NASCAR: Odds to win 2010 Sprint Cup
by Charles Jay
If you watched Sunday's coverage of the Auto Club 500 on Sunday you realize that there was something of a stroke of luck that enabled Jimmie Johnson to travel on to Las Vegas with the checkered flag in hand.
He was in the pits when the yellow flag came out, the result of a mishap involving Brad Keselowski, which took place about 26 laps from the finish, and made it out of there with what looked like inches to spare just as the leaders were coming off. This set of circumstances enabled him to take the lead in the race and he never looked back.
Top Ten To Win 2010 Sprint Cup
(With current standing in parnetheses)
- Jimmie Johnson +300 (12th)
- Jeff Gordon +600 (22nd)
- Mark Martin +800 (6th)
- Carl Edwards +800 (10th)
- Kyle Busch +1000 (13th)
- Tony Stewart +1000 (17th)
- Clint Bowyer +1200 (2nd)
- Denny Hamlin +1200 (21st)
- Jeff Burton +1200 (5th)
- Kevin Harvick +1200 (1st)
Kevin Harvick was frustrated by the result, to say the least. he described Johnson as "lucky" and that his team "have a golden horseshoe stuck up their ass." Well, look, he isn't wrong, but at the same time a lot of race winners need a little luck.
That is not to imply that Johnson's win is a fluke. He led 101 laps of the 250-lap race, and has a great history in Fontana, having won races there each of the previous three years. But like many sports, in this case NASCAR racing was a game of inches, or feet in this case, since it is played at a lot faster speed.
Jeff Burton thought he could have gone a bit faster when the yellow flag was out, "If I can carry more speed next time, I certainly will," he said.
Harvick doesn't have a heck of a lot to complain about, because he made a run of it despite Johnson's "good fortune." He had his opportunity to challenge Johnson with about three laps to go, but in trying to take a high line to pass he was blocked by Johnson, then grazed the wall. That enabled Johnson to create the distance he needed to ride home with the win. Kevin Harvick admitted that Johnson's move was "exactly what he had to do."
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So what's the beef?
Well, there really wasn't any. The guy just hasn't won a race since Daytona in 2007. However, Harvick left California with a lead in the Sprint Cup standings, with teammate Clint Bowyer 19 points behind in what is a nice 1-2 punch thus far for Richard Childress Racing. Harvick and Bowyer are both listed at +1200 in the BetUS odds to win this year's Sprint Cup title, although there is a long way to go. Jeff Burton, the third member of the RCR team, is in fifth place overall and is +1200 at BetUS to win the Sprint Cup.
Jamie McMurray, the Daytona 500 winner who had some people jumping when he won the pole on Saturday, started off very slowly and was in back of the pack for much of the race, but got up to finish 17th. He's at +5000 in the BetUS Sprint Cup odds. Dale Earnhardt Jr. (+1800), who offered his fans some encouragement after rallying to finish second at Daytona, was a disappointing 32nd. he has now gone 59 straight races without winning. Greg Biffle was 10th at Fontana, and is currently in third place in the standings, listed at +1200.
As for defending champ Johnson, who was way out of it at Daytona, the win at Fontana, where he was the +300 favorite, allowed him to climb into 12th place, and he is very solidly the favorite to repeat as champion (+300).
Regarding Danica Patrick's activity this past weekend; well, she finished 31st in the Nationwide Series event, the Stater Bros. 300, and appeared in a lot of GoDaddy commercials.
Next up for everybody is a trip to Las Vegas, where they may or may not shoot some craps, but will certainly compete in the Shelby American at the 142,000-seat Las Vegas Motor Speedway, where no one has won a Sprint Cup race from the pole, and Mark Martin holds the race record at 146.554 miles an hour.
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