NASCAR is Back – Subway Fresh Fit 500

Take note NASCAR betting fans, you’ve got one less day to get your bets in this week. The Sprint Cup Series hits the track on Saturday night this weekend under the lights of Phoenix International Raceway in the Subway Fresh Fit 500.

The Sprint Cup Series finally gets going again after a two-week break that likely has NASCAR junkies going through withdrawal symptoms. NASCAR’s best last raced on April 5 at Texas Motor Speedway in the Samsung 500. Jeff Gordon finally snapped a lengthy winless streak at Texas and padded his lead atop the driver standings. Gordon leads the series with five Top-5 finishes this season and as a result leads the Race for the Chase with a 162-point lead over second-place Jimmie Johnson.

Gordon may be the points leader, and he may be coming off his first win in more than a year, but he’s not the favorite this weekend on the NASCAR odds. The favorite is reigning Sprint Cup champion Johnson, and with good reason. Johnson dominated Phoenix last season, winning both the Subway Fresh Fit 500 and the Checker Auto Parts 500 to sweep both races. Johnson also won the Checker Auto Parts 500 in 2007, giving him three straight racing wins at Phoenix. That’s why Johnson is a +350 favorite on the NASCAR odds.

Following Johnson on the odds list are both Gordon and Kyle Busch at +600. You already know about Gordon’s hot start to the season, but he also has one career win at Phoenix which he picked up in the Subway Fresh Fit 500 in 2007. Busch enters the weekend seventh in the points standings after an 18th-place finish at Texas two weeks ago. On the season Busch has two wins but only one other Top-5 finish, and he has one previous win at Phoenix in the 2005 Checker Auto Parts 500.

Rounding out the Top 5 on the NASCAR odds this week are Denny Hamlin and Carl Edwards at +800. Hamlin is still looking for his first win of the season, but he’s come awfully close twice with back-to-back second-place finishes at Bristol Motor Speedway and Martinsville Speedway in March. Compared to last season, when he finished second overall behind Johnson, it’s been a slow start to the year for Edwards. So far in 2009 he’s gone winless with only one Top-5 finish in seven races. Edwards has never won at Phoenix and could really use a win this weekend to break out of his current funk.