After an interesting but abbreviated race to start off this new season, NASCAR heads cross-country for the second points event of this year, the Auto Club 500, on the two-mile oval at the Auto Club Speedway in Fontana (6:15 pm Eastern Sunday, FOX).
In the season opener last Sunday, Matt Kenseth passed Elliot Sadler just before a yellow flag and rain ended the 51st Daytona 500 a lengthy 50 laps from the finish. With the victory, his first since the final event of the 2007 season, Kenseth paid out at odds of +1,500 on the BetUS.com Daytona 500 betting board.
[Bet on the Auto Club 500 at Americas Favorite Sports Book, BetUS.com]
Kevin Harvick, who was also listed at +1,500 at BetUS to win the 500 last weekend, took second place. AJ Allmendinger, who started 20th and was not even among the 33 drivers listed on the Oddsmaker.com Daytona 500 betting board (placing him in “The Field” at +4,000), finished third Sunday for his best-ever finish in a NASCAR points race.
Kyle Busch led for 88 laps Sunday, and certainly looked like the car to beat. He was also the favorite at BetUS.com to win at Daytona, topping the board at +400. But Busch but got taken out in a crash initiated by Dale Earnhardt, Jr. about 25 laps from the eventual finish, and placed 41st.
Earnhardt, the second choice on the BetUS Daytona board at +500, ran until the end of the race, but settled for 27th place.
In group betting last week at BetUS , Tony Stewart, the group longshot at +400, ran ninth, outplacing Jeff Gordon (13th), Mark Martin (16th), Earnhardt, Jr. (27th) and Kyle Busch (41st); Harvick's second-place showing beat Kurt Busch (10th), Carl Edwards (18th), Denny Hamlin (26th) and Jimmie Johnson (31st), cashing in at +350; Juan Pablo Montoya, by finishing 14th, hit at +300, beating Bobby LaBonte (22nd), Aric Almirola (30th), Travis Kvapil (42nd) and Joey Logano (43rd); and Kenseth cashed in again, this time at +300, in outplacing Clint Bowyer (4th), Greg Biffle (20th), Jeff Burton (28th) and Jamie McMurray (37th).
Last February, Carl Edwards won an Auto Club 500 that, thanks to a wet track, finished on a Monday. And six months later, Jimmie Johnson led for 228 of 250 laps in winning the Pepsi 500 at Fontana.
In 2006, Kenseth and Kasey Kahne split the two races at Auto Club Speedway. And in '07, Kenseth won the Auto Club 500 again, while Johnson won the Sharp AQUOS 500 at Fontana.
Auto Club 500 BetUS.com betting board odds:
AJ Almendinger +7000
Bobby Labonte +8500
Brian vickers (Pole Sitter) +2500
Carl Edwards +550 (2008 Auto Club 500 winner)
Casey Mears +10000
Clint Bowyer +6000
Dale Earnhardt Jr +3000
David Ragan +2500
David Reutimann +7500
David Stremme +20000
Denny Hamlin +1800
Elliott Sadler +10000
Greg Biffle +1000
Jamie McMurray +1200
Jeff Burton +5000
Jeff Gordon +800
Jimmie Johnson +300
Joey Logano +8000
Juan Pablo Montoya +5500
Kasey Kahne +5000
Kevin Harvick +2000
Kurt Busch +1500
Kyle Busch +700
Mark Martin +1200
Martin Truex Jr. +6000
Matt Kenseth +900
Michael Waltrip +20000
Paul Menard +20000
Reed Sorenson +20000
Ryan Newman +7500
Scott Speed +20000
Tony Stewart +4000
Travis Kvapil +20000
Field (any other driver) +5000
