2015 Cheez-It 355 Race Picks
NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Betting Preview
Sunday August 9th, 2:19PM (EST) at Watkins Glen International
by NASCARWagers.com, NASCAR Handicapping Service
Today the Sprint Cup Series goes road course racing in the Cheez-It 355 at Watkins Glen International. This afternoon’s road course race marks the 2nd of final road course event of the season. Back in June, Kyle Busch scored his first win of the season at Sonoma which kick started an absolute hot streak that included 3 more wins in the month of July. Today, Watkins Glen International presents another opportunity for a driver to score their first win of the season and earn a spot in the chase. The Glen has provided some unique winners over the last few years like Juan Pablo Montoya, Marcos Ambrose, and most recently last year’s winner AJ Allmendinger. Will we see another road course talent take the checker flag today? Check out our 2015 Cheez-It 355 race picks!
AJ Allmendinger, the defending Cheez-It 355 winner, has looked mightily strong thus far through the weekend in quest of going back to back at Watkins Glen. Allmendinger was 2nd in terms of single lap speed in the first practice session on Friday and then won the pole with a lap of 127.839mph on Saturday. Today the “Dinger” looks to join an elite list of guys that have won back to back races at The Glen that includes names like Mark Martin, Jeff Gordon, Tony Stewart, and Marcos Ambrose. One fact playing into Allmendinger’s hands this afternoon is the pole winners have won 9 of the 32 races throughout the Sprint Cup Series’ history at The Glen. However, there is still plenty of challengers waiting to master the 11 turns at Watkins Glen International to score the victory. Among the names that should head line today’s event include Kevin Harvick, Kyle Busch, and Jeff Gordon.
For Jeff Gordon, today’s final ride at Watkins Glen will be bitter sweet. Gordon dominated Watkins Glen like no other driver in the late 90’s winning 3 straight races and 4 out of 5 races from 1997 to 2001. In recent years, the #24 car has found more misfortune and hard times than he did early in his career. In fact, Gordon has failed to score a finish better than 9th since that last win in 2001. Still, Gordon is 2nd on the all-time wins list at Watkins Glen and nobody would argue the fact that he once dominated this track like no other driver in history. On Friday, Gordon topped the charts with the fastest lap in final practice before qualifying in the 5th position on Saturday. The major question everyone is asking going into Sunday’s final race, is can the #24 find some of the late 90’s magic one final time?
Outside of Gordon and Allmendinger, Kevin Harvick and Kyle Busch looked really strong from a practice standpoint. Harvick was one of the few drivers to run at least 10 consecutive laps and his lap times had very little fall off. Busch looked strong in both of Friday’s practices in terms of single lap speed despite failing to run more than a handful of consecutive laps. Still, Busch seemed happy with the #18 car and who could deny his numbers at The Glen? Before last year’s 40th place finish, Busch had finished 9th or better in 8 straight races which included two wins with the most recent in 2013. Today Busch looks to accomplish the same feat that he accomplished in 2008 by sweeping both of the road course races in the same season.
I believe a few other guys that could fight their way into the picture this afternoon include the #78 car of Martin Truex Jr and Brad Keselowski. Truex qualified in the 2nd position but he looked really strong before that in practices on Friday. Truex has been really solid at Watkins Glen with two top 5 finishes in his last 4 starts and he has a road course win to his credit stemming from Sonoma. The #78 looked really solid and he will be starting in a place where he could easily hang on to his track position throughout the afternoon which will provide plenty of strategy opportunities. Additionally, keep your eyes on the #2 car this afternoon. Not much has been talked about with Keselowski going into this race after a rather average 11th place qualifying effort. However, the #2 car looked good in practice and Keselowski posted 3 straight runner-up finishes at The Glen from 2011 through 2013. Today will be a great opportunity for the #2 team to break through and capture that first road course victory following several strong runs in recent weeks.
2015 Cheez-It 355 Race Picks
Brad Keselowski +900 (1 unit): 3 straight runner-up finishes from 2011-2013, solid in both practices despite many teams doing qualifying runs at the top of the speed charts
Martin Truex Jr +1200 (1 unit): career best 3rd place finish in 2013, good in practice, several good runs in recent years, having one of strongest years of career, Sonoma win proves he can get it done on the road course, starting 2nd
Joey Logano +1750 (1 unit): sleeper pick of the day, finished 7th or better in 3 of last 4 starts at Watkins Glen, running really well recently, won the Xfinity Series race on Saturday, has some work to do starting 16th
Carl Edwards +2200 (.5 unit): 4 top 5 finishes in last 6 starts at Watkins Glen, with the way JGR cars have been running, no reason to forget the #19 this week
Two-Team Parlay
Kyle Busch +640 wins Cheez-It 355
Dale Earnhardt Jr -160 over Denny Hamlin
Risking 1 unit to win: +1102
H2H Match-ups and Props
Casey Mears -125 over Danica Patrick (2 units)
Joey Logano +140 over Kevin Harvick (2 units)
Sam Hornish Jr -120 over Paul Menard (1 unit)
