Samsung 500 Free Picks
After two weeks of beating and banging against each other, NASCAR heads to the wide open spaces of Texas Motor Speedway, home of this year’s Samsung 500.
Texas Motor Speedway is one of the fastest “cookie cutter” tracks thanks to it’s 24 degrees of banking, which separates it from all the other so-called “cookie cutter” tracks. The Texas race has provided a few upsets over the years and could very well provide us with a driver who has yet to win this year, or even a driver who hasn’t won in some time.
Let’s hand out some picks for the 2009 Samsung 500:
Matt Kenseth 12/1
Texas is the type of track that Kenseth and Roush Fenway Racing have done very well at over the last few years and have figured out these types of tracks better than any other team when it comes to the COT car. In 13 races at Texas, Kenseth has one win, five top 5 finishes, eight top 10’s and a average finish of 10.1.The last few weeks have been rough for Kenseth after his fast start, but I look for him to bounce back this week at a very fair price.
Jimmie Johnson 8/1
It’s not often you get this kind of price on Johnson at a track he runs so well at, but when you do you have to take it and hope his recent success here holds up. In 11 starts at Texas Motor Speedway, Johnson has only finished outside of the top 15 just once and has the best average finish of any driver at 9.1. Thanks to his win last week, you catch Johnson and his team with some momentum at a nice price.
Drivers to watch:
Tony Stewart 20/1
Stewart has outrun his odds every week this year and sooner than later he should win a race at these inflated odds. Stewart has one win, three top 5 finishes, eight top 10’s with an average finish of 13.2, which isn’t something you see very often for a top driver at 20/1.
Jamie McMurray 30/1
McMurray always seems to run well for most of the race, only to have some type of bad luck ruin his day. But he seems to have this track figured out since joining Roush Fenway, with two top 5 finishes and no finish worse than 14th in his last four starts here.
Jeff Burton 25/1
Other than Carl Edwards, Burton is the only driver with multiple wins here and a win this week shouldn’t surprise anyone.
Carl Edwards and Kyle Busch will be the drivers to beat this week and both deserve to be listed as co favorites at 5/1 each. But Texas has had a history of some surprise winners in the past.
2009 NASCAR Samsung 500 Race Information
Race Date: Sunday April 3, 2009
Location: Texas Motor Speedway – Fort Worth, Texas
Pre-Race: 1:30PM ET
Green Flag: Approx. 2:15PM ET
TV Coverage: FOX & FOX HD
Radio Coverage: MRN (Motor Racing Network)
Race Distance: 500 miles/334 laps
Track Type: 1.5 Mile Quad Oval
Capacity: 160,000
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Posted: 4/2/09 11:31AM ET
