2013 NASCAR Bojangles' Southern 500 Picks & Predictions
By ATSSportsline.com
DARLINGTON, SC (ATS Consultants) - The NASCAR Sprint Cup moves to Darlington Raceway for the Bojangles' Southern 500.
This is the 11th race on the 2013 Sprint Cup schedule. Jimmie Johnson is the defending champion and according to oddsmakers from online sports book Bovada.lv, he's 6-1 to win the race. He has 14 starts and has three wins with seven top five finishes. Darlington has 25 degrees of banking in turns 1 and 2 and 23 degrees in 3 and 4. There is 6 degrees of banking in both the frontstretch and backstretch. The race winner at Darlington has started from the pole 19 times, but no driver has won a race from the starting spot at the track since Dale Jarrett did it in 1997.
Kyle Busch 5-1
Busch won here in 2008 and had three straight showings of 11th or better. He owns a 7.5 average finish here the last two years with 122 laps led. He dominated Texas and has led 211 laps at night races this year.
Jeff Gordon 12-1
Gordon has won seven times at Darlington. He will be making his 700th Sprint Cup start on Saturday night. He survived two wrecks at Talladega to earn an 11th-place finish. He leads all active divers with 18 top 5s at Darlington and has a series-high average position of 8.3.
Long Shot
Mark Martin 50-1
Martin didn't run last week at Talladega. He is in search of his 18th Darlington top 5. He's finished in 43 of 46 Darlington starts.
Bojangles' Southern 500 Race Info
Series: NASCAR Sprint Cup.
Date: Saturday, May 11
Site: Darlington Raceway
Track: 1.36-mile oval.
Start time: 6:45p.m. ET.
Laps: 367. Miles: 501.322
2012 Winner: Jimmie Johnson
Runner up: Denny Hamlin
Television: FOX.
Radio: Motor Racing Network (MRN)/SIRIUS NASCAR Radio.
Race Record: Kyle Busch, 2008 (140.350 mph)
Qualifying Record: Kasey Kahne, 2008 (140.350 mph)