posted July 30, 2007 at 18:55 EST in NASCAR Betting Trends

Indiana native Tony Stewart cherished his second consecutive Cup win last weekend by taking the checkered flag at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. Uncommon entrants in the top-ten of NASCAR’s Brickyard event included Juan Montoya in 2nd-place and Toyota-driving Dave Blaney’s 9th-place finish.

Jeff Gordon finished 3rd, followed by Kyle Busch, Reed Sorenson, Mark Martin, Kevin Harvick and Jeff Burton.

NASCAR betting investors know that Gordon’s finish was strong enough to keep him in the top spot in the Nextel Cup race. Denny Hamlin, Matt Kenseth, Jeff Burton and Tony Stewart round out the top-five in the Cup standings and they are followed by: Carl Edwards, Kevin Harvick, Kyle Busch, Jimmie Johnson and Clint Bowyer. Martin Truex, Jr. is in 11th place, followed by Dale Earnhardt, Jr., whose engine failed on lap 136 in Indy (he had led 33 of the laps). Kurt Busch is only 13 points off of Earnhardt’s pace and his last three finishes have been 3rd, 6th and 11th.

The Cup now moves East from the Brickyard to Long Pond’s 2.5-mile tri-oval in Pennsylvania. Denny Hamlin won both of the 2006 races here and finished 6th in June’s Pocono 500. Jeff Gordon claimed the Pocono 500 win here in June ahead of Ryan Newman, Martin Truex Jr., Casey Mears and Tony Stewart. After Hamlin, Mark Martin, Kyle Busch, Matt Kenseth and Clint Bowyer rounded out this June’s Pocono 500 top-ten. Dale Jr. finished 12th in June while Kurt Busch finished 16th.

Given Gordon’s success this season, and at this very track, he has certainly earned the high NASCAR odds assigned to him for this weekend’s Pennsylvania 500 (BetUS.com NASCAR lines: +500).

However, Gordon’s odds are second to those of Denny Hamlin’s, whose recent success and 2006 domination of this track merits strong consideration as the track favorite (+450).

Tony Stewart’s two consecutive wins motivated his assigned NASCAR odds to be strong at +650 in the BetUS Sportsbook.

The solid seasons put forth by Kenseth and Kyle Busch would seem to mandate the assignment of solid odds. Kenseth’s 10th-place finish in Indy gave him four consecutive top-ten finishes, yet his odds are a mediocre +1200, which is a very attractive play.

Burton has four top-ten finishes in his last five outings and carries a lot of momentum into Pennsylvania. Given his consistent excellence this season, Burton’s NASCAR odds of +2000 are worthy of notice.

Jimmie Johnson left the Brickyard after only 59 laps, following a blown tire which caused a fiery crash. His 39th-place finish did little to help his effort to make the Cup Chase, dropping him two spots to the 9th-place position he now occupies in the rankings. Still, he has been assigned the 4th-best odds (+750) heading into this weekend.

Ryan Newman is a +950 favorite, followed by the trio of Kyle and Kurt Busch and Matt Kenseth, who have each been assigned a NASCAR line of +1200.

 

Kevin Harvick is +1600 while Dale Earnhardt, Jr. and Carl Edwards have the same odds as Burton (+2000).

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