Oral-B USA 500 Race Picks
NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Betting Preview
Date and Time: Sunday August 31st, 2014. 7:46PM Eastern
Where: Atlanta Motor Speedway
TV: ESPN
By: NASCAR Wagers, NASCAR Handicapping Service
Late Sunday evening the green flag will drop in the Oral-B USA 500 as the Sprint Cup Series goes night racing at Atlanta Motor Speedway. Last week we watched Sprint Cup Series drivers battle it out at Bristol Motor Speedway in the fan favorite IRWIN Tools night race as Joey Logano earned his 3rd victory of the season. This week the Sprint Cup Series returns to Atlanta which is one of the most beloved tracks among drivers. Atlanta Motor Speedway’s old and abrasive racing surface is a rarity in NASCAR’s age of repaved surfaces especially among the 1.5 mile speedways. However Atlanta presents an old school style of racing with very slick racing conditions, big time tire fall offs, multiple racing grooves, and nevertheless extremely fast speeds. Take a look as we forward to racing at Atlanta as we break down Sunday night’s event and provide our Oral-B USA 500 race picks!
One of the major storylines entering Sunday night’s race is the return of Tony Stewart to the racetrack following the tragic sprint car accident that claimed the life of Kevin Ward Jr back on August 9th. Smoke returned to the race track for the first time this week and will be making his first start since that tragic accident earlier this month. It would be hard to imagine that Smoke could step right back into his car and challenge for the victory especially after their mediocre 2014 performance thus far. However, Stewart has an extremely impressive Atlanta Motor Speedway resume that is too hard to ignore. Stewart has the best average finish (11.65) among active drivers and has 3 victories at the 1.5 mile speedway. Stewart’s #14 car appeared to get better through each practice session this weekend in race trim and he finished Saturday’s final practice with the 7th best 10 lap consecutive average.
Among those drivers with impressive Atlanta resumes include Jimmie Johnson, Jeff Gordon, Carl Edwards, and Kurt Busch who all have 3 victories at Atlanta Motor Speedway. Gordon has caught fire during the late summer months with wins at the Brickyard and most recently at Michigan. Gordon’s resurgence this season has many wondering if the 43 year can put together a championship run during the Chase. In recent weeks, nobody has been better than the #24. So far this week that theme has echoed again as Gordon posted the best 10 lap consecutive averages in each of Saturday’s practice sessions. Considering Gordon’s history at Atlanta and recent success, the #24 should be among the drivers to beat on Sunday.
Among the other drivers in the group of 3 time Atlanta winners, both Jimmie Johnson and Carl Edwards have been strong thus far this weekend. Johnson is finally starting to post some strong finishes after several weeks of horrible outings. Meanwhile, Carl Edwards unloaded the fastest #99 car they have brought to a 1.5 mile speedway all season. Edwards was fastest in the first practice on Friday and has continued to show speed ever since which is just further validation that the Roush-Fenway Racing cars continue to make improvements with their 1.5 mile packages.
Of course practice speeds are just an indicator of raw speed and do not necessarily indicate which cars will be fastest in race trim especially considering none of this weekend’s practice sessions have transpired under night conditions which will be the case in the Oral-B USA 500. Still, some of the names that have been persistently strong at the 1.5 mile tracks this season have continued to loom towards the tops of the leaderboards this weekend. Drivers like Kevin Harvick, Joey Logano, and arguably the entire Hendrick Motorsports camp has shown speed. Harvick won the pole for Sunday’s race and will lead the field to the green flag. Most NASCAR fans remember Harvick’s emotional victory at Atlanta following the death of Dale Earnhardt back in 2001. However that first victory has been Harvick’s lone victory at Atlanta in 23 starts but tomorrow may be his best opportunity to get back to victory lane at Atlanta Motor Speedway.
Oral-B USA 500 Race Picks
Kevin Harvick +775 (1.5 units): newsletter pick, very fast on 1.5 mile speedways this season, one of Harvick’s favorite tracks, starting on pole, 2nd best 10 lap average in practice 2.
Kurt Busch +2000 (1 unit): 3 victories at Atlanta, two victories in last 7 Atlanta starts, 3rd best 10 lap average in practice 2
Dale Earnhardt Jr +1800 (1 unit): 2004 Atlanta winner, 4th best average finishing position among active drivers, 3rd in practice 2, and 7th in final practice
Jimmie Johnson +1300 (1 unit): 3 Atlanta victories, 5th in final practice, 3rd best 10 lap average, team appears to have come out of their slump
Cover Parlay
Jeff Gordon +415 wins Oral-B USA 500
Dale Earnhardt Jr -125 over Kasey Kahne
To win: +855
H2H Matchups and Props
Denny Hamlin -110 over Matt Kenseth (3 units)
Joey Logano -115 over Matt Kenseth (3 units)
Ryan Newman -155 over Jamie McMurray (2 units)
Jeff Gordon -145 over Brad Keselowski (2 units)
Carl Edwards +365 wins Group C (Bowyer, Newman, Vickers, and Biffle)
