UFC betting players may have thought they were watching a battle in the Octagon back in the fall of 2007, when Jimmie Johnson and Matt Kenseth had a physical door-to-door battle at 180 mph at Texas Motor Speedway, but Johnson eventually won. It wouldn’t be a surprise if these two clashed against at the end of the Samsumg Mobile 500 in Texas on Sunday, but this time, the outcome will be different.
NASCAR Betting – Sunday, April 18, 3:00 PM ET
Jimmie Johnson (+500): Johnson’s chase for a fourth straight title almost came to a screeching halt as he was wrecked on the third lap of the fall race, but he’s great in the spring race: in seven April starts at Texas, Johnson’s 9.9 average is second to Denny Hamlin among active drivers, but he’s still looking for his first checkered flag.
Jeff Gordon (+700): The No.24 driver finally got a Texas win last year, beating Johnson while leading 105 laps along the way. It’s been a season of close finishes for Gordon, who has three top-three results this year, but all three of those races could have been wins, and at least two, probably should have been.
Matt Kenseth (+1200): Mr. Consistency has five top-10s in six starts this season, and his 11.0 average in 10 spring races at Texas is third behind Johnson. NASCAR betting players may be skeptical as Kenseth hasn’t won here since 2002, but the No.17 driver is very close to taking a checkered flag, and this is one of his better tracks.
Dale Earnhardt Jr. (+2000): The No.88 team has improved, but now it’s time to start turning those results into top-10s. “Junior” has just two top-10s this year, but outside of a 32nd-place run at California, Earnhardt hasn’t finished lower than 16th. He’s also good in the Texas spring race with five top-10s in 10 starts, including a 2000 win.
Joey Logano (+3000): Hands up, who had Logano as the highest-ranked JGR driver after six races before the season started? Logano showed lots of improvement over the second half of last season, and now, he looks like he really belongs in the Sprint Cup series with four top-10s, including a hard-fought second-place run at Martinsville three weeks ago. Last year in the spring race at Texas, his first time there in a Cup car, Logano finished 30th but he picked it up to 19th in the fall. A top-10 isn’t out of the question.
Pick: Matt Kenseth offers value in your sportsbooks, and he’s great on this track, and he would love to have another shot at Johnson down the stretch after the ’07 fall race, when he had just two tires and fought valiantly against Johnson’s four fresh tires. We’re taking Matt Kenseth in our online sports betting picks before we bet NBA playoffs this weekend.
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