Venue: Michigan International Speedway
Location: Brooklyn, Michigan
Television-Time: NBCSN, 4:00 p.m., 4:30 p.m. ET
Handicapping NASCAR at Michigan
There are so many important happenings this weekend at Michigan International Speedway that it’s hard where to start. Since this is a NASCAR betting piece I’ll start with the fact we have two races to bet on this weekend.
Yes, It’s a Saturday-Sunday doubleheader with each race reduced to 312 miles with the top-20 start position in Sunday’s race set by the inverted results from Saturday.
The Saturday winner starts 20th on Sunday and when NASCAR unveiled the two races in one weekend in June at Pocono, I thought the Sunday race was wild with the best cars starting 16th through 20th marching through the field to the front.
Saturday’s race saw Kevin Harvick dominate in clean air and hold off runner-up Denny Hamlin. On Sunday it was Hamlin winning with Harvick as runner-up. Aric Almirola also had top-fives in both races.
So it’s easy to understand why the Westgate Las Vegas SuperBook posted Harvick as the 4/1 favorite with Hamlin next at 5/1 odds. Almirola, who had been 25/1 or 20/1 the last eight weeks, is now listed at 14/1 to win Saturday’s race.
Almirola currently is on a run of nine straight top-10 finishes and despite the odds drop I still bet him to win.
Perfect 10 for Almirola?
“Michigan is a weird place for me because, in my mind, I feel like I run well there,” Almirola said. “I won a Truck race there years ago and, from that point forward, I just always loved going to Michigan. My wife’s family is from Michigan, so I go to Michigan with such a great attitude. I felt like in our first race there last year we had a lot of speed.
I felt we had a top-five car there at Michigan and didn’t execute and things didn’t go our way with the restarts and I didn’t get the result. I’m excited about going back. Going to Michigan, there’s always a lot of pride for the manufacturers. I’d love to go there and keep the trophy in Ford’s backyard.”
Almirola brings up another fun fact I love about Michigan races regarding the manufacturer's battle. Ford leads the way with 39 Michigan wins, including the last four, and its Mercury division also won 12 times in the manufacturers battle near Motor City. Chevrolet has 26 wins and Toyota has five.
There are so many important happenings this weekend at Michigan International Speedway that it’s hard where to start. Since this is a NASCAR betting piece I’ll start with the fact we have two races to bet on this weekend.
Yes, It’s a Saturday-Sunday doubleheader with each race reduced to 312 miles with the top-20 start position in Sunday’s race set by the inverted results from Saturday.
The Saturday winner starts 20th on Sunday and when NASCAR unveiled the two races in one weekend in June at Pocono, I thought the Sunday race was wild with the best cars starting 16th through 20th marching through the field to the front.
Saturday’s race saw Kevin Harvick dominate in clean air and hold off runner-up Denny Hamlin. On Sunday it was Hamlin winning with Harvick as runner-up. Aric Almirola also had top-fives in both races.
So it’s easy to understand why the Westgate Las Vegas SuperBook posted Harvick as the 4/1 favorite with Hamlin next at 5/1 odds. Almirola, who had been 25/1 or 20/1 the last eight weeks, is now listed at 14/1 to win Saturday’s race.
Almirola currently is on a run of nine straight top-10 finishes and despite the odds drop I still bet him to win.
Perfect 10 for Almirola?
“Michigan is a weird place for me because, in my mind, I feel like I run well there,” Almirola said. “I won a Truck race there years ago and, from that point forward, I just always loved going to Michigan. My wife’s family is from Michigan, so I go to Michigan with such a great attitude. I felt like in our first race there last year we had a lot of speed.
I felt we had a top-five car there at Michigan and didn’t execute and things didn’t go our way with the restarts and I didn’t get the result. I’m excited about going back. Going to Michigan, there’s always a lot of pride for the manufacturers. I’d love to go there and keep the trophy in Ford’s backyard.”
Almirola brings up another fun fact I love about Michigan races regarding the manufacturer's battle. Ford leads the way with 39 Michigan wins, including the last four, and its Mercury division also won 12 times in the manufacturers battle near Motor City. Chevrolet has 26 wins and Toyota has five.
Kick the Tires
A couple of other fun facts regarding Michigan is that this will be the 15th and 16th race using the race package with engines producing 550 horsepower.
And the teams will also be using the Goodyear tire compound used at Las Vegas, Kentucky, and Texas, or better known as the tire that doesn’t wear and produced the biggest back/back long shot winners in NASCAR betting history in Las Vegas. Cole Custer’s win at Kentucky paid 300/1 and Austin Dillon’s win paid out 100/1 odds.
"With limited track time under the current schedules, teams enter this weekend’s races at Michigan already being familiar with this tire set-up," said Greg Stucker, Goodyear’s director of racing.
A couple of other fun facts regarding Michigan is that this will be the 15th and 16th race using the race package with engines producing 550 horsepower.
And the teams will also be using the Goodyear tire compound used at Las Vegas, Kentucky, and Texas, or better known as the tire that doesn’t wear and produced the biggest back/back long shot winners in NASCAR betting history in Las Vegas. Cole Custer’s win at Kentucky paid 300/1 and Austin Dillon’s win paid out 100/1 odds.
"With limited track time under the current schedules, teams enter this weekend’s races at Michigan already being familiar with this tire set-up," said Greg Stucker, Goodyear’s director of racing.
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