We've got a jam-packed Sunday in the motorsports world, highlighted by the biggest race in the world, the Indianapolis 500.
Also on the docket this Sunday is NASCAR's Coca-Cola 600 in Charlotte, while Formula One moves away from the Monaco GP to the Canadian GP in Montreal. All three races start at different times on Sunday, leaving racing fans with the perfect day to plop down on the couch for hours upon hours of racing action.
- IndyCar: Indianapolis 500, 12:45 p.m. ET
- Formula One: Canadian Grand Prix, 4:00 p.m. ET
- NASCAR: Coca-Cola 600, 6:30 p.m. ET
And if that's the case, why not have a little fun with some betting action? At the time of this writing, this parlay at FanDuel has odds of +3092, and without the F1 leg (the series I know the least about), it's still +1492. Personally, I'm going to round robin the combination of twos as well.
Remember to bet responsibly — this is a long shot for a reason.
IndyCar | Indianapolis 500
David Malukas Top-3 Finish (+185)
All week long in Indianapolis, David Malukas has looked like he's had one of the best cars. Especially in the final practice of the week on Friday at Carb Day, he looked exceptionally strong.
Last year, Malukas finished third despite racing for the slightly smaller team of A.J. Foyt Racing, which has a technical alliance with his new, stronger team, Team Penske. Malukas was promoted to second place after the initial second-place finisher, Marcus Ericsson, was disqualified for a technical infraction on his car.
Malukas has several podium finishes on ovals in his young IndyCar career, despite all of those coming with smaller teams.
Now, with the most successful team in Indy 500 history, he's my favorite to win. The top-3 finish gives us a bit of wiggle room to hit that first leg of the parlay.
Formula One | Monaco Grand Prix
George Russell to Win (+100)
If you want to leave this leg out, I don't blame you. F1 isn't my strong suit, and betting on the chalk in a race that has some potential rain forecast isn't fun.
But Russell won this race last year and has followed the same pattern this year that he followed one year ago. Not the fastest in the first free practice, but tops in the second and third qualifying sessions (in this case, for the sprint race, which he also won). He then backed it up, winning pole for the Grand Prix itself.
Hard for me to fade a guy who's essentially been the fastest in every important session at the track each of the last two years.
NASCAR | Coca-Cola 600
Daniel Suarez Top-10 Finish (+460)
Suarez has been strong at the 1.5-mile tracks this year, and also has a strong history at this track, Charlotte Motor Speedway.
In 2022, Suarez led over 35 laps before being taken out in a late crash. Suarez also ranked sixth in my practice FLAGS metric, which is a truer metric of practice speed than lap averages or single-lap times. He also ranked inside the top 10 in peak speed, long-run speed, and tire degradation, and in the top half in consistency in practice, leading to a top-five ranking in my overall composite metric.
My model gives him a 20% chance to finish inside the top 10, which is a couple of percentage points clear of the 17.9% implied at +460 odds.
