By: Joe Branch
June 18, 2021

Indycar at Road America, as pure as it gets for the racing world! This weekend the starts of the NTT Indycar Series hit the four mile road course by Elkhart Lake. 

Traditionally this race is pretty straight forward in terms of strategy and betting, there aren’t a lot of cautions or even race strategy, just pure speed.  There are plenty of opportunities to pass at Road America so the fastest race car usually finds its way to the front.

One might think that this would make betting on the race this weekend easy?  However, the ultra competitive nature of this year’s field makes it tough.

Favorites

There are three odds on favorites going into this weekend, all coming in at +450 (4.5 to 1).  Here we find the two usual suspects in defending series champion Scott Dixon and Josef Newgarden.  Both are former winners at Road America and very hungry for wins this weekend. 

The other driver joining them as a favorite is the only two time winner of the season Pato O’Ward.  +450 isn’t a terrible value for an opening favorite.  Going off of previous qualifying trends, both Pato and Josef could easily put their cars on pole, so if you want to bet these two, I would recommend getting them before qualifying as the odds are unlikely to improve. 

As for Dixon, I don’t see great value in the +450, he hasn’t qualified better than 9th at Road America in the last three races, so you will likely get better odds by waiting for odds to be adjusted after qualifying.

Value

At most tracks throughout the Indycar season, value pics are usually found in the +2000 range.  That is a little different this week due to the straight forward nature of Road America.  Alex Palou stands out at +800 (8 to 1).  Alex has been quick all season, the 10 car was blazing fast in the double header at Road America last year, which yielded a win for Felix Rosenqzist. 

Palou finished on the podium in the first race of last year’s double header as well for Dale Coyne Racing.  

Will Power joins Palou at +800 (8 to 1).  After last week’s mechanical failure that took Power out of the lead we know that he is more determined than ever to get “The Captain”, his Car Owner Roger Penske his first win of the season.

Lastly, Andretti Autosport’s duo of Colton Herta and Alexander Rossi will definitely be factors in this race.  They come in at +750 (7.5 to 1) and +1000 (10 to 1) respectively.

Long Shots

As stated above, the straight forward nature of Road America doesn’t usually yield a lot of value for long shots but I see one exception here and frankly I’m shocked to get these odds.  Jack Harvey is currently sitting at +5000 (50 to 1)! 

He qualified 2nd here for Race One last year.  These odds are surely to go down after qualifying so jump on him now.  Harvey continues to knock on the door of his first win and the Meyer Shank Racing organization is definitely still on a high from winning Indy with Helio. 

My Picks

Favorite: Pato O’Ward +450 to win, +125 to podium

Value: Alex Palou +800 to win, +225 to podium

Value: Alexander Rossi +1000 to win, +250 to podium

Long Shot: Jack Harvey +5000 to win, +850 to podium

Header Image By Chris Owens/INDYCAR Odds from DraftKings as of 6/17