NASCAR’s Monster Energy Cup Series will make its second stop of the season at Pocono Raceway in Northeast Pennsylvania this week for the running of Sunday’s Gander Outdoors 400. Race time from Pocono for Sunday’s main event is set for 2:30 p.m. (ET) on NBC Sports Network.
Kevin Harvick is back on top as the winningest Cup Series driver this season with last Sunday’s victory at New Hampshire. He now has six point-race wins on the year ahead of Kyle Busch (five wins), who was second in that race. Aric Almirola turned in his best effort of the year by taking third. Last week’s top-valued pick was forgettable with Brad Keselowski plummeting to 32nd at +1600 betting odds to win.
The following is a look at a trio of the top favorites to win this Sunday’s race at Pocono along with my top-valued pick to win at longer odds as provided by 5Dimes
Gander Outdoors 400 Race Favorites
Kyle Busch +300
Busch lost last week’s race on a perfectly timed bump and run move by Harvick. This adds a bit more motivation this week to get his sixth win of the season. The No. 18 Toyota remains in first place in the current Cup Series standings with a total of 844 points. You get the feeling things are starting to get personal between the top two divers on the list. This was Busch’s 14th finish inside the top five heading into 21st point race on this year’s Cup Series schedule. Earlier this season at Pocono he finished third after winning this race last season to add even more value to his betting odds.
Kevin Harvick +300
Earlier in the season Harvick posted three victories in a row at Atlanta, Las Vegas and Phoenix to jump-start his 2018 Cup Series campaign. It has been over two months between last week’s victory and a win at Kansas in mid-May, so you know that he will be motivated on Sunday to back-to-back trips to Victory Lane. The No. 4 Ford only led for 12 laps at New Hampshire, but his total laps led for the season are now 1052 verse 850 for the entire 2017 racing season. Harvick finished right behind Busch at Pocono back in early June after finishing second to the No. 18 Toyota in this event last year. Amazingly enough, he has yet to win a Cup Series race at this track over the course of his career.
Martin Truex Jr. +300
Truex Jr. rounds out the Big 3 in NASCAR this season with four victories and 10 additional finishes inside the top five driving the No. 78 Toyota. With last Sunday’s fourth-place finish at New Hampshire, the team is third in the standings with 740 total points. Following his recent victory at Kentucky where he led 174 total laps, he was in the lead for 83 laps in last Sunday’s race. Adding value to his betting odds to win this Sunday is a victory in the first race at Pocono this season. This followed a third-place finish behind Busch and Harvick in last year’s second race at this track.
Get more details: Driver vs Driver Match Up
