posted June 20, 2008 at 14:16 EST in NASCAR Free Picks

NASCAR abandons the oval this weekend as they hit the road-course track at Infineon Raceway for some online sports betting in the Toyota/Save Mart 350. The road course means NASCAR betting fans will likely have to adjust their usual sportsbook handicapping outlook.

Last season at Infineon, Juan Pablo Montoya recorded his first-ever Cup Series win after a brilliant road-course race. Despite having never won before last year’s race, Montoya wasn’t a heavy underdog thanks to his extensive experience in road-course racing in Indy Cars and in Formula 1.

Montoya has struggled lately with back-to-back 38th-place finishes in his last two races, but a race on the road course could get him back to victory lane. Montoya is currently listed at +550 odds to repeat as the Infineon champ.

You might guess that Montoya is the overall favorite this weekend, but that designation actually belongs to Jeff Gordon and Tony Stewart who are both at +450 odds. Before Montoya’s win last year, either Gordon or Stewart had claimed the checkered flag in seven of the last nine races at Infineon.

Gordon has five career wins on the track, with his last win coming in 2006. Stewart has seen the checkers fly at Infineon twice, with his last victory coming back in 2005. Both former Cup champions are still looking for their first win of the season and a trip to Infineon may finally end one of their winless streaks.

A road course also means bettors have to worry about a road-course ringer surprising the field and winning as a big underdog. This year is no different as a number of well-known ringers have already been confirmed for this weekend, including Boris Said (+1800), Ron Fellows (+2000), Brian Simo (+10000) and Max Papis (+10000). The chances of a ringer winning at Infineon likely aren’t that good considering a ringer hasn’t won on the Cup Series since Mark Donohue’s upset win in the Motor Trend 500 way back in 1973.

Any novice NASCAR bettors out there may think they’ve struck gold when looking over the odds on this season’s regular winners on the Cup circuit. Series points leader Kyle Busch is a +1400 underdog his weekend, while Dale Earnhardt Jr., who finally won again last week at Michigan, is a +3000 long shot on the NASCAR odds. That should not be surprising though, considering neither Busch nor Junior has ever finished in the Top 5 at Infineon.

The race is scheduled to get underway at 3:30 pm ET on Sunday, with TNT handling the coverage.

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