betting Lines
St Petersburg: Colton Herta favored
Texas: Scott Dixon favored
Long Beach: Herta favored for second street race
Barber: Herta still favored, but line gets longer
GMR Grand Prix: Herta continue to be road racing favorite
Indy 500: Scott Dixon favored; Jimmie Johnson solid dark horse
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