The NASCAR Cup Series will compete in their second race of the “West Coast Swing” this week. This time it will be a trip to Las Vegas for the Pennzoil 400. The racing at Las Vegas Motor Speedway has been pretty boring lately because the track does not have multiple grooves like we had last week at Auto Club Speedway. That should make this race easier to predict and give us a better chance to cash some tickets.
My “long-shot” was Erik Jones at 80-1 odds last week. He spent a lot of time at the front of the field and nearly won the race. Maybe this will be the week when the “long-shot” makes it to Victory Lane.
DraftKings Odds for Pennzoil 400
* The odds are from DraftKings Sportsbook. The odds could change between the time of this article and the time you place your bet.
** The first number is the amount of money based on the second number (the amount of the wager). So if you bet $1 on Kyle Larson, you will win $5.
Here are my “Best Bets” for the Pennzoil 400…
KYLE LARSON (5-1): So how hot has Larson been lately? He has won five of the last seven races in the Cup Series. It has been a long time since a driver has dominated the Cup Series the way Larson has over the last 12 months. His domination should continue in Sin City. Larson won this race last year. He also won the last two races on the 1.5-mile ovals (Kansas and Texas). I hate betting the favorites, but 5-1 odds still seem pretty good to me.
RYAN BLANEY (12-1): Team Penske has been the best team so far this season and now they get to compete at one of their best tracks. Team Penske won the Busch Light Clash and the Daytona 500. They also looked fast at Auto Club. Blaney should be their best bet to win this week. No driver is as good as Blaney at passing cars on the intermediate tracks. He had a series-high 108 quality passes last week at Auto Club and a series-best 40 quality passes at Las Vegas last year. I want a driver who knows how to make a pass at one of the tracks that is tough to pass at.
KYLE BUSCH (12-1): Busch should have no place in our betting portfolio this week if we are simply going off what we saw at Auto Club, but I will give him a mulligan for that race. Busch posted the second fastest speed in practice and qualified third. His problems started when he got sand in the grill that caused the car to overheat. Busch should be much better this week. He is always good when he gets practice. Not only will Rowdy get some Cup Series practice, he will also get the Truck Series race and practice to figure out what he needs for the race Sunday. 12-1 odds on a well prepared Busch seems like a good bet to me.
TYLER REDDICK (14-1): There is a lot to like about Reddick this week. Not only has he been the fastest driver in two of the three races this season (Busch Clash and Auto Club), he was also the fastest in day two of testing at Charlotte Motor Speedway (another 1-5-mile track). This is going to be a breakout season for Reddick. He is going to win some races and I will bet that it will start this week in Las Vegas.
Long Shot Special: RICKY STENHOUSE JR. (50-1): Stenhouse always gets off to a hot start to the season. 11 of his 19 career top-five finishes have come in the first 10 races of the season. Stenhouse is off to another hot start. He had the fifth-best average running position, the seventh-fastest green flag speed and passed the second-most cars (behind Ryan Blaney) in the race last week. He finished third at Las Vegas in 2020 in the JTG Daugherty Racing car. He has more speed this year than he had two years ago. I will roll the dice with Stenhouse at 50-1 odds.
Good luck this week!
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