LifeLock.com 400: NASCAR at night
There's nothing straight about Chicagoland Speedway, site of this year's LifeLock.com 400, where even the straightaway is banked, albeit ever so slightly. NASCAR races under the lights Saturday night, with Kyle Busch looking to extend his dominance over the Smokeless Set this season though his results in the Windy City have been spotty. Can Jimmie Johnson or Jeff Gordon get back into the winner's circle?
Chicagoland is going under the lamp. Saturday’s LifeLock.com 400 (formerly the Tropicana 400) will be a night race after seven years in the sunshine; NASCAR betting isn’t likely to be affected, although there might be a few more eyeballs catching the race in the evening. Start time is 8:05 p.m. Eastern on TNT.
This is a relatively new race on the Sprint Cup circuit. Chicagoland Speedway opened in 2001, just down the road from Joliet, Ind. It looks at first blush like your typical 1.5-mile D-shaped oval, but there is one noticeable quirk: The straightaway is banked at a five-degree angle.
That’s not enough of a feature to throw off the drivers who usually perform well at these 1.5-mile tracks. Jimmie Johnson rattled off five straight Top-6 results here before crashing during last year’s event; he’s a quiet 10-1 on the NASCAR odds for Saturday. Hendrick Motorsports teammate Jeff Gordon has also enjoyed success on these ovals, including a win at this event in 2006. Yet Gordon is just 12-1 this time around.
Johnson and Gordon won seven of the first 11 points races of the 2007 season; this year, they’ve combined for one thus far. Kyle Busch has stolen the spotlight from Hendrick with six victories and 11 Top-5 results for Joe Gibbs Racing. He’s in first place in the driver standings and the favorite for Saturday’s race at 7-2. However, Busch has just one good result in three attempts at Chicagoland, a third-place finish in 2006.
Carl Edwards is second on the 2008 Cup victories list with three, and he’s the second favorite at 5-1 to claim his first win at Chicagoland after placing third last year. Edwards hasn’t taken the checkered flag since the April 6 race in Texas – also a 1.5-mile track. Third favorite Kasey Kahne is 6-1; he’s third in Cup wins this year with two and usually excels on these tracks, but has yet to crack the Top 20 after four trips to Chicago.
The driver with the best track record here is actually Kevin Harvick. He won the first two Cup races held at Chicagoland and has an average result of eighth. But this is a very small sample size, and while Harvick was fourth in this event in 2006 and 2007, his Richard Childress Racing team hasn’t had a lot of success the past couple of seasons. RCR took two of the 18 Cup races this year, none by Harvick. That leaves him in the second tier of drivers at 14-1 for the LifeLock.com 400.
Meanwhile, defending champion Tony Stewart is looking for some love at 9-1 for this Saturday. He won this event in 2004 and has five Top-5 results in seven races. But Stewart is struggling a bit this year. This is the maiden voyage for Joe Gibbs and Toyota after five years with Chevrolet, and while Busch has adjusted well to the Camry, Stewart hasn’t won a single race this season and is languishing in 12th place in the driver standings.
Stewart will soon be back behind the wheel of a Chevy – the two-time Cup champion was slated on Thursday to announce his impending departure from JGR to become a driver and part-owner for Haas CNC Racing. His focus for this week is a valid question mark for bettors.
Other drivers of note for Saturday’s race include Dale Earnhardt Jr. at 8-1, Matt Kenseth at 10-1 and Denny Hamlin at 11-1. Earnhardt is the only one of that trio to win at Chicagoland, back in 2005 when he was still a member of DEI.
There's nothing straight about Chicagoland Speedway, site of this year's LifeLock.com 400, where even the straightaway is banked, albeit ever so slightly. NASCAR races under the lights Saturday night, with Kyle Busch looking to extend his dominance over the Smokeless Set this season though his results in the Windy City have been spotty. Can Jimmie Johnson or Jeff Gordon get back into the winner's circle?
Chicagoland is going under the lamp. Saturday’s LifeLock.com 400 (formerly the Tropicana 400) will be a night race after seven years in the sunshine; NASCAR betting isn’t likely to be affected, although there might be a few more eyeballs catching the race in the evening. Start time is 8:05 p.m. Eastern on TNT.
This is a relatively new race on the Sprint Cup circuit. Chicagoland Speedway opened in 2001, just down the road from Joliet, Ind. It looks at first blush like your typical 1.5-mile D-shaped oval, but there is one noticeable quirk: The straightaway is banked at a five-degree angle.
That’s not enough of a feature to throw off the drivers who usually perform well at these 1.5-mile tracks. Jimmie Johnson rattled off five straight Top-6 results here before crashing during last year’s event; he’s a quiet 10-1 on the NASCAR odds for Saturday. Hendrick Motorsports teammate Jeff Gordon has also enjoyed success on these ovals, including a win at this event in 2006. Yet Gordon is just 12-1 this time around.
Johnson and Gordon won seven of the first 11 points races of the 2007 season; this year, they’ve combined for one thus far. Kyle Busch has stolen the spotlight from Hendrick with six victories and 11 Top-5 results for Joe Gibbs Racing. He’s in first place in the driver standings and the favorite for Saturday’s race at 7-2. However, Busch has just one good result in three attempts at Chicagoland, a third-place finish in 2006.
Carl Edwards is second on the 2008 Cup victories list with three, and he’s the second favorite at 5-1 to claim his first win at Chicagoland after placing third last year. Edwards hasn’t taken the checkered flag since the April 6 race in Texas – also a 1.5-mile track. Third favorite Kasey Kahne is 6-1; he’s third in Cup wins this year with two and usually excels on these tracks, but has yet to crack the Top 20 after four trips to Chicago.
The driver with the best track record here is actually Kevin Harvick. He won the first two Cup races held at Chicagoland and has an average result of eighth. But this is a very small sample size, and while Harvick was fourth in this event in 2006 and 2007, his Richard Childress Racing team hasn’t had a lot of success the past couple of seasons. RCR took two of the 18 Cup races this year, none by Harvick. That leaves him in the second tier of drivers at 14-1 for the LifeLock.com 400.
Meanwhile, defending champion Tony Stewart is looking for some love at 9-1 for this Saturday. He won this event in 2004 and has five Top-5 results in seven races. But Stewart is struggling a bit this year. This is the maiden voyage for Joe Gibbs and Toyota after five years with Chevrolet, and while Busch has adjusted well to the Camry, Stewart hasn’t won a single race this season and is languishing in 12th place in the driver standings.
Stewart will soon be back behind the wheel of a Chevy – the two-time Cup champion was slated on Thursday to announce his impending departure from JGR to become a driver and part-owner for Haas CNC Racing. His focus for this week is a valid question mark for bettors.
Other drivers of note for Saturday’s race include Dale Earnhardt Jr. at 8-1, Matt Kenseth at 10-1 and Denny Hamlin at 11-1. Earnhardt is the only one of that trio to win at Chicagoland, back in 2005 when he was still a member of DEI.
