Josef Newgarden is the PointsBet Sportsbook favorite for Sunday’s Big Machine Music City Grand Prix on the streets of Nashville, Tenn. (3 p.m. ET on NBC). For more details on how to watch, click here.
With a win at Long Beach this season and top-10s in all but one of the nine street courses during the past two years, Newgarden has shown a high degree of consistency on this track type, which accounts for his +425 odds. In addition to his win, the Team Penske driver has runner-up finishes at St. Petersburg, Belle Isle and Long Beach in 2021. Newgarden looks to cut into Will Power’s 32-point lead on his home track.
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 Newgarden is $4.25. For bettors more comfortable with fractional odds, a bet of +300 is the same as 3/1.
Newgarden is only slightly favored over Pato O’Ward at +440, despite that driver’s erratic finishes on street courses in the past two seasons. O’Ward has one win and four top-fives on temporary road courses in that span, with his most recent strong run ending fifth at Belle Isle. Five of his last nine street course starts ended outside the top 10.
Ranked third is Colton Herta with a line of +520. He scored a pair of street course wins in 2021, at St. Pete and Long Beach. While he has not added another street victory in 2022, he came close with a second-place finish in Toronto and has three top-10s in four starts on the course type this year.
Herta narrowly edges points’ leader Power at +540. Power swept the top-five in the first three street races this season and earned the victory at Belle Isle. He slipped to 15th at Toronto, but rebounded to finish third on the permanent road course inside Indianapolis Motor Speedway last week.
Rounding out the top five is Alex Palou with a line of +800. On combined road and street courses, Palou has eight results of sixth or better in his last 11 starts, including a win at Portland International Raceway last year.
Three other drivers are listed under 10/1 at PointsBet with Scott Dixon, last year’s Nashville winner Marcus Ericsson, and last week’s winner Alexander Rossi each posted at +850 – a line more double that of Newgarden.
Previous Betting Lines
St Petersburg: Colton Herta tops the list
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: Dixon favored; Jimmie Johnson solid dark horse
Road America: Alex Palou is slightly favored
Mid-Ohio: Josef Newgarden tops the list
Toronto: Newgarden narrowly favored in tight field
Iowa: Newgarden still favored as he stretches betting line lead
Gallagher Grand Prix: Paro O’Ward, Felix Rosenqvist lead tight field
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