Category Archives: Auto Racing Betting

NASCAR Sprint Cup Goody’s Fast Relief 500 preview

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The NASCAR Sprint Cup Series heads to Martinsville Speedway for Sunday’s Goody’s Fast Pain Relief 500. The event is the first of two Cup races there this season. Since 2004, when Martinsville was repaved, no track has featured more accidents than Martinsville with 154. The next highest is Charlotte with 108, then Bristol at 103. Bet on it at WagerWeb.com.

This could be the perfect track for Jeff Gordon to snap out of his slump. The four-time Sprint Cup Series champion is off to the worst start in his 20-year career. With five races completed so far this season, Gordon sits 25th in the point standings. He finished 40th in the Daytona 500 after suffering engine failure midway through the race. The 40-year-old driver has finished no better than 12th in the last three races.

But Gordon leads all active drivers with seven wins at the flat 0.526-mile track. Gordon has also posted 17 top-10 finishes in the last 18 races there. He placed 20th in the fall 2010 event.

In the previous 10 races at Martinsville, three drivers have separated themselves from the pack: Gordon, Denny Hamlin and Jimmie Johnson. Those three all have an average finish of 5.1 or better in that time. No other driver has a mark better than 10th. If you look at pure speed, Gordon has been the fastest driver on the track most often. He’s run the fastest lap on 559 circuits over the 10 races. Johnson’s at 491, and Hamlin 420.

Since the fall of 2006, both Johnson and Denny had finished in the top 10 in every race at Martinsville. That streak was broken last spring when neither carded a top-10 finish. Hamlin won the second 2009 race at the track and swept the 2010 events. The Virginia driver won this year at Phoenix. Johnson has six Martinsville victories, winning five times in a six-race stretch from 2006-09. After getting crashed at Daytona, Johnson has been on a mission to get back into the top 10 in points, which he did last week at Auto Club. And Hamlin dominated and won at Phoenix to prove he should once more be favored on minimally banked tracks.

Last year in this race, Kevin Harvick raced to the second of his four 2011 victories, overcoming handling problems to charge to the front and pass Dale Earnhardt Jr.

The short tracks have the potential to be a wild card every time cars take to the track. Two weeks ago at Bristol, an early race accident eliminated several strong contenders including Kyle Busch, Carl Edwards, Kasey Kahne and Marcos Ambrose. Close side-by-side racing cut a tire on another top-five contender’s car and sent Gordon spinning into the outside wall. The confines of Martinsville are tighter and the action is even more frenzied.

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Bovada’s auto racing odds: Can Tony Stewart Continue Run at Goody’s Fast Relief 500?

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Reigning points champion Tony Stewart looks for this third win in the past four NASCAR Sprint Cup races on Sunday as the series moves to Martinsville for a little short-track racing at the Goody’s Fast Relief 500. Stewart (9/1) is among the favorites this week on Bovada’s auto racing odds.

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Stewart’s fast start is somewhat surprising because he replaced Darian Grubb as crew chief despite winning last year’s title. But Stewart and current chief Steve Addington are clearly on the same page. Dating to last year’s Chase, “Smoke” now has seven wins in the past 15 races overall. And he won the last race at Martinsville back on Oct. 30, 2011 in the Tums Fast Relief 500. Stewart won by passing Jimmie Johnson on a restart with three laps to go. Overall, Stewart has three wins in his 26-race career at Martinsville.

Virginia native Denny Hamlin (the 4/1 favorite) loves his home-state track. He has four career wins at Martinsville, including three straight: the fall race of 2009 and sweeping both 2010 races. Hamlin, who already has a win this year at Phoenix, finished 12th in this race in 2011.

Jimmie Johnson has six career wins at Martinsville, with his last coming in this 2009 race. That actually ended a stretch where Johnson had won five of six races here. Johnson has an average finish of 5.4 at Martinsville and a whopping 14 Top-5 finishes.

But perhaps no driver loves Martinsville more than Jeff Gordon. The four-time Sprint Cup champion has struggled this year and is just 25th in the points standings. He hasn’t even finished in the Top 10 in the past three races. But Gordon leads all active drivers with seven wins at the flat 0.526-mile track. Gordon has also posted 17 top-10 finishes in the last 18 races there. He was fifth in this race a year ago.

Is this the week that Dale Earnhardt Jr. ends his 134-race winless streak? He almost did here last year but was overtaken with four laps remaining by Kevin Harvick, who went on to win at Martinsville for the first time in his career. Junior has never won at Martinsville.

