The week the Sprint Cup series heads out to Brooklyn, Michigan for the running of the Quicken Loans 400 at Michigan International Speedway. Sunday’s race is set to get underway at 10 a.m. (PT) and it will be broadcast nationally on TNT.
Joey Logano pulled-off a shocking upset
last Sunday with a victory in NASCAR’s Sprint Cup series Pocono 400 as a 18/1
longshot. Mark Martin took second and Tony Stewart finished third. Kevin
Harvick was our value pick at 12/1 but he could only manage a 14th-place
finish after starting 21st.
NASCAR Betting Preview- Quicken Loans 400
The following is a look at a few of the favorites to watch in Sunday’s race along with our value pick according to their current odds to win as provided by Bovada.
Favorites
Last Sunday’s fourth-place finish was Jimmie Johnson’s third top-five finish
in his last four races with the other two being out-right victories. The No.48
car is now fifth in the Sprint Cup standings with a total of 493 points and
just 30 points out of the lead. Johnson has been opened at 6/1 to win this week
despite the fact that he has never won a race at this track. He finished 27th
in last year’s race but did take second place in the second race here in 2011.
He has an overall finishing position of 15.1 at Michigan with a total of eight
top-10 finishes.
Denny
Hamlin is one of two second-favorites
at 17/2 to win on Sunday. He finished fifth at Pocono to post his fifth
top-five finish in his last seven races. The No. 11 car has a total of seven
top fives and two victories on the year and is currently in fourth place in the
standings with 504 points. Hamlin comes into this race as the defending
champion and has a chance to make it three-straight victories in this event
with a win on Sunday. He has three other top-five finishes at this track and an
average finishing position of 12.1.
The other driver at 17/2 is Matt Kenseth, who is coming off a
seventh-place finish at Pocono. He has a total of seven top-five finishes this
season which includes a victory in the Daytona 500 and has moved into
first-place in the Sprint Cup standings with 523 points. The No. 17 car posted
a second-place finish in last year’s race and has an average finishing position
of 9.5 at this track. This has been enhanced by two victories and nine other
top-five finishes in 25 career races here.
Kyle
Busch is one of three drivers at 9/1
to win this race. He is coming off a disappointing 30th-place finish
at Pocono and a 29th-place finish the previous week due to engine
problems. The No.18 car remains in solid form with four straight top-five
finishes including a victory in Richmond just prior to these last two races.
These setbacks have dropped Busch out of the top 10 in the standings, but he
still holds the No.1 wildcard spot for the Chase. His 2011 performance at
Michigan adds quite a bit of value to these odds with a third-place finish in
this race followed by a victory in the second race here. Overall, his average
finishing position at this track is 15.5.
Value
Pick
A 24th-place finish in last
week’s race dropped Greg Biffle to
third in the standings after leading the way for most of the season, but his
current form along with his past performance at this track has him as our value
pick to win this week at 10/1. The No.16 car has seven top-five finishes this
season including a victory at Texas. Biffle finished 15th in last
year’s race, but he does have seven top-five finishes here including
back-to-back checkered flags in the second race in 2004 and this race in 2005.
His average finishing position here is 12.8