The spotlight will be on one of the newest additions to the NASCAR Cup Series schedule on Sunday at the 2022 EchoPark Automotive Grand Prix in Austin, Texas. Last year's NASCAR at Austin race featured 10 different lead drivers. Champion Chase Elliott only led for the final five laps, but he returns as the 9-4 favorite to win again in the latest 2022 EchoPark Automotive Grand Prix odds on Caesars Sportsbook.

Joey Logano (20-1) and Kyle Busch (10-1) led the most laps in the maiden NASCAR Austin race, but should they be considered among your 2022 EchoPark Automotive Grand Prix picks? Martin Truex Jr. only led for three in 2021, but has the third-best NASCAR at Circuit of the Americas odds to win on Sunday at 13-2. Before scouring the 2022 EchoPark Automotive Grand Prix starting lineup and making any 2022 NASCAR Austin predictions, be sure to see the latest 2022 EchoPark Automotive Grand Prix picks from SportsLine's proven projection model.

Developed by daily Fantasy pro and SportsLine predictive data engineer Mike McClure, this proprietary NASCAR prediction model simulates every race 10,000 times, taking into account factors such as track history and recent results.

In the 2021 season, McClure nailed Martin Truex Jr. to win at Martinsville for a strong 3-1 payout. The model also nailed Kyle Larson winning the NASCAR All-Star Race at 5-2 in Texas and hit Larson again at the Ally 400 for another 5-2 payout. Then, it called Chase Elliott to win at Road America for a 5-2 payout.

It also called Larson's win at Texas for an 11-4 payout and his win at Kansas for a 9-4 payout in back-to-back weeks before nailing Larson to win the season-finale in Phoenix to claim the NASCAR Cup Championship. In total, it called five of Larson's wins during a historic season and has gone 7-5 on its head-to-head matchup predictions to start the 2022 NASCAR season. Anyone who followed its lead on those plays saw huge returns on its NASCAR picks.

Now, the model simulated the 2022 NASCAR Austin race 10,000 times. Head to SportsLine to see the complete projected 2022 EchoPark Automotive Grand Prix leaderboard.

Top 2022 NASCAR at COTA predictions

One surprise: the model is high on Kurt Busch, even though he's a 40-1 long shot in the latest 2022 NASCAR at Austin odds. He's a target for anyone looking for a huge payday. Busch started off last year's race at the Circuit of the Americas in 13th, was third by the end of the first stage, but faded to 27th. Overall, he has been boom-or-bust driver on road courses, as he finished sixth or better at four of them last season, but 19th or worse at three others. Overall this season, Busch has been in strong form and has the third-best pass differential among all drivers, at plus-93 and is tied with Ryan Blaney for the fifth-most points with 148.

And a massive shocker: Martin Truex Jr., one of the Vegas favorites at 13-2, stumbles big-time and barely cracks the top five. There are far better values in this open 2022 EchoPark Automotive Grand Prix starting grid. Truex has four wins on road courses in his career and was once in the conversation for best road racer in NASCAR, but he's been surpassed by youngsters like Elliott and Larson in recent years.

Last season, his familiarity with Sonoma and Watkins Glen yielded a pair of third-place finishes, but he finished outside the top 10 in four of the other five road races. He finished 35th in the inaugural race at Circuit of the Americas thanks to a crash, and any information he could have gleaned from that start will likely be moot considering the weather conditions and the new "Next-Gen" car.

How to make 2022 NASCAR Austin picks

The model is also targeting five other drivers with 2022 NASCAR Austin odds of 15-1 or longer to make a serious run at the checkered flag. Anyone who backs these drivers could hit it big. You can see all of the model's NASCAR picks over at SportsLine.

So who wins the EchoPark Automotive Grand Prix 2022? And which long shots make a run at the checkered flag? Check out the latest 2022 NASCAR at Austin odds below, then visit SportsLine now to see the full projected 2022 EchoPark Automotive Grand Prix leaderboard, all from the model that correctly predicted five of Kyle Larson's wins last season. 

2022 EchoPark Automotive Grand Prix odds

Chase Elliott 9-4
Kyle Larson 7-2
Martin Truex Jr. 13-2
Kyle Busch 10-1
William Byron 12-1
A.J. Allmendinger 15-1
Austin Cindric 15-1
Denny Hamlin 18-1
Christopher Bell 18-1
Chase Briscoe 20-1
Joey Logano 20-1
Ryan Blaney 25-1
Alex Bowman 35-1
Kurt Busch 40-1
Kevin Harvick 40-1
Tyler Reddick 40-1
Ross Chastain 40-1
Brad Keselowski 60-1
Michael McDowell 100-1
Austin Dillon 100-1
Daniel Suarez 100-1
Erik Jones 100-1
Chris Buescher 125-1
Justin Haley 150-1
Cole Custer 150-1
Aric Almirola 150-1
Bubba Wallace 250-1
Ricky Stenhouse Jr. 250-1
Todd Gilliland 500-1
Ty Dillon 500-1
Kaz Grala 500-1
Harrison Burton 500-1
Corey Lajoie 1000-1
Andy Lally 1000-1
Joey Hand 1500-1
Boris Said 2000-1
Loris Hezemans 2500-1
Josh Bilicki 2500-1
Cody Ware 2500-1