Tuesday, September 22, 2015

New Hampshire Preview: 2015 Sylvania 300

Could Harvick's dreadful start benefit Hamlin? 
LAS VEGAS -- Boy, we really got some kind of Chase brewing with all kinds of drama after just one race. The defending champ, Kevin Harvick, felt Jimmie Johnson caused his wreck early in the Chicago race last week which caused him to finish 42nd and drop all the way to last place among the 16 drivers in the Chase. After the race, Harvick shoved Johnson.

Yes! A battle between two champions. Love it!

Harvick is now in a situation where he is going to have to most likely win either of the next two races -- Sunday at New Hampshire or next week at Dover -- to stay alive in the Chase.

As we saw last season at Phoenix, never doubt Harvick to do anything when the chips were down. However, if you did want to doubt Harvick you would have stats on your side. While Harvick has more wins than anyone at Phoenix history with seven, including the past four, he has only one win combined on the 1-mile layouts of New Hampshire and Dover.

Still, the Westgate Las Vegas SuperBook only dropped his odds to win the Sprint Cup from a 4/1 co-favorite last week to 6/1 on Monday, which is the ultimate sign of respect.

Here's a look at the Westgate's updated numbers:

Odds to win 2015 Sprint Cup Championship
Kyle Busch 4/1
Matt Kenseth 5/1
Joey Logano 6/1
Kevin Harvick 6/1
Jimmie Johnson 7/1
Brad Keselowski 8/1
Denny Hamlin 8/1
Carl Edwards 12/1
Martin Truex Jr. 12/1
Kurt Busch 12/1
Dale Earnhardt Jr. 25/1
Jeff Gordon 30/1
Ryan Newman 60/1
Jamie McMurray 100/1
Clint Bowyer 200/1
Paul Menard 300/1

Sunday's Sylvania 300 will be the second race of the season on New Hampshire Motor Speedway's 1-mile flat track. The best part of handicapping New Hampshire is that we can really get a good grasp of who should do well by looking at results from similar tracks at Phoenix (1-mile) and Richmond (3/4-mile) this season. If a driver does well on one, history shows that they do well on the other.

Back in the day when teams used to list chassis information -- the previous 20 years up until this season -- I noticed that most of the crew chiefs brought the same chassis to each of the three flat tracks, especially those that did well. The results were always there to show similarities over the years, but the chassis angle and similar set-up always stuck with me.

As a bookmaker, I lowered odds on those drivers that performed well on the three tracks and as a bettor I took advantage of other books that were not in tune with NASCAR. The trio of tracks at Phoenix, New Hampshire and Richmond have consistently been my most profitable NASCAR tracks over the past 20-plus years of betting, whether it's odds to win or head-to-head matchups. I could pinpoint the most likely winner to just two or three drivers and wager more on them instead of spreading things around more for less money.

Read More Here....Top-5 Finish Prediction at NHMS

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