NASCAR Sprint Cup Capital City 400 Preview and Prediction
The NASCAR Sprint Cup series is back in prime time this week with the running of the Capital City 400 at Richmond International Speedway this Saturday night under the lights. The race is set to get underway at 7 p.m. and it will be broadcast nationally on FOX.
Race: Capital City 400
Date: Saturday, April 28, 2012
Time: 7 p.m. (ET)
Broadcast: FOX
Last Sunday at Kansas, Denny Hamlin posted his second victory of the season by holding off Martin Truex Jr. down the stretch. Jimmie Johnson went off as an 11/2 favorite to win the STP 400 but could only manage a third-place finish after starting 15th.
The following is a closer look at our favorite, contender, and longshot for Saturday night’s race along with their current odds to win as provided by Bovada.
The Favorite (odds of less than 10/1)
For someone who tends to find himself in the spotlight for both the right and wrong reasons, Kyle Busch has flown way ‘under the radar’ so far this season with just one top-five finish.
The main reason for his 5/1 odds to win this week is his recent dominance in this race. Busch comes in as a three-time defending champion and he has not finished out of the top 10 in his last seven races at this track. The No.18 car took the checkered flag in last year’s race after starting 20th to run his winning streak to three.
NASCAR’s favorite bad boy has finished out of the top five in just three of his 14 career races at this track. [ad-8757089]
The Contender (odds of 11/1 to 19/1)
Matt Kenseth remains one of the most consistent drivers in the Sprint Cup series and has a chance to win anytime he gets behind the wheel.
That is why at 15/1, he offers some tremendous value to win this race. His win at Daytona coupled with four other top-five finishes have vaulted him to third in the Sprint Cup standings with 295 points and just 17 points out of the lead.
Richmond is not one of Kenseth’s stronger tracks with an average finishing position of 17.2, but he does have nine top-10 finishes here over the course of his career including a victory in 2002.
The Longshot (odds of 20/1 or higher)
Martin Truex Jr. was painfully close to winning last week’s race and is off to the best start in his Sprint Cup career with three top five’s in the first eight races.
This has helped to put him in second-place in the standings with 297 points, which is just 15 points out of first.
This week, he has been opened as a 20/1 longshot to finally break through with a win.
The No. 56 car has struggled at Richmond in the past with an average finishing position of 24.3 including a 27th-place finish in last year’s race, but he did finish fifth in this race in 2008 and seventh in 2010.
*SPRINT Cup Odds provided by Bovada
