Southern 500 Selections - The Lady in Black

If you bet NASCAR online, "The Lady in Black" will be your host for Saturday's Southern 500 at the 1.36-mile Darlington Raceway under the lights, starting at 7:35pm EST. She can be a bitch to drivers lacking patience, perseverance and skill, and down right vicious to bettors that don't know her. Darlington is a drivers track in its purest form, which is one of the circuits oldest tracks rich in tradition, giving veteran drivers who's danced with her a decisive edge.

Two competitors that immediately come to mind that's my top selections for Saturday's race is Jeff Gordon and Tony Stewart. After surrendering the points lead to Kurt Busch at Phoenix in race eight (April 18), Gordon reclaimed the top-spot with a solid eighth-place finish last week at Richmond, giving him a 10-point lead over second-place Busch heading into Saturday evening's Southern 500. Stewart was runner-up to race winner Kyle Busch at Richmond, which was good enough to raise Smoke from sixth to third-place in the point standings.

Gordon and Stewart were rewarded in points last week with strong outings. And both have very legitimate shots at putting together back-to-back stellar runs and cashing for online NASCAR betting fans that support them after visiting the BetUS NASCAR odds, where they are listed among the favorites to win.

Gordon has befriended "The Lady in Black", who's treated the four-time Cup champion to the most victories among all active drivers with seven and $4,005,871 in winnings. His seven wins at Darlington ties him for the most victories on any track on the circuit, with the other track being Martinsville.

In 28 career starts at Darlington, Gordon has also collect 16 top-fives and 19 top-ten finishes with a sound 11.5 average of finish there. As well, he owns an even more impressive average starting position of 6.9 due-in-part to claiming four Darlington poles. Gordon's numbers from top to bottom solidifies he knows his way around the track and how to find Victory Lane.

Stewart's second-place finish at Richmond last week was the third time this year he finished as runner-up, improving his average of finish to 10.1 through the first ten races. In his inaugural season as car owner/driver for Stewart-Haas Racing, his numbers are remarkable considering the new team started 2009 from Ground Zero. If you bet on NASCAR, you're aware Smoke is close to victory and should be captivating the sports betting communities attention weekly. On the season, Stewart has to his credit four top-fives and seven top-ten runs.

In 16 career starts at Darlington, "The Lady in Black" hasn't been nearly as kind to Stewart as she's been to Gordon. Stewart has never won there and his best finish was a fourth. He has just two top-fives and eight top-ten showings but owns a decent 12.5 average of finish there.

However, his Darlington winless streak could end Saturday evening. As mentioned earlier, it's a driver's track that fits Smoke's style of driving. Add in fact he has all the qualities to win there, already knocking on the door to Victory Lane, and you have to like his chances of at least cashing with a top-three finish.

Free NASCAR Picks: Jeff Gordon +700 (Win) and-or Tony Stewart +300 (Top-3)