The NASCAR season begins this weekend with the Budweiser Shootout  at Daytona International Speedway, which means the Great American Race, the Daytona 500 isn't too far off either.

We'll start things off by taking a look at the Shootout. For anyone unfamiliar with the Budweiser Shootout it's a quick 75-lap race held at Daytona comprised of a select field, including last year's Top 25 drivers in the standings and former winners at Daytona.

At SportsInteraction , which is pushing to become the best sportsbook for NASCAR betting, he favorite in the Shootout is Kevin Harvick at +1000. He's had a ton of success at Daytona in his career, including winning the Shootout in back-to-back years in 2009 and 2010. Last year he finished seventh in the Shootout.

The defending champion in the shootout is Kurt Busch, who claimed his first Shootout win last year. Oddsmakers at SIA aren't giving him much of a chance of repeating after listing him far down on the odds list at +2000.

A few other former Budweiser Shootout winners and their odds at SIA include two-time winner Dale Earnhardt Jr. (08, 03) at +1100, three time winner Tony Stewart (01, 02, 07) at +1200, Denny Hamlin (06) at +2000 and Jimmie Johnson (05) at +1200.

The real NASCAR season doesn't get started until February 26 with the Daytona 500. It will be hard for this year's Daytona 500 to match last year's race when Trevor Bayne shocked the racing world and become the youngest driver in history to win the Daytona 500.

I don't know why you would want to, but if you wanted to bet on Bayne to repeat you'd have to bet on the field at SIA at +1600, because right  now there are no individual odds or him.

The SIA favorite to claim the checkered flag at Daytona is Harvick at +900. He won the 500 back in 2007 and he also won the Coke Zero 400 at Daytona in 2010. Harvick also finished second in the 500 in 2009 and seems to have a knack for getting to the front of the pack at Daytona.

After Harvick there is a traffic jam of drivers at +1000 on the SIA odds, including Kyle Busch, Tony Stewart,  Jimmie Johnson and Dale Earnhardt Jr. From that foursome Johnson won the 500 in 2006 and Earnhardt Jr. won in 2004.

Odds on a few other former Daytona 500 winners include Jamie McMurray +2500 , Matt Kenseth +2000, Ryan Newman +2500 and Jeff Gordon +1200. [ Earn a $125 bonus for new customers when you check out Sports Interaction ]