It’s time to get ready for more fast-paced NASCAR action as the Chase continues this Saturday at the renowned Charlottle Motor Speedway for the Bank of America 500.
The field of contenders that are still in the hunt for the Sprint Cup has been narrowed down to 12 drivers, with Kevin Harvick pulling off a last-minute win to barely qualify for the final availale spot last weekend. But many of the other prominent faces in the sport have had better success at CMS, and could also very well boost their standings before the next round of elimination at Talladega.
Read on as we cite the favorites and some dark horses heading into this weekend’s race. And before the festivities in Charlotte get underway, rev up your working week’s slate with our preview for the NFL’s Thursday Night Football matchup in Indianapolis vs. Houston right after this.
Bank of America 500 Preview
Where: Charlotte Motor Speedway, Concord
When: Saturday, October 10, 7:00 PM ET
TV Broadcast: NBC
Favorites
Kevin Harvick
Boy, does Kevin Harvick know how to come through in crunch-time.
[sc:NASCAR240banner ]Harvick won the AAA 400 this past Sunday in Dover to qualify as the 12th racer in the Chase for the Sprint Cup, beating out early season favorite Jimmie Johnson for the last spot. What made ol’ No. 4’s win at Dover more impressive is that he led the entire race for all but 45 laps on a course that he had never won in 28 previous starts.
The 29-year-old is having another clutch performance that was similar to last season’s surprise finish, where he had to stave off elimination in Phoenix only to come out on top at Homestead in the next race as the 2014 Sprint Cup Champion. This time around, having finished 9th or better in nine of his last 10 starts have the bookmakers going ga-ga for Harvick, who is priced as the +350 favorite to come out with another win this Saturday at CMS.
Oh, and haven’t we mentioned that he’s the defending BoA 500 champion as well?
Kyle Busch
Harvick may be stealing the headlines right now, but that shouldn’t bother Kyle Busch, who continues to put on one great performance after another this late into the Chase.
Busch is fresh off a second-place finish at the AAA 400, marking his third runner-up podium finish in his last eight races. Furthermore, he has seven top 10 finishes in the last 10 events, with his last win coming in late July at The Jeff Kyle 400 at the Brickyard.
Although Busch has failed to win at CMS in his past 18 tries, he still has eight top 5 finishes on the track and has just as much spark as Harvick of late to still make him a +600 favorite to prevail on top in Concord this Saturday.
Matt Kenseth
After another win at the Sylvania 300 in late September, Matt Kenseth cooled-off quite a bit from all his streakiness, finishing seventh at the AAA 400 this past Sunday.
However, his +700 odds of winning the BoA 500 is still a great value, mainly because of how his 2015 is going thus far. The former Winston Cup winner has five wins for the year – the most out of all 12 active Chase contenders. Even more so, four of those victories came from the past eight races. So think twice before saying that Kevin Harvick is the man setting the tracks on fire right now, because Kenseth was the one who started torching the grounds at a more consistent basis this second half of 2015.
Sleepers
Joey Logano
Joey Logano is the epitome of the perfect sleeper pick heading into Saturday. The young up-and-comer has never won at CMS in his 13 career starts on the track, but he holds the best average finish of 10.2 there amongst all active drivers heading into Saturday.
Actually, Logano’s not too shabby here at all; he placed fourth at this exact event last year. And if his 17 top five finishes for the season – second only to Harvick’s 19 – is any indication, the 25-year-old is seemingly bound for his first career win at CMS this Saturday and make those who took him at +1,000 happy winners.
Jeff Gordon
Seeing that this is one of Jeff Gordon’s final races of his historic career, you almost can’t resist the cool +2,500 odds of him winning the Bank of America 400.
The 44-year-old future Hall-of-Famer has five lifetime victories in CMS, albeit that his last win was back in 2007. And while Gordon has yet to notch a win this season, let’s remember that Ryan Newman failed to win a single race in 2014 as well, and yet he still made it to the championship race. All is not over yet for Gordon, who is also priced at +2,000 to win it all this season before calling it quits for good.
Long Shot
Ryan Newman
And speaking of Ryan Newman, the South Bend native is still not letting up as one of the remaining 12 contenders for the Sprint Cup.
However, having just one top 5 finish in the past 10 races certainly puts him at a very precarious spot, especially with his lackluster 19th-place finish at the recently concluded AAA 400. Still, Newman’s price of +10,000 odds is still rather appealing if you are to consider that four of his 14 top 10 finishes for the season also came in that same 10-game span, including his fourth-place finish at the MyAfibRisk.com 400 in Chicago late this past September.
Writer’s Prediction
Logano finally gets over the hump for his first career win at Charlotte Motor Speedway.
Create a betting account now to cash in on all the fast-paced NASCAR action as the Chase for the Sprint Cup approaches its boiling point.
