Toyota/Save Mart 350: NASCAR betting preview and picks

It only happens twice in a NASCAR Sprint Cup Season. Instead of left turns, this weekend a few right handers will be in the mix. NASCAR will head to Infineon Raceway in Sonoma California for Sunday’s Toyota/Save Mart 350. It’s the first of two visits to road courses and, for some drivers, it’s a time to shine.  There was a time when NASCAR regulars would write off a race at a road course, but not so in modern times. Every win is crucial and many regular series drivers have mastered the twisting turns of the road courses, chief among them this week’s favorite, Jeff Gordon.  Gordon ising alive. He has two wins this season including a victory just two weeks ago at Pocono.ing off a winless 2010, Gordon is starting to put together a championship run. But he’s currently 12th in the standings and needs to add wins in order to secure a spot in the season-ending Chase. With five wins at Sonoma, the most among active drivers, and with an all-time series-high nine road course victories along with a fifth place finish here last season when his performance was lacking, the odds are pretty good for Gordon to add win No. 6 Sunday.  “You know, I’ll say this and I really mean it,” Gordon told reporters this week. “I mean we have struggled on the road courses in recent years and it’s not something that we’ve been accustomed to and it’s not something we like, so we’ve been working really hard at making improvements there and we actually tested at a road course back East, Mid-Ohio, and I’m hoping that that test will definitely get us closer to where we need to be to be morepetitive out in Sonoma.” Another driver in position to score a win Sunday is Tony Stewart. While he has gone winless this season, Stewart heads to Infineon having won here twice and with Top-10 finishes in the last four races here. He also leads the series driver ratings at Sonoma with 110.4 The show stealer this week is the driver nicknamed the Tasmanian Devil, Marcos Ambrose. Ambrose has waited an entire year to redeem himself. Ambrose, a road course champion in his native Australia, is always a factor at road courses.  Last year, he was only a few laps from scoring his first Sprint Cup victory when he made a rare mistake that cost him the lead and the race. Now, Ambrose heads back with some strong runs under his belt and a chance to pull off an upset. This week’s primetime match up pits Juan Pablo Montoya against Kasey Kahne.  Montoya could win it all, if the Earnhardt-Ganassi Team can shake off the gremlins that have plagued them this season. Montoya has one win here and could run near the front Sunday, while Kahne has a win here as well.  Montoya’s win came in 2007, Kahne in 2009. It will be a close battle but look for Kahne toe out ahead. Kyle Busch vs. Jimmie Johnson: Busch went to Victory Lane at Sonoma in 2007, while Johnson is the defending winner of this race, his only victory here. Johnson’s win, however, only came as a result of the misfortune of Ambrose. Busch finished outside the Top 15 here last year, but seems to be running stronger. Look for Busch to finish ahead of Johnson Sunday.  Bottom Line: Five of 22 races have been won by the pole winner, including three times by Jeff Gordon. His victory from the pole in 2004 is the most recent. The lowest starting position by a race winner was 32nd, by Juan Pablo Montoya. It also was his first career NASCAR Sprint Cup Series win. Favorites: Jeff Gordon (+700)Tony Stewart (+600) Spoiler:Marcos Ambrose (+450)Greg Engle is the editor in chief for the popular NASCAR blog, CupScene.

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