This week in NASCAR: Heluva Good! at The Glen
It’s the second road course race of the season for the NASCAR Sprint Cup series as the drivers visit Watkins Glen on Sunday for the Heluva Good! at The Glen.
Tony Stewart is the +450 favorite this week at WagerWeb.com, and he should be. In the last five races at the Glen he’s collected three victories and two runner-up finishes. Stewart, the points leader, can officially clinch a spot in the Chase for the Championship this weekend. He needs to only extend his standings lead by 55 points over the 13th-place driver in the standings. Considering Stewart has finished in the top 10 for nine races in a row, that’s a decent bet.
Kyle Busch led 57 of 90 laps on the 2.45-mile, 11-turn course last year to complete a road-course season sweep. He didn’t fare as well at Infineon Raceway in California in the first road race this year, finishing 22nd after starting second. Busch has that one win and three top-10s in four career races at the Glen. His win in a Toyota last season broke a five-race win streak by Chevrolet at the Glen. Busch is +700 this week on WagerWeb.com.
Jeff Gordon (+650 on WagerWeb.com) is tied with Stewart for the most career victories at the Glen with four, but since his last win in 2001, Gordon has just one top-10 finish and four finishes of 20th or worse.
Mark Martin with three career wins at the Glen and is the track leader with 12 top-fives and 16 top-10s in 19 races.
Juan Pablo Montoya (+650 on WagerWeb.com) has been outstanding lately, dominating at the Brickyard before a pit-road penalty, and finishing second a week later in Pocono. He now competes at arguably his greatest discipline of racing – the road course at Watkins Glen.
“For us going to a road course is good, especially that one,” Montoya said.
Montoya has started twice here. He didn’t finish the first time but came in fourth last year. It came after he started 25th. He led two laps, meaning that at one of the toughest places in the series to pass cars, Montoya passed 24 of them.
Like Infineon, the race will feature road-course experts such as Ron Fellows and Max Papis, while Patrick Carpentier will drive the No. 55 Toyota in place of owner/driver Michael Waltrip.
(No Ratings Yet)
Loading ...
