NASCAR Sprint Cup Series
5-Hour Energy 301

Odds to Win Race

After a dominant week for the Joe Gibbs racing team in Kentucky, the Sprint Cup Series heads to New Hampshire for the 5-Hour Energy 301; a race first held in 1993 at the New Hampshire Motor Speedway. There has been a ton of variance with the victors in this event with a new winner each year since 2010 while no one driver has owned the course. Jimmie Johnson (2003, 2010), Kurt Busch (2004, 2008) and Tony Stewart (2000, 2005) are all active drivers who have won more than once when hitting the 1.058-mile oval course made up of asphalt and granite. The venue is often dubbed “The Magic Mile” and it allowed Brad Keselowski to come away with the win last year as he did so in 2:58:03 at an average speed of 108.741 MPH. His win was in an extended race due to a green-white-checker finish and is one of 33 in his career. Let’s take a look through the entrants this week and see who stands out as a competitor at this course.

Jimmie Johnson (6/1) - This track is yet another that Johnson has been able to tame in his career, as one of the best drivers in history has three wins with 18 top-10s in his time at the venue with two of those victories coming in this particular event. He’s spent 4,758 laps in the top-10 (79.6%) which ranks second-best amongst the drivers and he is also second in quality passes (626). The 39-year-old is the current Sprint Cup Series leader with yet another spectacular season in which he owns four wins and has done worse than ninth just once over his last six times out. Each week Johnson could take the checkered flag, so feel confident when you go with him.

Denny Hamlin (12/1) - Hamlin has torn up this track in his 18 career visits, getting into the top-10 11 times, the top-five seven times and also has two wins. Those results have aided him in having a tremendous driver rating of 103.2 (third-best) and his average finish of 10.5 is second-best amongst his peers. He flies around this course at an average green flag speed of 125.064 MPH (sixth-fastest) and has been able to compile 570 quality passes (fourth-most). Hamlin has been all over the place in 2015 as he has done worse than 25th four times, but won at both Martinsville and the All-Star Race. He has done great in the past two weeks leading up to New Hampshire, getting a third at both Daytona and Kentucky and has risen into the top-10 of the Sprint Cup standings. Grabbing Hamlin would be going with a hot hand who has had tons of success at this track in the past.

Kyle Larson (20/1) - Larson hasn’t exactly been blowing anyone away this year with his performances, but he looks like he is on the right track with his car running well as evidenced by a fourth-place pole at Sonoma while winning the pole last week in Kentucky. Larson is one of the youngest racers in the circuit and much of his inconsistencies can be attributed to that fact, but he has had no issues in his first two visits to this track. In his limited experience here he has been in the top-five each time and already has 51 quality passes in that time. The youngster should be able to put things together and gain some consistency where he has done a phenomenal job in the past.

Carl Edwards (20/1) - Edwards does not exactly have the upside this week to get the win, but he should give himself the chance as he has been consistent here in the past. Over his 21 career visits, he owns a mere five top-10s, but still has tallied an impressive average finish of 14th. He has one of his 24 career wins this year as he took down Charlotte in late May and currently ranks 10th in the Sprint Cup Series. Edwards will hope to piggy-back off of an impressive showing last week where he ended in fourth, just his second top-10 of the year, and led for a single lap after beginning in 20th. If he can ride the momentum from Kentucky he will place higher than his usual at this track.

Paul Menard (100/1) - Menard is in the midst of his best season since coming to the Sprint Cup Series in 2003 as he sits in 14th with four top-eight finishes. He has come close to getting a second career victory with his first coming at the 2011 Brickyard 400, and although he has been unable to get into the top-10 at this track over his 16 career starts, his improved performances this year should allow him to jump up near the top of the leaderboard come Sunday afternoon.