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This week in NASCAR: Auto Club 400

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The NASCAR series shifts to California this weekend for the Auto Club 400 at Fontana. And you can expect both Jimmie Johnson and Kevin Harvick to contend. The last two spring races at the two-mile racetrack have featured epic duels between the two California natives.

In February 2010, Johnson, who hails from nearby El Cajon, claimed his track-record-extending fifth win at Auto Club Speedway, but this one didn’t come with ease. Harvick, a Bakersfield-native, chased down Johnson and battled him for the lead after a late-race restart, but Harvick scraped the wall with just four laps to go, allowing Johnson to drive away for the victory. Harvick finished second in that race but got payback the following year when he passed Johnson for the lead between turns three and four on the final lap and then held off Johnson at the finish line by just 0.14 seconds for his first win at California.

Overall at the Auto Club Speedway, Johnson leads with the most wins and most top-5s, is tied for most top-10s, has led the most laps (846) and has the best average finish at 5.1. Over the past nine races on the two-mile track, Johnson has four wins, eight finishes of third or better with a worst of ninth. It all adds up to an average finish over that span of 2.5. Thus he is the +550 favorite on WagerWeb.com.

The home-state swing is a welcome sight for Johnson, who opened the season with a second-lap crash in the Daytona 500 and a 25-point penalty that left him in negative numbers in the standings. Since then, he’s logged three consecutive top-10 finishes and had the points penalty rescinded, leaving him 11th in the standings, just on the fringe of the Chase postseason field. A Johnson victory would also be the 200th for Hendrick Motorsports, which leads all teams with nine wins at the California track.

The only non-Hendrick or Roush drivers to win at Fontana in last 13 races are Harvick (22.9) and Tony Stewart (22.7). Those two have gate-crashed victory lane the past two trips to California and should be in the hunt again. No one has done more damage on the intermediate speedways at the end of last season and the beginning of this year than Stewart, who smoked the field when he grabbed his first career win at Las Vegas.

Harvick (+900 at WagerWeb.com) is the only driver to win at ACS with a last-lap pass (2011). Three of the past six Cup races won by a last-lap pass were won by Harvick. He and Johnson each have won four times on last-lap passes, the most of active drivers.

Martin Truex Jr. (+2500) is fourth in points with a 9.8 average finish in four starts. He has not scored a top-15 finish in the past six races at Fontana (and only has two finishes better than 15th in 11 career starts — both sixth-place runs).

Jamie McMurray (+4000) had five top-eight results his first six ACS races but has not finished better than 16th in the past 10.

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NASCAR Kobalt Tools 400 betting preview

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The NASCAR Sprint Cup Series stays in the desert this weekend as the series moves from Phoenix to Las Vegas for Sunday’s Kobalt Tools 400. And the early favorite at +500 on WagerWeb.com is Kyle Busch, a Vegas native.

One of Kyle Busch’s biggest wins in Sprint Cup came at Las Vegas in 2009. Busch won the pole position for the race but had start from the rear of the field due to an engine change. He held off then Richard Childress Racing teammates Clint Bowyer and Jeff Burton in a three-lap shootout to the finish for his first victory at his home track.

Busch has the one win, three top-five finishes and four top-10s, and he’s led a total of 113 laps in his eight career Sprint Cup starts at Las Vegas. His average Vegas finish is 15.0. Busch moved up from 17th to ninth in the point standings after finishing sixth at Phoenix.

The second-favorite is Jimmie Johnson at +525 at WagerWeb.com. Johnson has four wins at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, including three consecutive wins (2005-2007) in 10 starts. His most recent win came in 2010. He has earned four top-five and five top-10 finishes. His average start is 15.2 and average finish is 10.6. He has completed 2,688 of 2,691 laps (99.9 percent) and has led 320 laps. He has finished every race in which he has competed at the 1.5-mile oval.

Phoenix race winner Denny Hamlin sits atop the series standings after opening the year with consecutive top-five finishes. The fast start has done wonders for Hamlin’s morale, which took a beating as the No. 11 team limped to the end of last season. But he’s tempering his optimism heading to Vegas, where he hasn’t led a lap in six Sprint Cup races.

“You never know what can happen next week,” Hamlin said after winning at Phoenix. “We’re at a totally different race track again, and it looks like really the first five race tracks that we go to are all dramatically different in a lot of different ways. So now our next step is to be competitive on a mile-and-a-half race track.”

