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All Star Betting News and Notes

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All-Star Weekend
By Micah Roberts
VegasInsider.com

We've got an outstanding weekend of NASCAR fun with the Sprint Showdown qualifying race on Friday and then the All-Star race on Saturday night where $1 million will be given away to the winner. Of all the All-Star game formats in all sports, NASCAR's version is without a doubt the best because it's all business. No points are involved, but with a massive paycheck waiting in the winners circle, it tends to make drivers give a little bit extra and let it all hang out.

There are 17 drivers eligible to participate in the 110-lap All-Star race with three other drivers having two different ways to become eligible. The winners of the two 20-lap segments in Friday's Showdown advance and another will make it by fan voting. The All-Star race is split up into four 25-lap segments followed by the final 10-lap dash for the cash where no jalopies are in the way.

With bad cars out of the equation, the favorites’ probability to win on the high-banked 1.5-mile track just went up, which means Kevin Harvick and Jimmie Johnson are going to be harder than ever to slay. The duo has combined to win the past seven races on 1.5s with Johnson taking three of four this season. Harvick won at Las Vegas and finished second in the other three.

Those two also have some great history at Charlotte with Johnson winning seven times, including last years Coca-Cola 600, and he’s also won the All-Star race four times, the last coming in 2013. Harvick has won at Charlotte three times, including last fall, and won the All-Star race in 2007. Good luck picking against them.

However, Jamie McMurray came away with the win last season and paid out at 40/1 odds (Bet $100 to win $4,000). It was his only win of 2014 and he didn‘t get credit for one officially, but he did take home a big $1 million check. Last season, McMurray hadn’t shown much on 1.5s prior to the All-Star race and the Penske Racing and Jeff Gordon were running extremely well. Johnson and Harvick were the co-favorites at 5/1.

Is there somebody like McMurray in this years race?

The most likely driver to give the No. 4 and No. 48 a run for their money this week isMartin Truex Jr. but he’s not even eligible for the All-Star race. He has to either win the Sprint Showdown qualifying race or get voted in by the fans. Dale Earnhardt Jr has already tweeted out to his bazillion followers that Truex Jr. is his vote. Truex Jr. should be expected to win the Showdown, which features all the jalopies.

Kyle Larson would be the most likely other candidate to advance and Danica Patrick will probably win the fan vote if Truex Jr. doesn't need it because of winning.

Last week at Kansas, Truex Jr. led a race-high 95-laps and fell victim to rain delays and late cautions. He absolutely dominated the race, but finished ninth after getting stuck behind Kurt Busch who had a bad final restart.

Dale Earnhardt Jr. won this event as a rookie in 2000, but nothing since. You won’t be getting great odds him, maybe 10/1, but so far so good for the No. 88 on 1.5s this season where he’s finished fourth or better in all four events -- third-place three times. He’s been just a notch below Harvick and Johnson.

The funny thing about all three of Johnson’s wins is that he took over the race at the end of all three. He’s a closer is every sense and leads the series with the most wins. It’s one of his better career performances just because he wasn’t stellar in practices like he was in years past and won. His 23 wins on 1.5-mile tracks is a NASCAR record.

All-Star Race Top-Five Finish Prediction:

1) #88 Dale Earnhardt Jr. (10/1)
2) #48 Jimmie Johnson (5/1)
3) #78 Martin Truex Jr. (18/1)
4) #4 Kevin Harvick (7/2)
5) #22 Joey Logano (7/1)

 
Posted : May 12, 2015 1:05 pm
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Drivers to Watch - Charlotte
By Sportsbook.ag

Sprint All-Star Race
Saturday, May 16th – 9:25 p.m. ET
Charlotte Motor Speedway – Concord, NC

In one of the more interesting formats in the series, the winners from the past year will get together in the Sprint Showdown for bragging rights and a chance at the $1 million-plus top prize. The race has taken place at Charlotte Motor Speedway since 1987 and the 1.5-mile, quad-oval track has seen plenty of action on its 24-degree turns. The format of this race has been changed frequently, but currently, they run four 20-lap segments before doing a 10-lap sprint at the end as the drivers have short breaks in between each segment.

It’s not surprising that Jimmie Johnson has been the most dominant force here, winning four times (2003, 2006, 2012, 2013) but he failed to get the jump on last year’s victor; Jamie McMurray. McMurray’s time of 1:20:35 was the fastest mark since the start of this new format in 2012 as he had an average speed of 100.517 MPH on the asphalt track. There are currently 17 racers entered into this battle of top drivers with three possibly coming from winning the two segments of the Sprint Showdown on Friday and by taking the fan vote. Let’s take a look at who could be the best of the best this week in Charlotte.

Drivers to Watch

Jimmie Johnson (6/1) - Johnson is one of the few drivers that is only behind Harvick in the odds this week, but could be worth putting money on with his recent hot streak and past success both at this track and at this particular race. In the past five races, Johnson has done no worse than third and has two victories while never doing better than fifth in the pole. We all know that he is dominant, but his track record in Charlotte is still very impressive as he has taken this race four times in the past and has won another three events when hitting the asphalt of Charlotte. He also has another six top-five showings in his 27 attempts at the track and sits behind just Joey Logano (10.0) and Carl Edwards (11.3) with an average finish of 11.4. Johnson should have no issues continuing his hot streak again this week.

