Two weeks ago at Michigan, Kurt Busch crossed the finish line first to lay claim to his second Sprint Cup victory of the season. Dale Earnhardt Jr. raced his way to a second-place finish and Martin Truex Jr. followed up a victory at Pocono by taking third in this race. My top value pick for Michigan was Brad Keselowski at +1200 betting odds, but he fell to sixth after starting third.
The following is a look at a few of the top favorites to win this Sunday’s Toyota-Save Mart 350 at Sonoma along with my top value pick based on betting odds provided by Sportsbook.ag.
Given that the track at Sonoma is a road course and not your traditional racing oval, drivers with past experience in open-wheel racing tend to move to the top of the favorite’s list. That is why Jeff Gordon has the best odds to win on Sunday at 5/1. He has spent the majority of his career in the Sprint Cup series, but he is still one of the most versatile drivers in the entire sport of auto racing. The No. 24 car has yet to be a major factor in the majority of the races it has run this season with just two top-five finishes, but this could be a break-through week for this team. Gordon has raced his way to back-to-back second-place finishes at Sonoma the past two years to go along with five career victories on this course.
When you are hot you are hot, which is one of the ways to explain why Kevin Harvick comes in as one of three 6/1 second-favorites to win this Sunday’s race. The No. 4 car won back-to-back races at Las Vegas and Phoenix earlier in the year, but it has been on the cusp of victory a number of times through the first 15 point races this season with an impressive eight second-place finishes. Harvick does lose a bit of value in his odds with an average finishing position of just 15.9 at Sonoma and he is coming off a 20th-place finish in last year’s race.
Kurt Busch is another one of those versatile drivers whose style is suited well for the road course at Sonoma. He is also in excellent racing form overall with the victory at Michigan to go along with the earlier win at Richmond this year. The No. 41 car is now in 11th-place in the current Sprint Cup standings with a total of 426 points, but those two victories basically makes this team a lock for this year’s Chase. Busch posted his first career victory at Sonoma in 2011 and since then he has finished third in 2012 and forth in 2013. He dropped out of the top 10 in last year’s race with a 12th-place finish.
- Jeff Gordon No.24 5/1
- Kevin Harvick No.4 6/1
- Kurt Busch No.41 6/1
- Martin Truex Jr. No.78 6/1
- A.J. Allmendinger No.47 9/1
- Carl Edwards No.19 10/1
- Jimmie Johnson No.48 10/1
- Clint Bowyer No.15 12/1
- Kyle Busch No.18 18/1
- Tony Stewart No.14 18/1
- Jamie McMurray No.1 20/1
- Joey Logano No.22 20/1
- Kasey Kahne No.5 20/1
- Brad Keselowski No.2 25/1
- Dale Earnhardt Jr. No.88 33/1
- Denny Hamlin No.11 40/1
- Greg Biffle No.16 40/1
- Matt Kenseth No.20 40/1
- Paul Menard No.27 40/1
- Ryan Newman No.31 40/1
- Sam Hornish Jr. No.9 50/1
- Kyle Larson No.42 66/1