Hamlin (4th and 1st), Greg Biffle (3rd and 3rd), Kevin Harvick (7th and 2nd), Mark Martin (10th and 9th) and Joey Logano are the only five drivers who have posted top-10 finishes in the first two races of the season.

In the past four races at Las Vegas, Jeff Gordon (+800) has two top-six finishes and two DNFs (crashes). In 14 overall starts, Gordon has seven top-sixes, including a win in 2001, and seven finishes of 15th or worse, including three DNFs for crashes.

Daytona 500 winner Matt Kenseth (+1000) has been passed for the win three times at Las Vegas, including the only last-lap pass in 2006, by Johnson. That remains the only race out of 14 where the leader with 10 laps to go did not win.

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Jimmie Johnson Needs Good News at NASCAR Subway Fresh Fit 500

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After a crazy few days in Daytona, the NASCAR Sprint Cup series moves to Phoenix International Raceway for the first “real” race (i.e. non-restrictor plate) of the season: Sunday’s Subway Fresh Fit 500. Bet on the event at Bovada’s motor sports odds.

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Probably no driver needs a good finish this week more than Jimmie Johnson. The No. 48 car crashed in the opening laps of Monday night’s season-opening Daytona 500 and Johnson finished the event with only two points. In addition, NASCAR later announced that Johnson was fined 25 points for modifications to car body pieces that it deemed illegal in opening inspection for the 500, meaning Johnson goes to Phoenix with minus-23 points, 70 behind leader and Daytona winner Matt Kenseth. In addition, Johnson crew chief Chad Knaus and car chief Ron Malec were each suspended from the next six Sprint Cup events. Hendrick Motorsports is appealing the suspension, meaning Knaus and Malec will be able to work until the appeal is heard.

Johnson opened as one of the favorites for Sunday at 9/1. Phoenix is one of Johnson’s best tracks – with a career average finish of 5.4 in 17 starts, he is only better at Fontana. Johnson has four wins here (last in 2009) and has never finished outside the Top 15 in 17 starts. Until last year, he had finished on the lead lap in every Sprint Cup race on Phoenix’s 1-mile oval.

Tony Stewart opened as the 13/2 favorite. “Smoke” has raced at the track 20 times and one win (way back in 1999) and 11 Top-10 finishes overall. His average finish is 11.3 – Stewart was seventh in this race a year ago.

Reigning points champion Carl Edwards (15/2) enters Phoenix eighth in the point standings, trailing Kenseth by 11 points after his eighth-place finish in the Daytona 500. In 15 starts at Phoenix, Edwards has one win, six Top-5 and 10 Top-10 finishes. His average finish is 12.3 and his driver rating is 101.3 (second best).

Jeff Gordon (10/1) thrives on short flat tracks like Phoenix. He won this race a year ago and almost did in 2010 as well, finishing runner-up to Ryan Newman. Gordon also won at Phoenix in 2007 and has 18 Top-10 finishes in 26 starts overall. His average finish is 10.9. Kyle Busch also is 10/1. In 14 Sprint Cup starts at the “Diamond in the Desert,” Busch has one win and eight Top-10 finishes.

Could Kenseth (15/1) win in back-to-back weeks?  The Daytona champ rarely wins the next week. Kenseth did win at Phoenix in 2002 but hasn’t had a Top-5 finish since the 2007 fall race.

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NASCAR Subway Fresh Fit 500 preview

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Most drivers will tell you that the NASCAR Sprint Cup season really begins the week after Daytona because the restrictor plates come off following the season-opening Daytona 500. This week the series shifts to Phoenix International Raceway for Sunday’s Subway Fresh Fit 500. Place your NASCAR bets at Bovada.lv

Last year in this race, Jeff Gordon sneaked past Kyle Busch with nine laps to go last year on his way to breaking a 66-race drought. Five of the past six Phoenix winners broke winless streaks of 66 races or more, including the past four: Ryan Newman (77 races) in April 2010; Carl Edwards (70) in Nov. 2010; Gordon; and Kasey Kahne (81) in Nov. 2011. Mark Martin ended a 97-race drought with his victory in April 2009.

