And so the Chase begins. The Challenger round kicks off at Chicagoland Speedway with the exquisitely-named Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 400. Defending champion Denny Hamlin enters this race off a win at Richmond, but will he be one of the top favorites according to the oddsmakers?
Let’s check out the three drivers with the top odds to win, as well as a couple more with longer odds who should be on every one’s radar.
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Harvick eventually ceded top spot in the Sprint Cup standings which he held for so long, but he nevertheless enters the Chase in relatively strong form. He finished in the top five in his last four races, which included his win at Bristol Motor Speedway.
It’s been a while since he last won at Chicagoland Speedway – 14 years to be exact – but he is always well in contention on intermediate tracks. He finished in the top 10 in all seven races this season on 1.5-mile tracks.
Truex could’ve come into the Chase with back-to-back wins, but a pit problem cost him the victory last week in Richmond. He’ll have a great chance to make up for that missed opportunity at the intermediate track of Chicagoland.
Truex has been money in 1.5-mile tracks this season. He’s tied with Brad Keselowski and Kyle Busch with two wins on intermediate tracks, and has finished in the top 10 three other times.
The reigning Sprint Cup champion enters the Chase at the top of the points standings despite failing to register a single top-five finish in his last six races. But despite his last win at Chicago coming in 2008, he’s always in contention, as he’s proven in the past two years. He started in pole in 2014, although finished in seventh. And last year, he led a race-high 121 laps before finishing ninth.
And like Truex, Busch loves the intermediate tracks. Two of his four wins this season have come on 1.5-mile tracks.
Larson is arguably the hottest driver heading into the Chase. The 2014 rookie of the year has built upon his first career win in Michigan with two more top-three finishes in both Darlington and Richmond.
Larson has yet to register a win on an intermediate track in 39 career starts, but he has had a fair bit of success in Chicago. He finished third in his very first start at the track in 2014, and was seventh in last year’s race.
It’s been two years since Kahne’s last Sprint Cup win, as he missed out on the Chase for the second-straight year. However, the JR Motorsports driver finished the regular season strong with his first back-to-back top-10 finishes of the year, and could be a worthy long shot bet.
Kahne does have some history of success at Chicagoland. He has two top-five finishes in 12 career starts at the track.
Writer’s Prediction
Busch (+650) breaks out of his mini-slump and takes the checkered flag at Chicagoland.
