NASCAR Irwin Tools Night Race 2012 Betting Odds
Carrie Stroup here with your NASCAR Irwin Tools Night Race 2012 betting odds courtesy of our friends at Sportsbook.com.
The NASCAR circuit moves to the World’s Fastest Half-Mile at Bristol Motor Speedway on Saturday night. This concrete oval track is 0.533 miles long with four turns all between 24° and 30° of banking since its 2007 resurfacing. The two straights have inclines of 6° and 10°. The Busch brothers have dominated at this track, combining to win 10 of the past 21 races here. Both Kyle Busch and Kurt Busch have five wins apiece in this span. However, Brad Keselowski has won the past two races at Bristol Motor Speedway.
Drivers to Watch
Carl Edwards (12/1) - His odds are considerably better than the past two Bristol races when he went off at 8-to-1. Edwards is still looking for his first win of 2012, but he is certainly an accomplished driver, especially at this track. No. 99 won back-to-back August night races at Bristol in 2007 and 2008, and was the runner-up at the Jeff Byrd 500 on this track in March of 2011. Edwards is also picking up the pace with a pair of top-7 finishes in his past three starts, including placing sixth last week in Michigan.
Jeff Gordon (12/1) - Like Edwards, Gordon’s odds have become more favorable since March, going from 10-to-1 up to 12-to-1 for Saturday night. That’s pretty generous from the sportsbooks, considering Gordon has five career wins at this track and 59 career top-5’s in 125 short-track races (47.2%). Engine failure cost him last week in Michigan, but he entered that race with a 7.8 average finish over his previous eight starts, including a victory at Pocono three races ago.
Kyle Busch (9/2) - Considering he went off at 5-to-2 last August, these latest odds really aren’t too bad for the race favorite. Busch’s career performance at Bristol (9th or better in 10 of 15 starts) is even more impressive considering none of his five victories at this track has been a result of good starting position (20, 15, 19, 19 and 12). And his awful 32nd-place finish in March foreshadows a strong outcome in the following race, as his past three finishes outside the top-10 at this track have been answered by runner-up, win, win results in the past three such instances. A small wager looks much better when it grows 4½ times for the payout.
Juan Montoya (100/1) - Vegas has certainly soured on Montoya since tabbing him at 40-to-1 odds in the March Bristol race. With triple-digit odds on Saturday, he’s certainly worth a one-unit look. Montoya has improved his short-track performance recently, including an impressive 8th-place finish in March at this track despite starting from the 30th spot. He’s certainly slumping with a 25.1 average finish in his past eight starts. But remember that Montoya has won two poles in the past three weeks, so it’s not like he doesn’t have the potential to race with the leaders on Saturday night
Brad Keselowski (7/1) - StatFox advised bettors to drop a unit wager on Keselowski in the past two Bristol races, and those who heeded this advice won a combined 40 ties that bet, as he went off at 25-to-1 last August and 15-to-1 in March. His minimal odds this Saturday are based on the expectation that he’ll qualify near the front of the pack on Friday night. Keselowski’s two Bristol wins came from the fifth and eighth starting spot, while his first three races at this track were from the 23, 36 and 15 spots, which all resulted in finishes outside of the top-12 (18th, 13th and 19th).
- Carrie Stroup, Gambling911.com Senior Reporter
