NASCAR Sprint Cup series will make its annual stop at Kentucky Speedway this week for the running of this seasons Quaker State 400 presented by Advance Auto Parts. Saturday night’s race is scheduled to start at 7:30 p.m. (ET) and it will be broadcast nationally on NBC.
Brad Keselowski joined Kyle Busch as the only Sprint Cup drivers with three point race victories this year by taking the checkered flag at Daytona last Saturday night. Kyle ended up second in that race and Trevor Bayne placed third. I went with Martin Truex Jr. as my +1200 top-valued pick, but he had a long night to finish all the back in 29th.
The following is a look at a few of the top favorites to win this Saturday night race along with my top value pick based on betting odds provided by TopBet.
Favorites
Kevin Harvicks sole victory this year came early in the season at Phoenix, but he is still holding down the top spot in the current Sprint Cup standings with 565 total points. He comes into this race as one of three +600 favorites to double that total on Saturday night. The No. 4 Chevrolet went out early at Daytona in a wreck to snap a string of four-straight finishes in the Top 10. All told, this team has posted seven Top 5 finishes in the first 17 point races this year. Harvick is still looking for his first career victory at Kentucky and his average finishing position through five previous runs here is 10.4.
The next driver on the list at +600 betting odds to win is Kyle Busch. Last Saturdays second-place finish at Daytona was his 10th Top 5 run of the year. He has the No. 18 Toyota in sixth place in the standings with 492 points, but he has long since locked up a spot in the Chase with those three previous wins. Busch started an amazing run of three-straight victories last season by taking the checkered flag at Kentucky. He also won the inaugural Sprint Cup race at this track back in 2011. Over the course of his five runs at this track, his average finishing position is an amazing 3.8.
Rounding out the trio of favorites at +600 is Joey Logano. He has been on a tear lately with four-straight Top 5 finishes including a victory at Michigan in mid-June to raise his total to seven top five finishes on the year. He guided the No. 22 Ford to a fourth-place finish last Saturday night to move into fourth place in the standings with 531 total points. Last season at Kentucky Logano placed second to post his third-straight Top 10 run at this track. He is still looking for his first checkered flag here and his average finishing position is 10.2.
