The last time Matt Kenseth made his way to the Winner’s Circle in a Sprint Cup race was back in the 2013 season, but that drought finally came to an end with a victory at Bristol this past Sunday. Jimmie Johnson took second and I went with Jeff Gordon as my top valued pick at +1200 betting odds for this race and he made a run at things by finishing third.
The following is a look at a few of the top favorites to win this Saturday night’s race at Richmond International Speedway along with my top value pick of to win this week based on odds from Sportsbook.ag.
Kevin Harvick‘s winless drought in his No. 4 car reached four races with a 38th-place finish at Bristol, which must feel like an eternity to a race team that has already won twice this season. The amazing thing about last week’s run is that Harvick led that race for 184 laps. It was also the first time he finished outside the top 10 in his last 11 Sprint Cup point races. This week, he has been opened as a +450 favorite to get back to his winning ways and it would hard to bet against him. He comes into this race with three previous career wins at Richmond in a Sprint Cup race including a victory in this event in 2013.
There are two drivers listed at +600 second-favorites to win on Saturday night; starting with Joey Logano as the winner of this race last season. Logano faded all the way to 40th at Bristol after getting tangled-up in a wreck. This broke a string of seven-straight finishes inside the top 10 this season including a victory at Daytona and a third-place finish at Martinsville. The No. 22 race team is currently sitting in second-place in the Sprint Cup standings behind Harvick with 284 total points. In addition to Logano’s victory in this event in 2014, he finished sixth in the second race at Richmond last season.
Ironically enough it was Logano’s teammate Brad Keselowski that caused the wreck that took both of these drivers out of last week’s race. He also happens to be the other driver listed at +600 betting odds to win this race. The No. 2 car is also off to a solid start with a victory at Fontana to go along with six other finishes inside the top 10 in the first eight points on the schedule. This team is sitting in fifth-place in the standings with 255 total points. Keselowski also enjoyed a high level of success at Richmond last season with a fourth-place finish in this race followed by a victory in the second Sprint Cup race at this track later in the year.
- Kevin Harvick No.4 9/2
- Brad Keselowski No.2 6/1
- Jimmie Johnson No.48 6/1
- Joey Logano No.22 6/1
- Kurt Busch No.41 7/1
- Denny Hamlin No.11 10/1
- Matt Kenseth No.20 10/1
- Jeff Gordon No.24 11/1
- Carl Edwards No.19 12/1
- Dale Earnhardt Jr. No.88 12/1
- Kasey Kahne No.5 18/1
- Kyle Larson No.42 20/1
- Martin Truex Jr. No.78 25/1
- Jamie McMurray No.1 28/1
- Ryan Newman No.31 40/1
- Tony Stewart No.14 40/1
- Clint Bowyer No.15 50/1
- David Ragan No.18 50/1
- Greg Biffle No.16 75/1
- Aric Almirola No.43 100/1
- Austin Dillon No.3 100/1
- Chase Elliott No.25 100/1
- Paul Menard No.27 100/1
- A.J. Allmendinger No.47 200/1
