Denny Hamlin finished second toJimmie Johnson in the Sprint Cup Series standings in 2010, but he wasn’t able to build on that result in 2011 as he ended up in ninth place for the season. Can Hamlin get back into championship contention in 2012? Bet on NASCAR with Bovada.

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The Joe Gibbs Racing driver struggled to pick up high-end finishes in 2011, which ultimately kept him out of the race for the series title. When Hamlin did so well in 2010 he won eight races and finished in the Top 5 14 times.

Last year, however, Hamlin only managed to visit Victory Lane once, and he only ended up in the Top 5 five times. As a result, he finished the season 119 points back of champion Tony Stewart in the standings.

Hamlin’s lone victory in 2011 came in June at the Heluva Good! Sour Cream Dips 400 at Michigan International Speedway, where he held off Matt Kenseth and Kyle Busch for the checkered flag.

Still, Hamlin has finished 12th or better in the driver standings in each of his six full seasons on the Sprint Cup Series circuit, and he has 111 Top-10 finishes over 223 races in his career.

Those stats put him at 10/1 on the NASCAR odds at Bovada to win the Sprint Cup Series championship in 2012. Johnson leads the way at 5/1 on that list, followed by Carl Edwards at 6/1, and Kyle Busch at 7/1.

Hamlin, though, was back at 20/1 odds at last update to win the season-opening Daytona 500 on February 26; he finished 21st at the Daytona 500 last season, and has never won a Cup race at Daytona International Speedway.

Find Sprint Cup Series betting odds - including all your Daytona 500 lines – today at Bovada.