Burning Rubber - NASCAR Auto Club 500 Selections

Betting NASCAR Online - Auto Club 500 Selections

Buckle-up for fast and furious online NASCAR betting action, as the Sprint Cup series turns left to invade Fontana, CA for the Auto Club 500, starting at 6:15pm EST on Sunday. The 2-mile Auto Club Speedway makes for speeds flirting with the 200 mph mark. If you bet on NASCAR and have the need for speed, ride a long as we try to find Victory Lane and cash in on the money-making BetUS NASCAR odds.

Last week's Daytona 500 winner, Matt Kenseth, took the checkers with hefty online betting value of +1500 in tow. There's three obvious choices to win Sunday's Auto Club 500, and one among the trio could equal Kenseth's big payday collected at Daytona. I'm speaking of Jeff Gordon who's currently priced at +1500. My other two selection are co-favorites - three-peat defending Cup champ Jimmie Johnson (+400) and last season's title runner-up Carl Edwards (+400).

For those considering banking on Kenseth to go back-to-back, you may want to reconsider. Since 1997, the average finish of the Daytona 500 winner in the following race is 16.0 with just four top-10 finishes in 11 races.

Despite riding a 42-race winless streak, Gordon's odds make him worth an investment and he also owns stats to back up the wager. Gordon is tied with teammate Johnson for a series-best three wins at Fontana. In addition to three victories in 17 career races there, he's collected eight top-5s and eight top-10 finishes, manufacturing a solid 11.5 average of finish.

Although, Gordon hasn't won at Fontana since 2004, he had a stout third-place run in this event last year, while leading the second-most laps with 68 and was making a hard charge towards the front before the race was shortened due to rain. Edwards led the third-most laps (64) but was the eventual race winner and Johnson led the most (76) and finished second. These three were clearly the class of the field in the rain-shorten race, and it should come as no surprise if you see much the same on Sunday.

Johnson is a solid selection as he was runner-up to Edwards in this race in 2008 and won last season's fall race at Fontana. He also won there in 2007 and 2002 with a stellar 5.9 average of finish. Those are juicy NASCAR wagering numbers backed with eight top-5s and eight top-10 finishes in 12 career Fontana starts, which ties him with Gordon in wins, seconds and thirds. It can't get any closer than that between the Hendrick duo. So who should you place your coin on?

Both. It's hard to overlook Johnson's sparking 5.9 average of finish in 12 career Fontana races. After suffering a 32nd-place finish after getting caught up in a late multicar crash last week at Daytona, expect the defending champ to run near the front all afternoon on Sunday to avoid being victimized by other's mishaps in consecutive races. And there's no reason he can't run up front and then take the checkers. As mentioned earlier, Gordon is worth betting on but I'm giving Johnson the edge to win.