NASCAR Sprint Cup Series
Irwin Tools Night RaceSaturday, August 23 – 7:30 p.m. ET
Bristol Motor Speedway – Bristol, TNThe NASCAR circuit moves to the World’s Fastest Half-Mile at Bristol Motor Speedway on Saturday night. This concrete oval track is 0.533 miles long with four turns all between 24° and 30° of banking since its 2007 resurfacing. The two straights have inclines of 6° and 10°. The Busch brothers have dominated at this track, combining to win 10 of the past 25 races here. Both Kyle Busch and Kurt Busch have five wins apiece in this span. However, the past six Bristol winners have been Brad Keselowski (twice), Denny Hamlin, Kasey Kahne, Matt Kenseth last fall and Carl Edwards in March. Odds to Win Race| Driver | Odds | | Brad Keselowski | 6-to-1 | | Kevin Harvick | 6-to-1 | | Jeff Gordon | 7-to-1 | | Kyle Busch | 7-to-1 | | Matt Kenseth | 7-to-1 | | Dale Earnhardt Jr. | 12-to-1 | | Joey Logano | 12-to-1 | | Jimmie Johnson | 12-to-1 | | Denny Hamlin | 12-to-1 | | Kasey Kahne | 12-to-1 | | Kurt Busch | 15-to-1 | | Kyle Larson | 20-to-1 | | Tony Stewart | 25-to-1 | | Carl Edwards | 25-to-1 | | Clint Bowyer | 25-to-1 | | Greg Biffle | 30-to-1 | | Ryan Newman | 40-to-1 | | Jamie McMurray | 50-to-1 | | Brian Vickers | 50-to-1 | | Paul Menard | 75-to-1 | | Martin Truex Jr. | 100-to-1 | | Austin Dillon | 100-to-1 | | Ricky Stenhouse Jr. | 100-to-1 | | Aric Almirola | 100-to-1 | | Marcos Ambrose | 100-to-1 | | A.J. Allmendinger | 200-to-1 | | Danica Patrick | 200-to-1 | | Casey Mears | 500-to-1 | | Justin Allgaier | 500-to-1 | | FIELD (Any other driver) | 200-to-1 |
Drivers to WatchClint Bowyer (25/1) - He has performed very well on the World's Fastest Half-Mile track recently, posting an average finish of 9.0 over his past five races. Bowyer also has seven top-7 showings in his past 14 Bristol starts. On all short-track races, he's placed among the top-10 in 55% of them, which includes two victories. He has also climbed four key spots in the standings to his current 10th place thanks to top-9 showings in four of his past six races. With the bargain price here (Bowyer was 10/1 last summer), place your largest weekend bet on Bowyer.Brad Keselowski (6/1) - The best chalk to drop a unit on this weekend is Keselowski, who has won two of the past seven races this season, due largely to the fact that he hasn’t started worse than ninth in five straight events. But the reason Keselowski is worth the steep price on Saturday is because he has three top-3 finishes (including wins in 2011 and 2012) over his past six Bristol starts. Despite a weak 14th-place showing in March at this venue, he still led that race for 40 laps. Ryan Newman (40/1) - He has never enjoyed a victory in Bristol, but Newman has sure come close with three poles and nine top-7 finishes. Among all types of venues, Newman has fared the best on short tracks with a 14.6 average finish thanks to 14 top-5's and 39 top-10's over 75 starts (52%). Newman has also been consistently strong all NASCAR season, staying among the top-8 drivers in the standings for the past eight races where he's placed among the top-11 in six of those events. At 40-to-1 odds, Newman is worthy of a one-unit wager. Martin Truex Jr. (100/1) - His odds have multiplied five times from the 20-to-1 price he started with in this event last year. Although Truex crashed in that race and finished a disappointing 36th in March, Truex posted four straight top-12 finishes preceding this slide, including a runner-up to Brad Keselowski in the 2011 Irwin Tools Night Race. That was one of five top-5's and 10 top-10's in the short-track career of Truex. At triple-digit odds, he's worth a look on Saturday night.
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