All roads lead to Homestead, where the final four drivers still in the Chase for the Sprint Cup will battle it out to be crowned as the 2015 champion.
This Sunday, the 2015 NASCAR season will go out with a bang, especially with Jeff Gordon and Kevin Harvick grabbing the headlines entering the race with their respective compelling bids at supremacy. And although most of this season’s drivers are still going to compete for a shot at winning in Miami, all eyes will be on the remaining drivers in the Championship 4.
As such, let’s take a closer look at each of those four drivers that could very well leave Homestead with the Sprint Cup in hand, and what that means for your last round of NASCAR betting action for the year. Afterwards, check out our complete picks and predictions for Week 11 of the NFL to truly kick-start your weekend with some intense sports-viewing and wagering alike.
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Ford Ecoboost 400 Betting Preview
The Championship 4’s Remaining Competitors
Jeff Gordon
23 years and a NASCAR-record 797 starts later, Jeff Gordon is finally calling it quits (on a full-time basis, at least). The 44-year-old decorated stalwart of the stock racing circuit has a once-in-a-lifetime chance to leave the sport with a storybook ending this Sunday by winning his fifth-career Sprint Cup title right on the verge of his imminent retirement.
[sc:Other240banner ]The entire NASCAR world will no doubt be rooting for Gordon, who is – surprisingly – the +350 underdog among the four racers left in the Chase this Sunday.
It’s rather foolhardy to bet against Gordon at this point, especially considering his track record in Miami. The Vallejo, California native holds some of NASCAR’s best records at Homestead: he’s the all-time and active leader in the most top 5 finishes on this track (seven), the most laps completed (4,205), and remains the only driver to have started in all 16 races on this course since its inception back in 1999 (17 if you count this Sunday’s race).
What’s working against Gordon’s bid for the title is the fact that he hasn’t won a Sprint Cup championship since 2001 – some 14 long years ago. Also, the other three competitors still in the hunt for the Cup are no slouches, especially the next man on our list…
Kevin Harvick
If there’s one man who could crush Gordon’s dreams of a fairy-tale ending, that would be none other than defending Sprint Cup champion, Kevin Harvick. The 39-year-old is looking to become the first driver to win back-to-back Sprint Cup titles in the renewed playoff format of the Chase, and the first repeat champ since Greg Biffle’s three-peat from 2004 to 2006.
And like Gordon before him, Harvick isn’t short on success at Homestead. He currently has the record for the most lead lap finishes with 13, as well as the best average finish on the course (7.571).
Not only that, but Harvick has been simply dominant this season in general. He leads all racers with a staggering 15 finishes this 2015 in either first or second place, and his 22 top 5 finishes are also tops amongst all competitors this season.
Having said that, it’s really hard to argue why he isn’t deserving of his +150 odds as the overall favorite to repeat as NASCAR’s king of the hill (and crush every Jeff Gordon fan’s spirits in the process).
Kyle Busch
Not one to be denied a dramatic storyline of his own entering this Sunday’s race, Kyle Busch’s 2015 season could also very well end on a very uplifting note.
If you could recall, Busch crashed-and-burned at Daytona in February, forcing him to sit out the next 11 races due to the injuries he suffered from that accident. But once he made his return on the circuit, he did so in blazing fashion. Busch won all four of his races this season post-Daytona and in rapid succession, with all four coming between the final race of June at Sonoma and capped-off with a victory at the Brickyard in July.
Furthermore, Busch has a ton of momentum entering the final race of the season, having finished in the top 5 of all three races of the Eliminator 8 Round. And with this season being the farthest that he has gone in the Chase for the Sprint Cup his entire career, banking on Busch at +275 to come away with the title is certainly an enticing proposition.
Martin Truex Jr.
Just when we think that we’d be short of a true underdog story this Sunday, Martin Truex Jr. certainly embodies the role of this year’s feel-good Cinderella racer.
As a member of Furniture Row Racing, Truex is looking to become the first driver in the modern era to win a Sprint Cup title for a one-car team, and also the first single-car team to win the Sprint Cup since Alan Kulwicki became champion in 1992 (which, coincidentally, was also Jeff Gordon’s rookie year as a pro).
However, the New Jersey native’s road to his Championship 4 berth was more about consistency than outright domination. Truex has not won a race since June at Pocono, and he only managed to finish in the top 10 in half of his last 10 starts.
Still, those last few races proved to be enough for Truex to qualify for the fourth and final spot for the Chase’s final leg. And with the added factor of his girlfriend battling with ovarian cancer, Truex (+300) can no doubt pull an unlikely victory at Homestead and still leave NASCAR fans with a rewarding and compelling finish to talk about for ages.
Writer’s Prediction
The motorsports gods smile upon Jeff Gordon (+350) as he beats out the three remaining competitors for the Sprint Cup, and fulfills his destiny as one of NASCAR’s greatest drivers to have ended his prolific career in the grandest way possible.
Create a betting account now to get your bets in for this sizzling finale to the 2015 NASCAR season before it’s too late.
