What if the NFL held the Super Bowl at the beginning of the season instead of at the end? You'd have something like NASCAR. Their season starts with their most visible event, Sunday's world-famous Daytona 500 at Florida's Daytona International Speedway. It's the first points event of the 2010 Sprint Cup season and the unofficial start of NASCAR betting. And what everyone wants to know this year is whether Jimmie Johnson can be stopped from winning his fifth consecutive championship.

It looks like the gremlins have already gotten to him. Johnson crashed during Wednesday's practice and will have to run the Daytona 500 in a back-up car. Get used to it: NASCAR has eased up its rules on bump drafting, the fine art of hitting the car in front of you in order to stay in its slipstream and conserve momentum. This tactic will no longer be policed on the superspeedways at Dayton and Talladega, according to NASCAR officials. These relaxed rules led to a series of crashes during practice for last week's Budweiser Shootout exhibition at Daytona; several of those drivers have also crashed during this week's warm-ups.

All this chaos will make Sunday's race more exciting, and yet more challenging for handicappers. Johnson's status on the Sprint Cup futures market is unchanged; he remains the 9-4 favorite to complete his Drive for Five. But Johnson is only pegged at 10-1 for the Daytona 500, which may already be generous given his problems Wednesday. Mark Martin is also at 10-1; ahead of them on the NASCAR odds list are Dale Earnhardt Jr. at 8-1 and Jeff Gordon at 9-1. The common thread? All four drivers work for Hendrick Motorpsorts.

Johnson has other disadvantages besides the back-up car when it comes to Daytona. Martin has the pole and Earnhardt is next to him on the front row; those two positions are locked in, but Johnson and the rest of the field have to fight for the other 41 spots during Thursday's Gatorade Duels. And anyone running in a back-up car will have to start the Duels from the rear of the grid. As we go to press, five drivers will be in their back-ups: Johnson, Joey Logano (28-1), Clint Bowyer (32-1), David Reutimann (40-1) and Mike Bliss (Field, 22-1). By the way, the pole-sitter at Daytona has won 24 of 125 Cup events, most recently Tony Stewart at last year's Coke Zero 400 (formerly the Pepsi 400).

Stewart has three victories under his belt at Daytona in 22 races and is the co-favorite to win his first Daytona 500 at 15-2. Kyle Busch is the other co-favorite; he's been to Daytona 10 times and taken the checkered flag once, after he made the move from Hendrick to Joe Gibbs Racing in 2008. Stewart's win last year was also with his new team, of which he happens to be part-owner: Stewart Haas Racing. When betting NASCAR, it's imperative to look at the past performance of the team and car in question as much (or even more so) than the man behind the wheel.

It's also very important to consider the track itself. The Daytona 500 features restrictor plates, the devices NASCAR uses to limit engine power when the drivers are racing on the superspeedways – so they don't accumulate too much speed going down those extended straightaways. Earnhardt and Gordon both have reputations for handling these restrictor-plate events; Dale Earnhardt Sr. was known as "Mr. Restrictor Plate” before his untimely death at the 2001 Daytona 500. The younger Earnhardt has two wins in 20 appearances at Daytona. Gordon has six victories in 34 attempts. Johnson has only the 2006 Daytona 500 to show for his 16 races there, while Martin has yet to win after 49 tries.

In addition to the standard Daytona 500 odds, we have a wide selection of head-to-head matchups for whom will score the most points in this year's Sprint Cup standings. To give you an idea of the expected pecking order this year, Martin is priced at –130 against Gordon at even money, while Gordon is –140 to Busch's +110. You can find these matchups on the Motor Sports futures market, along with the Sprint Cup odds.

Bet on NASCAR Daytona 500 at Bodog Sports