NASCAR’s Cup Series begins its West Coast swing this week with a stop at Las Vegas Motor Speedway for the running of the Pennzoil 400 presented by Jiffy Lube. Sunday’s race is slated to get underway at 3:30 p.m. (ET) and FOX will carry the broadcast nationally.
Pennzoil 400 Favorites
Kevin Harvick did not win a Cup Series event at Atlanta since 2001, but he made his way to Victory Lane on Sunday in this year’s Folds of Honor Quiktrip 500. Brad Keselowski finished second in that race, and Clint Bowyer took third. I had a shot at cashing in on Denny Hamlin as a +1650 top-value pick with his fourth-place finish.
The following is a look at a trio of the top favorites to win this Sunday’s race at Las Vegas along with my top-valued pick at longer odds as provided by Bovada.
NASCAR Betting: Wager on who will win plus driver vs. driver match-up bets! All available at Bovada
Kevin Harvick +500
Harvick only posted two victories in a point-race event all last season, but last Sunday’s win at Atlanta has him back at the top of the list to match that number with another victory in this Sunday’s race. There is some substantial value in these odds given how strong the No. 4 Ford has looked in last week’s race. Harvick held the lead for 181 laps after making an early exit the week before at Daytona in a wreck. The lone drain on his odds is a 14.8 average finishing position at Las Vegas. He did win this race in 2015, but a wreck took him out of the running last year.
Martin Truex Jr. +500
The reigning Cup Series Champion followed up a disappointing 18th-place finish at Daytona with a fifth-place run last Sunday to move the No. 78 Toyota car in the right direction. Truex got things rolling last season with a victory at Las Vegas, in what would be the first of eight trips to Victory Lane in 2017. This win was his only career victory at this track in a Cup Series event, but he has shown some consistency at this venue with a second-place finish in 2015 sandwiched around an 11th-place run the following year. Over the course of his Cup Series career, his average finishing position here is 13.2.
Kyle Larson +650
Larson is one of three drivers at +650 odds to win along with Brad Keselowski and Kyle Busch. One of the big reasons why I see more value in Larson behind the wheel of the No. 42 Chevrolet was his ability to stay in the mix in almost every race he ran last season. He won four races in 2017 as part of 15 runs inside the top five. After fading to 19th at Daytona, he was able to work himself into the top 10 at Atlanta with a ninth-place finish. With limited experience at Las Vegas in a Cup Series race, Larson finished eighth here in 2015 before taking second in last year’s race.
