Ricky Stenhouse Jr. became the fifth Cup Series driver to post multiple point-race victories this season with last Saturday night’s trip to the Winner’s Circle in the Coke Zero 400 at Daytona. Clint Bowyer and Paul Menard made it trio of drivers to finish in the top three with longer odds in this race. I went with Jimmie Johnson at +1200 betting odds to win, but my top-value pick could only manage a 12th-place finish.
The following is a look at a few of the top favorites to win this Saturday night’s race at Kentucky along with my top value pick based on betting odds provided by 5Dimes.
Race Favorites
The driver at the top of this week’s betting list is Martin Truex Jr. at +450 odds to win at Kentucky on Saturday night. He is one of the five Cup Series drivers to lay claim to multiple checkered flags this year and his efforts behind the wheel of the No. 78 Toyota have this team in second place in the current Monster Energy Cup standings with 649 total points. Engine problems at Sonoma and a wreck at Daytona have led to a couple of rough outings in recent weeks after finishing sixth or better in his previous five events led off by a victory at Kansas. Truex Jr. finished 10th at Kentucky last season as part of a 13.2 average finishing position here.
Nobody has raced better than Kyle Larson this season as the current point leader in the standings (667) and his odds to add a third victory to this year’s total on Saturday night have been set at +500. In addition to his two wins, he has also guided the No. 42 Chevrolet to five runner-up finishes this year. He is another driver coming off a rough patch in his last two races with finishes outside the top 20 to drain a bit of value from these odds. This will be Larson’s fourth career race at Kentucky in a Cup Series event and to date his best finish was 19th in last season’s trip around this track.
Every week I keep waiting for Kyle Busch to break through with his first point-race event win of the year and this could be the week it finally all comes together for the No. 18 Toyota team as a +600 third-favorite to win. He has come close a number of times with six runs inside the top five through the first 17 Cup Series point races on the schedule. Busch is holding down third place in the standings with 559 points, but he knows that winning races is still the only sure-fire way to guarantee himself a spot in this season’s playoff. Adding value to his odds is a victory in this race in 2015 as part of an impressive 5.2 average finishing position at this track.