NASCAR betting makes perfect sense with the Cup Series taking over Sin City for this Sunday’s Pennzoil 400 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway (3:30 p.m. ET).
Covers Experts’ Auto Racing Advisor not only runs down the odds to win the Pennzoil 400 but gives his picks and predictions for driver head-to-head odds as well as the NASCAR odds for which car manufacturer win finish in Victory Lane.
PENNZOIL 400
TRACK: LAS VEGAS MOTOR SPEEDWAY (1.5-MILE TRI-OVAL)
DISTANCE: 267 LAPS - STAGE 1/2 80 LAPS, FINAL STAGE 107 LAPS (400 MILES)
WEATHER: RAIN 80% CHANCE SATURDAY, SUN 68 DEGREES SUNDAY
FAVORITES TO WIN PENNZOIL 400
Martin Truex Jr. (+550)
We will see how the crew chief transition from Cole Pearn to James Small works this weekend in Vegas. This, not Daytona, is their first true test together. Truex won the last time we were in Vegas (September) and has eight straight Top-11 finishes on the 1.5-mile track including five Top-4 efforts and two wins. He’s won 12 races on 1.5-mile tracks since 2016, nearly two times as much as the next closest driver.
Kyle Busch (+500)
Busch may have only finished 19th in the playoff race last September but he did have three straight Top-7 finishes prior, including two of those three coming inside the Top 3. While he hasn’t won at his home track in his last 11 starts, that could end on Sunday.
Kevin Harvick (+475)
Another good driver here. Harvick has three Top-4 finishes in his last four Vegas starts, including a win in this race in 2018 and a runner-up last fall.
Brad Keselowski (+650)
He has three straight Top-3 finishes in Vegas to go along with nine consecutive Top-7 finishes there overall.
Joey Logano (+750)
He’s the defending race winner and has eight straight Top-10 finishes in Vegas himself.
SLEEPERS TO WIN PENNZOIL 400
Kyle Larson (+1,300)
He’s been good at Vegas in the past with four Top-8 finishes in his last five tries, including three of which coming inside the Top 3 (2 runner-up showings).
Chase Elliott (+1,400)
Vegas didn’t used to be one of Elliott’s better tracks. In three of his first four starts there, he finished 34th or worse. Last year, he was ninth in this race and fourth in the fall.
Ryan Blaney (+2,000)
Has five Top-7 finishes in his last six starts in Vegas. He’s coming off an emotional runner-up finish this past week in Daytona.
Aric Almirola (+4,000)
He had a fast car in Daytona and enters with scoring three Top-10 finishes in four Vegas tries since he joined SHR in 2018.
| DRIVER | ODDS TO WIN |
|---|---|
| Kevin Harvick | +475 |
| Kyle Busch | +500 |
| Martin Truex Jr. | +550 |
| Brad Keselowski | +650 |
| Joey Logano | +750 |
| Denny Hamlin | +900 |
| Kyle Larson | +1,300 |
| Chase Elliot | +1,400 |
| Ryan Blaney | +2,000 |
| Erik Jones | +2,500 |
| William Byron | +2,800 |
PENNZOIL 400 HEAD-TO-HEAD DRIVER PICKS
Kyle Busch (-125) vs. Denny Hamlin (-106)
Busch has three Top-7 finishes – two inside the Top 3 - in his last four Vegas starts. Hamlin hasn’t scored a Top-5 finish in each of his last six Vegas starts and even the fifth-place run that he had in 2015 is his lone Top 5 showing on the 1.5-mile track in his last 14 tries. A Daytona 500 winner hasn’t won the second race of the season since 2009.
PICK: Busch -125
Kevin Harvick (-125) vs. Denny Hamlin (-106)
Harvick, has three Top-4 finishes in his last four Vegas starts, including a win in this race in 2018 and a runner-up last fall. Hamlin, meanwhile, has one Top 5 in his last 14 Vegas starts.
PICK: Harvick (-125)
MANUFACTURERS ODDS TO WIN PENNZOIL 400
Ford’s looked fast last weekend in Daytona and are heading to one of their better tracks in Vegas. They’ve won three of the last four spring races on the 1.5-mile track, including four of the last five overall too. Chevy (+225) hasn’t won in Vegas since 2015 as that’s their lone win since 2013 there.
PICK: Ford +175
TRACK TREND TO KNOW
Over the past three NASCAR Cup Series seasons, the spring race at the Las Vegas Motor Speedway has been a precursor to how the rest of the campaign will go.
In 2017, Martin Truex Jr. led 150 of the 267 laps in the Cup race en route to a dominating victory. He’d go on to win seven more times that season including the championship as well.
In 2018, Kevin Harvick won his first of eight trips to Victory Lane in the March race in Vegas as he led 214 laps that day. No one won as many races in 2018 as Harvick.
Joey Logano won last spring and would march to fifth in the final standings at the end of the year.
