NASCAR Betting - Price Chopper 400 Preview

The Chase for the Sprint Cup is down to eight races with this weekend's NASCAR betting action coming from Kansas Speedway. The Price Chopper 400 will feature the 12 drivers battling for the Cup title as well as others trying to finish the season in style.

Defending Cup champ and winner of last season's run at Kansas, Jimmie Johnson, is priced as a +450 race favorite for this Sunday. Johnson is coming off a win at Dover last weekend, moving into second place in the standings. The No. 48 team has had great success at the 1.5-mile oval in recent races. Johnson has an average finish of 10.4 in his seven career starts including that 2008 win and a third-place showing in 2007.

Veteran Mark Martin, who leads the Chase standings with 5,400 points, is set at +600 for the Price Chopper 400. Martin took the checkered flag at Loudon two weeks ago and followed that with a runner-up finish at Dover last weekend. He has placed inside the Top 10 in five straight starts and owns one career win at Kansas. Martin won the 2005 Banquet 400 but has finished 18th and 12th in his last two races there.

Another Hendrick Motorsports driver is near the top of the NASCAR betting board; Jeff Gordon is listed at +800 for this Sunday's event. Gordon ran into pit troubles at Dover, dropping from second to a sixth-place finish. The No. 24 car has had a slow start to the Chase, currently sitting in eighth. However, he has an impressive track record at this week’s venue, picking up two wins and five Top 5 showings in just eight career starts at Kansas City.

There are seven drivers priced at +1200 for this Sunday's race. Tony Stewart, Carl Edwards, Kyle Busch, Denny Hamlin, Greg Biffle, Brian Vickers, and Juan Pablo Montoya are all capable of finishing the day in victory lane, but Biffle is the standout of the bunch. He's currently ninth in the points standings after two ho-hum runs to open the Chase. But Biffle has had past success at Kansas, finishing inside the Top 3 in four of his seven runs there. He claimed victory at the 1.5-mile oval back in 2007 and has an average finish of 9.9 at K.C.

Vickers could also be a nice longshot pick for this weekend. While he doesn't have an outstanding career record at Kansas, Vickers has found success on tracks like Chicagoland, where he has posted one win and three Top 10 showings in five races. Both tracks have similar shape, distance, and turns. Vickers’ last run at Kansas finished with a 15th-place showing. He has placed 11th and 18th in the first two stages of the Chase.