It seemed like it was just a couple of weeks ago that we
were watching Tony Stewart race his way to a third-career NASCAR Sprint Cup
Title at Homestead, but with the new season getting underway in just a couple
of weeks the deck has been reshuffled.
The following is a look at a few drivers that have the best
chance of hoisting this season’s Sprint Cup in mid-November at the end of
another grueling 36-race schedule and their NASCAR odds.
The Favorite
Jimmie Johnson finished in sixth-place in the point
standings last season, which after winning the Cup the previous five seasons,
was a major disappointment to the No.48 racing team. He has been opened as this
season’s odds-on-favorite to reclaim the title at 9/2, but will have to correct
one major problem from last season to do it; actually winning the race. Johnson
finished 2011 with 14 top-five finishes, but only took the checkered flag two
times. He also needs to avoid the disastrous finishes that plagued him
throughout the season, especially in the 10-race Chase at the end of the year,
which is NASCAR’s version of the playoffs.
The Contenders
Nobody had more top-five finishes last season than Carl
Edwards. He worked his way into the top five 19 times in 36 races, but that
alone was not enough to win it all. Edwards only managed one win last year,
which proved to be his downfall. He actually tied Stewart in total points with
2403, but lost the tiebreaker on total wins. He has been opened as the
second-favorite at 6/1 to get over the hump this season and finally bring home
a title to the No.99 racing team.
Denny Hamlin was a forgotten man last season after an outstanding
run in 2010. He had to work his way into the Chase as a wildcard and could only
manage a ninth-place finish in the final standings. Hamlin led the Sprint Cup
Series in victories in 2010 with eight, but only crossed the finish line first
in one race in 2011. The No.11 car got off to a slow start with just one top-10
finish in its first eight races and was never able to get back on track from
that point on. Hamlin is one of four drivers that have been opened at 8/1 to
win this year’s Cup and offers some solid value if he can return to his 2010
form.
Another driver that has been opened at 8/1 in the NASCAR betting is the No. 29
car’s Kevin Harvick. He remained a serious threat to win last season’s title
all the way up until late October before a 32nd-place finish in the
Good Sam Club 500 took him out of the running. Harvick posted just nine
top-five finishes last season, but four of them were for wins tying him with
Kyle Busch for the most victories in 2011. He finished the year in third-place
in the standings; 58 points back of Edwards and Stewart. Harvick is another
driver that offers value in his current odds as he has a legitimate shot to win
every time he gets behind the wheel.
The Value Pick
Matt Kenseth finished the 2010 season in fifth-place in the
standings and last year he finished fourth, which has the No.17 car moving in
the right direction. Besides Johnson’s five titles, Stewart’s three titles, and
Kurt Busch’s title in 2004, Kenseth is the only other Sprint Cup series driver
to win a title in the past 10 years. Last year he finished with 12 top-five
finishes and took the checkered flag three times. He too was in the thick of
things in the Chase before a couple of bad finishes down the stretch ended his
run. Kenseth is our value pick to win this season’s title at 12/1. He is
another driver that is usually in every race he runs and has just as good a
shot as some of this year’s favorites to add a second title to his resume.