Posted on
6/5/2007 4:10:09 PM
NASCAR Odds - Pocono 500, Pocono Raceway
By Brock Murphy
After suffering a rain delay at Dover, Martin Truex, Jr. pulled off a win Monday afternoon in the Autism Speaks 400.
Pole-sitter, Ryan Newman, finished second followed by Carl Edwards, Denny Hamlin, Matt Kenseth, Greg Biffle and wily-veteran, Mark Martin. Only one of the Hendricks Motorsports trio cracked the top-ten (Jeff Gordon, 9th). Casey Mears finished 13th, two spots ahead of Jimmie Johnson. Dale Earnhardt, Jr. started the race in the 2nd-spot, but lost 20 spots during the race, finishing 22nd.
This weekend, the Nextel Cup makes its way to Long Pond, Pennsylvania for 200 laps on the 2.5-mile tri-oval at the Pocono Raceway. Denny Hamlin won both races from the pole position here in 2006. That, combined with his strong finish in Dover (3rd) is why Hamlin has been given good odds (10:1) to win the Pocono 500 again in 2007.
Last spring, Hamlin beat out (in order of finish) Kurt Busch, Tony Stewart and Brian Vickers for the win. Busch and Vickers finishes matched their starting positions, but Stewart’s 3rd-place finish was 15 spots ahead of where he started.
Hamlin and Busch finished 1-2 here in last fall’s Pennsylvania 500 as well. Jeff Gordon, Brian Vickers, Kevin Harvick, Jimmie Johnson, Tony Stewart, Bobby Labonte, Jeff Burton and Martin Truex, Jr. rounded out the top ten finishers that race. Brian Vickers, Matt Kenseth, Greg Biffle, Kasey Kahne, Scott Riggs, Jeff Burton and Jimmie Johnson round out last spring’s top-ten finishers.
Vickers, who posted a season-best fifth-place finish at the Coca-Cola 600 recently, is not likely to gather the checkered flag this year, for in his inaugural year driving for newcomer Toyota Racing, his average finish is 22nd.
Kurt Busch and Carl Edwards won Pocono’s spring and summer races, respectively, in 2005. However, it must be noted that Busch’s past at Pocono (including his two 2nd-place finishes last year) came while driving a Rousch Racing Ford. He has not done quite as well in his new Miller Lite Dodge this year and is a 16:1 favorite this weekend if, that is, NASCAR does not suspend him for his shenanigans in Dover.
Jimmie Johnson won both races here in 2004 and, given the state of the Hendricks Motorsports teams this year, is a good bet to take the checkered flag this season. His 3:1 odds are second only to those of his teammate, Jeff Gordon, who is an 11/4 favorite this weekend.
Tony Stewart, whose car was damaged when Kurt Busch purposely ran into it on pit road today at Dover (causing him to finish in 40th-place), is an 11/2 favorite at Pocono. Behind him are Kenseth (8:1) and Hamlin followed by a three way tie at 12:1 (Kyle Busch, Jeff Burton and Kevin Harvick).
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