Updated 2018 NASCAR Championship Odds; Westgate Las Vegas Superbook does best with Harvick winning it all

Kevin Harvick has a series-leading seven wins on the season.

The NASCAR Cup Series takes the week off before next weekend's Southern 500 at Darlington Raceway, so let's do an update on what the Westgate Las Vegas Superbook has done with its 2018 odds to win the Championship.

Only two races are remaining until the playoffs start in Las Vegas and only nine of the 16 playoff position have been claimed by virtue of winning a race this season. But realistically the field is set unless any of the current drivers outside the top-16 win a race at Darlington or the following week at Indianapolis. Ricky Stenhouse, Jr. sits in 17th place, 79 points behind 16th place occupied by Alex Bowman.

Superbook manager Ed Salmons posted the 2018 Championship odds shortly after the 2017 season completed and says he's only a couple legitimate losers for his bet shop.

"We took some decent size wagers on both Kyle (Busch) and Martin Truex, Jr. that would make us small losers if they win, but our biggest loser by far is Jimmie Johnson," Salmons said. "We had a guy very confident Johnson would bounce back this season and placed a large wager on him."

Johnson opened the season at 15-to-1 odds, around the time the bettor made the wager, but despite the heavy risk, Salmons has moved the seven-time Cup champion up to 40-to-1 odds. For the first time in Johnson's career he has yet to win a race this far into the season, but Salmons does think there's an upside for Johnson about to happen.

"The Chevies are getting more speed, you can see it happening weekly," he said. "I expect them to get better each week."

He referenced Chase Elliott's speed at Watkins Glen, which was the first Chevrolet win since Austin Dillon won the season-opening Daytona 500. Salmons is impressed with Elliott and thinks more wins are coming which is partly why he has him at 12-to-1 odds to win it all.

"Chase is years ahead of his age the way he drives," Salmons said.

Kyle Larson is another young Chevy driver searching for his first win of the season and Salmons has him listed as the fourth favored driver behind the Big-3.

"If Larson can get to the final four at Homestead, he'll give whoever the other three are some trouble," he said, noting that Larson has finished fifth, second and third in his last three Homestead starts.

Larson opened the season at 5-to-1 odds to win the Championship, long before any of us knew how much time it would take until the new Camaro would find speed.

Read More Here....complete list of Updated odds on VegasInsider.com