posted June 12, 2007 at 19:39 EST in NASCAR Betting Trends

Fresh off Jeff Gordon’s rain-shortened win at Pocono’s tri-oval, the NEXTEL Cup moves to the two-mile D-oval of the Michigan International Speedway. Kasey Kahne won last year’s spring race from the pole position, while Matt Kenseth won the 2006 fall race.

Gordon was a half-car length ahead of Ryan Newman when heavy rain caused NASCAR to drop the yellow flag. Newman was clearly making a push when the yellow rag fell but Gordon’s decision to pit on lap 84 and get more fuel ended up allowing him to push when necessary to grab his fourth win of the year. For Hendrick’s Motorsports, it was the team’s tenth win of the year.

 

Gordon’s teammate Casey Mears finished fourth, while his more notorious teammate, Jimmie Johnson, finished second-to-last (42nd) due to tire issues. The poor finish dropped him from second to fourth in the points race.

Last spring, Kahne beat out Carl Edwards, Dale Earnhardt, Jr. and Greg Biffle in Michigan. Reed Sorenson, Jimmie Johnson, Casey Mears, Jeff Gordon and Kurt Busch rounded out the top-nine.

In the fall, Kenseth beat out Gordon, Tony Stewart, Kahne and Mark Martin. Earnhardt, Jr., Biffle Sorenson, and Denny Hamlin made up the rest of last fall’s top-nine.

Kenseth (whose last four finishes have been 7th, 12th, 5th and 9th) is the odds-on favorite to win this weekend (9:1), followed by the quartet of Jeff Gordon, Jimmie Johnson, Tony Stewart and Kevin Harvick at 10:1.

 

Jeff Burton sits alone with the sixth-best odds (12:1). Kyle Busch and fellow-youngster Denny Hamlin (whose last four finishes have been 2nd, 9th, 4th and 6th) are tied with 15:1 odds to win this weekend. Earnhardt, Jr. is a 20:1 favorite while Mark Martin has been assigned 25:1 odds.

The odds assigned to last year’s spring winner, Kasey Kahne, are only 30:1. He has averaged a 24th-place finish and has only one top-ten finish (the season-opener at Daytona, no less) to show for his efforts this season. His last four finishes have been 20th (Dodge Avenger 500), 23rd (Coca Cola 600), 11th (Autism Speaks 400), and 22nd (Pocono).

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