Jimmie Johnson had a disappointing result at Daytona, to say the least. Just past the flag stand at the completion of Lap 1, he got bumped out of the groove and into the frontstretch wall. His car was collected by several cars and the damage was too severe to try and get him back into the race. And then early this week Johnson was docked 25 points and crew chief Chad Knaus suspended six races for illegal modifications made to the car – Knaus will be in the pits this week as the penalties are being appealed. Johnson is a WagerWeb.com favorite this week because Phoenix is one of his favorite tracks.

With a career average finish of 5.4 in 17 starts, Johnson is only better at Fontana. His consistency on this track is legendary with a perfect record of top-15 finishes. Until last year, he had finished on the lead lap in every Cup race on Phoenix’s 1-mile oval. Johnson finished 14th in the Nov. 2011 race at Phoenix, the first on the new configuration. He never finished outside the top seven in the prior 12 races.

Ryan Newman’s streak at Phoenix is not as long as Johnson’s, but it is equally impressive. When Gordon hesitated on a late-race restart in spring 2010, he pounced and led the field back to the checkered flag for the first win of his career on this track. He finished in the runner-up position later that fall and swept the top five last year. One of the closest comparatives to Phoenix is the 1-mile flat track of New Hampshire Motor Speedway and Newman scored a victory there last year.

Four drivers posted top-10 finishes in both Phoenix races in 2011: A.J. Allmendinger (9th, 6th); Kasey Kahne (6th, 1st); Newman (5th in both races) and Tony Stewart (7th, 3rd). Kahne is the only driver who started and finished in the top 10 in both races.

Phoenix has been won from the pole four times, all in the past 10 races and three in the past seven. However, the pole winners in 2011 (Carl Edwards and Matt Kenseth) finished 28th and 34th, respectively. Still, nine of the past 11 races were won from a top-10 start — all but the past two spring races (Newman started 14th in 2010 and Gordon started 20th in 2011). Newman is the only winner in 31 races who has led fewer than 10 laps; he led four.

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Juan Pablo Montoya’s Daytona 500 crash was kind of awesome (video)

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It was a, errr, particular weekend for NASCAR fans and the Dayton 500. The “Superbowl” of the sport was all set to kick-off Sunday at noon, but bad weather made officials postpone the race (for the first time in Daytona history) which finally got underway Monday evening at 7 pm.

Dayton is always been known for its wrecks, and massive pack traffic (At speeds upwards of 200 MPH) and last night was no different. The strangest wreck occurred though, during a caution when driver lost control of his car and slammed into a jet dryer, carrying 200 gallons of jet fuel. Both drivers walked away but the scene was one from a movie. The truck instantly burst in flames, with the jet fuel running down the 31 degree embankment.

Daytona’s “softwalls” also caught on fire, as NASCAR/Daytona crews worked feverishly to clean the track and finish the 40 remaining laps.

The race finished early Tuesday morning….with Matt Kensenth taking the win.

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2012 NASCAR betting preview: Kevin Harvick

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RIDE: No. 29 Chevrolet, Richard Childress Racing

BORN: Dec. 8, 1975

HOMETOWN: Bakersfield, Calif.

CREW CHIEF: Shane Wilson

SPONSOR: Budweiser/Jimmy Johns/Rheem

WAGERWEB.COM NASCAR BETS LINE FOR SPRINT CUP: +700

DAYTONA 500 NOTES: Harvick has 21 prior starts at DIS, including 10 in the Daytona 500. In that time, he’s scored two wins, including the 2007 Daytona 500, and accumulated five top-five and nine top-10 finishes at the superspeedway. Harvick has led 178 laps at DIS and holds an average starting position of 16.1 and an average finish of 15.4. He has also completed 93 percent of the laps run in NASCAR Sprint Cup Series competition at DIS since July 2001 (3,407 of 3,663). Harvick holds several impressive Loop Data statistics at DIS, including: second in fastest laps run (67 laps); sixth in green-flag passes (2,732); eighth in closers; eighth in laps led (100); and 10th in driver rating (86.3). In last year’s Daytona 500, Harvick started the race from the seventh position and led five laps before retiring from the race due to engine failure at lap 22.

2011 OVERVIEW: Harvick won four races and figured to be a strong threat for the championship. Instead, he finished third in the standings for the second consecutive year.

