Bojangles Southern 500

The last time the Sprint Cup series took to the track was at Bristol on Aug. 22 and Joey Logano made his way to the Winner’s Circle with his third point-race win of the season. Kevin Harvick posted yet another Top 3 finish by taking second and Denny Hamlin ended-up third. I went with Jimmie Johnson as my top valued favorite for this race at +1000 betting odds and he made a run at things by finishing fourth.

The following is a look at a few of the top favorites to win this Sunday night’s Sprint Cup race along with my top value pick based on betting odds provided by Intertops.

It would be hard not to have Kevin Harvick as a +500 second favorite to win on Sunday night, although most of his value this season has been in the betting odds for a Top 3 finish. He has defined the term “close but no cigar” this season with 10 second-place finishes and another five finishes inside the Top 5. This is in addition to two victories early in the season behind the wheel of the No. 4 car. When it comes to racing at Darlington, Harvick adds even more value to his odds with a victory in last season’s Sprint Cup race at this track.

The favorite on the list to win this race is Kyle Busch at +450. After an amazing run in which he won four point-races in a span of five events, he has cooled a bit with an 11th-place finish at Michigan and an eighth-place finish two weeks ago at Bristol. Because of the fact that he missed 11 races to start the season due to injury, the pressure to race well on Sunday night remains for the No. 18 team since Busch still has to finish inside the Top 30 in points to qualify for the Chase despite all those wins. He does have one career Sprint Cup victory at Darlington and he has placed sixth or better in his last three runs around this track.

Matt Kenseth could be one of the most dangerous drivers in this year’s Chase ever since he remembered how to win races. His recent victory at Michigan was his third of the season and he has been opened as a +700 third-favorite to win again on Sunday. Driving the No. 20 car, Kenseth posted seven victories in 2013 on his way to a second-place finish in the final Sprint Cup point standings, but last year this team was completely shutout of the Winner’s Circle. One of those seven victories that season came at Darlington and Kenseth went on to finish fourth in last year’s race.