Kevin Harvick favored to win Kobalt 400 Pole on Friday

Could David Ragan be a contender to win Pole on Friday? 

Friday's qualifying session at Las Vegas Motor Speedway just got a little more interesting, as the Westgate Las Vegas SuperBook has posted odds to win the Kobalt 400 pole. This is the only race of the season for which sports books post odds to win qualifying, and it probably offers the best long shot value of the entire weekend.

Picking a long shot to win a Vegas race has been a losing proposition since 1998, since the highest payout has been 18-to-1. Favorites usually win, but the pole is another story. The cream typically rises to the top after 267 laps, but with only one super-fast lap needed to cash, the pool of candidates to win the pole is widened.

In the first 1.5-mile race of the season last week at Atlanta, Joey Logano (8/1) laid down the fastest lap at 194 mph to win the pole. Kevin Harvick had eight poles last season and comes in as the 7-to-1 favorite to do so Friday. Jeff Gordon (8/1) is the active leader with 78 career poles, and Ryan Newman (25/1) is next with 51.

The most attractive long shots on Friday are Chip Ganassi Racing's Kyle Larson (25/1) and Jamie McMurray (20/1). Larson had one pole last season, but the most important piece for this prop is that he was fastest in the first Atlanta practice session while running in qualifying trim. In that same practice, David Ragan (30/1), driving the No. 18 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota for injured Kyle Busch, had the third fastest lap in a mock-qualifying run. Harvick was second fastest.

Read More Here...Westgate odds to win Pole