Last week’s race at Richmond was postponed from Saturday night to Sunday, but it was worth the wait for Kurt Busch, who put some of his past troubles both on and off the track aside with a trip to Victory Lane. Kevin Harvick ended-up second and Jimmie Johnson took third. I went with Jeff Gordon again as my top valued pick at +1000 betting odds, but he fell to eighth after finishing third the week before.
The following is a look at a few of the top favorites to win this Sunday afternoon’s race at Talladega along with my top value pick of to win this week based on betting odds from Sportsbook.ag.
Dale Earnhardt Jr. has had a great deal of success in the Sprint Cup series when it comes to restrictor plate races so it is easy to see why he has been listed at +800 to make his first trip to the Winner’s Circle this season in a Sprint Cup race this Sunday afternoon. The No. 88 car has come close a number of times this season with four previous top-five finishes, but it has also had its share of problems in a few of the other races this year. Dale Jr. has won a Sprint Cup race five times over the course of his career at Talladega, but he finished well outside the top 10 in both races here last season.
The next seven drivers on Sportsbook’s futures odds to win this race are all listed at +1200. The top driver in this group would have to be Kevin Harvick. His second-place finish at Richmond was his fifth of the year to go along with victories at Las Vegas and Phoenix. The No. 4 car has only finished outside the top 10 in one of the first nine point races this season and the team is firmly atop the current Sprint Cup standings with 357 total points. Talladega would probably not be considered one of Harvick’s favorite tracks, but he did win here in 2010 and he placed seventh in last year’s race.
I would have to go with Jimmie Johnson as having the next-best value at +1200 in this group given his current form. Along with last week’s third-place finish, the No. 48 car has won at both Atlanta and Texas as part of five top-five finishes in the first nine races. It is just one of two teams to post multiple victories this season and it is sitting in fourth-place in the standings with 299 points. Johnson has finished outside the top 10 in his last three runs at this track, but he did win this event in 2011 and place fifth in this race in 2013.
- Dale Earnhardt Jr. No.88 17/2
- Kevin Harvick No.4 11/1
- Kurt Busch No.41 11/1
- Brad Keselowski No.2 12/1
- Denny Hamlin No.11 12/1
- Jeff Gordon No.24 12/1
- Jimmie Johnson No.48 12/1
- Joey Logano No.22 12/1
- Matt Kenseth No.20 12/1
- Carl Edwards No.19 14/1
- Clint Bowyer No.15 18/1
- David Ragan No.18 20/1
- Kasey Kahne No.5 20/1
- Martin Truex Jr. No.78 20/1
- Jamie McMurray No.1 22/1
- Tony Stewart No.14 22/1
- Greg Biffle No.16 25/1
- Kyle Larson No.42 25/1
- Ryan Newman No.31 28/1
- Paul Menard No.27 33/1
- Ricky Stenhouse Jr. No.17 33/1
- Austin Dillon No.3 40/1
- Aric Almirola No.43 50/1
- Danica Patrick No.10 50/1
- Michael Waltrip No.55 50/1