2011 STATS

Starts: 36

Wins: 4

Top 5s: 9

Top 10s: 19

Poles: 0

DNF: 1

Laps Led: 403

Laps Completed: 10,450

Lead Lap Finishes: 30

Bonus Points: 30

Races Led: 17

Average Start: 18.8

Average Finish: 11.5

After First 26 Races: 2nd

Final Points Standing: 3rd

Driver Rating: 92.2 (8th)

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2012 NASCAR betting preview: Carl Edwards

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The 2012 season already has been a success for as he will start on the pole for Sunday’s Daytona 500. Edwards has never won NASCAR’s biggest race, finishing runner-up a year ago to Trevor Bayne.

RIDE: No. 99 Ford, Roush Fenway Racing

BORN: Aug. 15, 1979

HOMETOWN: Columbia, Mo.

CREW CHIEF: Bob Osborne

SPONSOR: Fastenal/Kellogg’s/Best Buy

WAGERWEB.COM NASCAR BETS LINE FOR SPRINT CUP: +475

DAYTONA 500 NOTES: Edwards returns to Daytona International Speedway for his eighth Daytona 500, and his 15th overall Sprint Cup start at the 2.5-mile superspeedway. He and teammate swept the front row for the Daytona 500. It is Edwards’ first career pole at Daytona in the Sprint Cup Series. Edwards’ average start at Daytona International Speedway is 17.6, his average finish is 17.9. Edwards’ best finish at Daytona is second place, captured in last year’s Daytona 500 (and in July 2008). The combination of a new track surface, new aero package and a new style of drafting led to a brand new winner at Daytona last year with rookie Trevor Bayne, and a career-best second-place finish for Edwards in the famed race. Edwards avoided the record 16 cautions that slowed the race and came back from 21st place on lap 195 to contend for the win during the second green-white-checker finish.

2011 OVERVIEW: Narrowly lost the championship to Tony Stewart in the season finale. Over the final 30 laps at Homestead, he sat second to Tony Stewart and could only watch in vain as the No. 14 stayed just out of reach. A tie after the season-ender meant that one more point, one more position on the track, in any of the previous 35 races could have gotten Edwards over the hump. Instead? He was cast aside for a “Smoky” celebration despite the best average Chase finish in the history of the postseason format: 4.9.

2011 STATS

Starts: 36

Wins: 1

Top 5s: 19

Top 10s: 26

Poles: 3

DNF: 0

Laps Led: 903

Laps Completed: 10,393

Lead Lap Finishes: 31

Bonus Points: 29

Races Led: 25

Average Start: 9.4

Average Finish: 9.3

After First 26 Races: 9th

Final Points Standing: 2nd

Driver Rating: 101.0 (2nd)

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2012 NASCAR betting preview: Greg Biffle

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RIDE: No. 16 Ford, Roush Fenway Racing

BORN: Dec. 23, 1969

HOMETOWN: Vancouver, Wash.

CREW CHIEF: Matt Puccia

SPONSOR: 3M

WAGERWEB.COM NASCAR BETS LINE FOR SPRINT CUP: +2000

DAYTONA 500 NOTES: Biffle secured a second-place starting position on the front row for the Daytona 500. Biffle was one of the few drivers to cross the finish line intact in the Bud Shootout. He started seventh and finished sixth. Biffle earned his first career Sprint Cup pole position in 2004 for the Daytona 500. Biffle’s first Sprint Cup victory came at Daytona in July in 2003. “The Daytona 500 is the biggest race of anyone’s career. It’s a long race, a lot happens, you have to miss the big wreck, and you’ve got to be there at the end,” he said. “We don’t know how long we’ll be able to push and it’s all about track position in the last few laps. We learned a lot from the Shootout and the fact we were able to qualify on the outside row for the Daytona 500 is a testament to how hard my team has worked in the off season getting ready for this weekend.”

OVERVIEW: Biffle had an off year and missed the Chase for the first time since 2007. He finished 16th in points with 10 top-10 finishes. Biffle won three poles last season, all at intermediate ovals, which are his strength. But they don’t pay the points for Lap 1, do they? Even with Roush downsizing, cutting its focus from four teams to three, Biffle’s team still appears to be behind those of and .

2011 Stats

Starts: 36

Wins: 0

Top 5s: 3

Top 10s: 10

Poles: 3

DNF: 2

Laps Led: 351

Laps Completed: 10,471

Lead Lap Finishes: 23

Bonus Points: 17

Races Led: 15

Average Start: 15.0

Average Finish: 16.8

After First 26 Races: 15th

Final Points Standing: 16th

Driver Rating: 85.9 (14th)

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