Jimmie Johnson and Denny Hamlin are co-favorites in online betting at Pocono this weekend to win the Gillette Fusion 500. They are each 4-1 in Internet betting followed by Jeff Gordon, Kyle Busch and Kurt Busch at 7-1.
Online betting odds list defending champion Tony Stewart as the sixth choice at 13-1. Last season Stewart won at Pocono making it the first race he had won as an owner/driver. Carl Edwards dominated the race for the most part but Stewart gambled on fuel and won. Stewart has finished in the Top 10 in eight of his last nine starts at Pocono.
Hamlin has won twice in eight career starts at Pocono. He has the best average finish of any driver at 9.5. He has actually won at the track a total of three times. Johnson is the co-favorite but based on his recent form he probably shouldn’t be. Johnson is struggling for the first time in years and really should be listed at double-digit odds in Internet betting.
Jeff Gordon has six top-10 finishes at Pocono and has never finished worse than 14th. His 9.8 average finish is second behind Hamlin’s. Kurt Busch has won twice at Pocono and he has finished second four times. Kyle Busch has only two top 10 finishes in 10 starts at Pocono so he may be overvalued in NASCAR odds this week.
If you are looking for a live longshot then Kasey Kahne might be worth a look. He won this race two years ago and has an average finish of 7th in his last four starts in this race. Kahne is 17-1 to win this week. Points’ leader Kevin Harvick is 13-1 to win this week. Harvick is in the mix every week even though he has just one win on the year.
You can watch the race at Pocono on Sunday on TNT television. Last year it was Tony Stewart winning the race from the pole with Edwards finishing second followed by David Reutimann, Gordon and Ryan Newman. The pole sitter has won this race in 14 of the past 64 races. Starting in the Top 10 is very important as 46 of the last 64 races have been won by a driver starting in the top 10. The farthest back any driver has come to win was from 29th.