Joey Logano (6/1) - The aforementioned Logano has been itching at the bit to get a win in Charlotte as he ranks best among his peers with an average finish of 10.0 at the venue with four top-fives, but has yet to take a ride in victory lane. He’s been in the All-Star Race four times in his young career, getting two top-fives in those attempts as he owns an average green-flag speed of 180.366 MPG (5th-fastest). He seems to be great in fewer laps as he has been in the top two of the pole six times this year and used a fifth pole position to get a win at Daytona in February. The soon to be 25-year-old has been keeping his wits sharp on the Xfinity Race circuit as well, running five times in those events with three victories and two runner-ups. He could soon supplement Johnson as the perennial winner of this race.

Kasey Kahne (20/1) - Kahne has started at this track 22 times in his career, and in that time he owns four victories, including one in the All-Star Race. His average green-flag speed of 180.143 MPH at the race ranks sixth-fastest and he nearly always is near the front of the pack with an average finish of 11.5 at Charlotte (4th best). The 17-time Sprint Cup Series winner has had a somewhat erratic 2015, though, putting up four top-10s while also finished worse than 15th five times. He does seem to do well when at this track, so look for Kahne to stay near the front with all of the top racers in the series.

Ryan Newman (40/1) - Newman has yet to grab a win in the 2015 campaign, but has not been doing poorly either, finishing in the top-five on four occasions and has an average finish of 8.3 over his last four races heading into this week. As a rookie in 2002, Newman was able to get the checkered flag here amongst the largest field (27) in race history, joining just Jeff Gordon as first-year drivers to win the All-Star Race. In total he has been here 13 times in his solid career and has seven top-10s while also failing to finish four times. Newman’s odds are high, but the 17-time Sprint Cup Series winner should have no problem showing up and dotting the top of the leaderboard.

A.J. Allmendinger (Field: 10/1) - Allmendinger is joined by Almirola with the worst odds to win this week, but since having a rough couple of years with drug suspensions and team changes, he has seemed to level off and is racing at a much higher level. He has two top-10 finishes in 2015 and has been having a nice run leading up to this week with an average finish of 14.7 over his last three races. Allmendinger has one career top-five on this course and could surprise many this week, so putting a unit or two on the field and having him along with a few others isn’t a bad move.

Check out more NASCAR Odds and Props at Sportsbook.ag

 
Posted : May 13, 2015 9:26 pm
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All-Star Race Practice Notes
By Micah Roberts
Sportingnews.com

Kurt Busch put on a nice show of speed during Friday’s lone All-Star practice session to the point where his rating matches Kevin Harvick‘s ahead of Saturday night’s race at Charlotte Motor Speedway. We still don’t know where the two Stewart-Haas teammates will start – qualifying is Saturday at 7:10 p.m. ET – but it’s fair to say Busch’s car looks a little better. That’s a pretty bold statement considering Harvick has a win and three second-places on 1.5-mile tracks this season.

Busch. listed at 6-to-1 odds to win, impressed with his average speeds during the 80-minute session. He had the best 10-consecutive lap average, as well as the best five-lap average. With five 25-lap segments followed by a 10-lap dash in tonight’s race, there isn’t a lot of time and the importance of average speeds is diminished. But the cream should rise to the top and Busch looks to be the driver to beat in the finals. He is using a chassis that will turn its first laps of 2015, one that teammate Danica Patrick used a few times during 2013. Danica, who won the fan vote to race Saturday, probably wishes she could have her old chassis back.

While Harvick had the third-fastest lap (188.258 mph) and Busch was fourth (188.121), Busch was the leader of the session for about 70 minutes. But some late runs put Kyle Busch on top with the fastest lap (188.884), followed by last year’s All-Star Race winner Jamie McMurray (188.396). All those cars will be good, but Kyle Busch is downgraded from his normal rating because this is his first action since he broke his leg in the Daytona Xfinity Series race.

Busch figures to be using this race as somewhat of a live practice session, as he prepares to make his Sprint Cup season debut next week in the Coca-Cola 600 on the same track. He also has other things on his mind – his wife Samantha is expected to have a baby on Monday.

Jimmie Johnson had the 14th-fastest lap (185.829) among the 17 drivers who participated, but his All-Star record four wins suggest his practice times don’t matter much, not to mention he’s won three of the four races on 1.5-mile tracks this season. He’s using his Las Vegas chassis that finished 41st but ran well early. Harvick is using his runner-up chassis from Fontana that led 34 laps.

Start position will play a role in the race just like it did last night when Greg Biffle earned his way into the All-Star Race by winning the first 20-lap segment of the Sprint Showdown. He got out front, and it was light’s out. Clint Bowyer made a bold early move in the second segment and led 17 laps en route to claiming the second segment.

In the All-Star Race, you want to have a bet ticket on a driver who will be in the front row to start the final 10-lap dash. Kurt Busch with either Kevin Harvick or Jimmie Johnson look to be those guys. And maybe even Jamie McMurray again, who won at 40-to-1 odds last season, but is 25-to-1 this time around.

 
Posted : May 16, 2015 11:55 am
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