Wednesday, October 1, 2014

Jeff Gordon now once again favored to win 2014 Sprint Cup

Jeff Gordon has won all on all four tracks he won at in 2001, his last title
LAS VEGAS -- With the first three races of the Chase in the books, four drivers have been eliminated and it's off to the Contender Round for three more races beginning Sunday at Kansas Speedway. Everything that has happened up until this point means nothing as all 12 remaining Chase participants will start with 3,000 points, and after the next three races are completed, the four drivers with the least amount of points and no wins will be eliminated.

The just-completed Challenger Round was kind of easy to figure out, but now things get a little more spiced up, especially with the major wild card of Talladega looming as the third and deciding race of who moves on to the next round. Anything and everything is possible on the 2.66-mile monstrous Superspeedway, and the Chase drivers who don't have wins will all be candidates to win, as well as at least 28 other drivers that will have a better chance to win than they do on any other track. Wouldn't that be something if David Ragan won and took away the chance of one of the Chase drivers to advance?

But we're getting way ahead of ourselves. First up is Kansas and then Charlotte. Both are 1.5-mile tracks and through the first seven 1.5-mile tracks raced on this season, we've seen nothing but Penske Racing and Hendrick Motorsports drivers. Brad Keselowski has won on three of them, with Joey Logano, Jeff Gordon, Jimmie Johnson and Kasey Kahne each having one win. Chances are that two of those drivers will be victors again in the next two weeks, or Keselowski could get greedy and just win them both.

We don't have odds posted in Las Vegas on who will be eliminated out of this round, but I'd post Ryan Newman, Carl Edwards, Kyle Busch and Denny Hamlin as the favorites. Although, I have Hamlin advancing and Kahne bowing out in my own personal bracket. Newman could be a surprise here just because he's finished 15th or better on the past five 1.5-mile tracks. Kyle Busch's past history of inconsistencies during the Chase make him a strong candidate to wave goodbye in this round.

The Westgate Las Vegas SuperBook has adjusted their odds to win the Chase for the Sprint Cup with Jeff Gordon being moved back into the favorite slot following his first Dover win since 2001, which was also the last time he won a season championship. Gordon also won at Kansas, Michigan and Indianapolis in 2001, just like he has this year. Is history repeating itself? The odds seem to reflect it as Gordon is now 5-to-2 with Keselowski at 3-to-1, followed by Kevin Harvick and Johnson at 9-to-2. Logano is 7-to-1 and everyone else is at double-digit odds.

Read More Here.........Updated Sprint Cup odds

No comments: