NASCAR Sprint Cup Series – The Pepsi 500
NASCAR betting heads to sunny California for the Pepsi 500. The Chase for the Championship is ticking down, with this the seventh race remaining on the schedule. The Auto Club Speedway is a two-mile D-shaped oval with a 2,500-foot backstretch that lets drivers open up, making for some high-speed battles for the finish line.
The most successful active driver at California is Golden State native Jimmie Johnson, who happens to be a +350 favorite for this weekend’s race. Johnson has an average finish of 6.2 at Fontana and has taken the checkered flag there three times in 13 career starts. The defending Cup champ currently sits second in the points standings after a ninth-place showing at the Price Chopper 400 last Sunday. That was Johnson’s third straight Top-10 finish, giving him 18 on the season.
His teammate Mark Martin is priced at +500 for this week’s race. The veteran is leading the Chase with 5,551 points and is coming off a seventh-place performance at Kansas last Sunday. That gave Martin his sixth straight Top-10 showing and he now heads to the track he struggled at earlier in the year. The No. 5 team finished 40th at the Auto Club 500 in February and has one win and seven Top-10 placings at California in 16 career starts. Martin is desperate for his first-career Cup title and will be going all out in the remaining races.
Another Hendrick Motorsports driver, Jeff Gordon, is among the favorites for the Pepsi 400. The No. 24 team is set at +700 for this weekend’s event. The Vallejo, California native has had past success at his home track. Gordon posts an average finish of 11th at the Auto Club with 20 Top-10 finishes, including a second-place showing in his most recent run there. Gordon has placed inside the Top 10 in eight of his last 11 races but is still without a win since the Samsung 500 back in April. Last weekend, Gordon finished a close second at Kansas to move to seventh in the points standings.
The man who edged Gordon for the win last Sunday, Tony Stewart, is listed at +1000 for the Pepsi 500. Stewart quieted doubters that said the driver/owner was complacent with his success before the Chase. That win pushed the No. 14 team to fourth in the Chase and gave Stewart his first win since the Heluva Good! Sour Cream Dips at The Glen back in early August. The man known as “Smoke” has yet to do a burnout at the Auto Club. In 16 career starts at Fontana, Stewart has eight Top-10 finishes and an average finish of 16 th. His last race there produced a eighth-place showing at the Auto Club 500 in February.
There are four drivers set at +1200 this weekend. Denny Hamlin, Juan Pablo Montoya, Kyle Busch, and Carl Edwards all make solid plays at this price but Edwards could give bettors the best bang for their buck. He’s been one of the best drivers at California, posting an average finish of 6.9 in 10 career runs there. Edwards placed within the Top 10 in nine of those races, including taking the checkered in 2008′s Auto Club 500. He is sitting 10 th in the points standings after a 10th-place performance at the Price Chopper 400 last weekend.
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