After a trip to California, the 2020 NASCAR Cup Series will swing to Phoenix for the 2020 FanShield 500. Joey Logano is the current leader in the standings, but can he rule the race in the desert this coming weekend? He’s no shoe-in however, with Vegas giving him 12/1 odds to win. Here’s a look at some of the choice favorites, high-value sleepers, and a long shot.
Harvick, who just signed a fresh two-year deal with Team Stewart-Haas Racing last month, is having a strong start to the season. While he has yet to win a race, he’s not finished worse than ninth in any of his past three starts. After finishing fifth at the Daytona 500, Harvick went on to place eighth and ninth at the Pennzoil 400 and at the Auto Club 400, respectively. Harvick has nine wins and 17 top 5s in 34 races at the Phoenix Raceway.
Kyle Busch (7/2 Vegas Odds)
After a slow start, the 2019 NASCAR Cup Series champion has finally gotten his groove, it seems. Busch showed up with his best performance of the season last week, finishing second at the Auto Club 400. That could be a sign of great things to come for Busch, who won last year’s The TicketGuardian 500 at Phoenix Raceway. Busch has either won or finished runner-up in each of his past four appearances at the track.
SLEEPERS
Erik Jones (30/1 Vegas Odds)
Jones is coming off his best finish of the season, placing 10th at the Auto Club 400 in Fontana last Sunday. Jones has raced just seven times so far in his career in Phoenix, but of those starts, he managed to amass four top 10s and a top 5.
William Byron (25/1 Vegas Odds)
Byron is another young driver to watch out for not only in Phoenix but in other races going forward. Byron, just 22, is showing some flashes of brilliance. He won the Duel at Daytona and finished 15th at the Auto Club 400. Byron has three top 17s at the Phoenix Raceway in four races since 2018. He also has a career average finish of 14.20 in intermediate tracks.
LONG SHOT
Matt DiBenedetto (40/1 Vegas Odds)
DiBenedetto has positioned himself inside the top 10 of the NASCAR Cup Series standings with a quality start to the season. Of course, three races barely define how the future of the season unfolds, but DiBenedetto could carry the momentum from a second-place finish in Las Vegas and a 13th-place showing in Fontana to Phoenix, where he also finished 13th in last November’s The Bluegreen Vacations 500.
Writer’s Prediction
Kyle Busch gets hist first win of the season in Phoenix.
