Brad Keselowski was one of the favorites to win last week’s race at Talladega and he came through with the victory. A pair of longshots filled out the top three finishers with Ryan Newman taking second and Trevor Bayne placing third. I had Jimmie Johnson at +1350 odds as my top-valued pick, but the No. 48 Chevrolet faded to 24th in the final running order.
The following is a look at a few of the top favorites to win this Sunday’s race at Kansas along with my top value pick based on betting odds provided by 5Dimes.
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A familiar name at the top of the Cup Series standings all season long has also been a familiar name at the top of the betting odds to win each week and nothing has changed heading into the sixth playoff race of the season. Martin Truex Jr. has already punched his ticket to the next round with a victory at Charlotte and his odds to win this Sunday’s race have been set at +300. In a rare finish outside the top 10, the No. 78 Toyota ended up 23rd at Talladega last week as a result of a wreck. Prior to that, this team won two of its last five races while finishing in the top five in the other three events. Truex won the first race at Kansas this season as part of his series-high six victories on the year.
Kyle Busch has been another dominating driver since late July, but he suddenly finds himself on the outside looking in as far as advancing to the next round with poor finishes in the first two events in this round. Since a victory in one of the next two races is the only way to guarantee a spot in the final eight drivers for this title chase, there is quite a bit of value in Busch’s +350 odds to get it done this Sunday driving the No. 18 Toyota. Since his first victory of the year on July 30 at Pocono, he has taken the checkered flag four times including back-to-back victories at New Hampshire and Dover just a few weeks ago. Busch placed fifth at Kansas earlier this season to place in the top five in his last five runs around this oval.
The third-favorite to win this week’s race is Kyle Larson at +550 betting odds. He is holding down third place in the current standings with 3096 points, but coming off a 10th-place run at Charlotte and a 13th-place finish at Talladega. With no guarantee of a spot in the final eight, you know that he will be racing all out on Sunday behind the wheel of the No. 42 Chevrolet. Larson has made four trips to Victory Lane this season in a point-race event, but his best finish in the first five races of the playoff was second at New Hampshire. He ended up sixth at Kansas in the first race here this season.