2011 Good Sam Club 500 Picks: Betting on Underdogs for Big Payoffs

2011 Good Sam Club 500 Expert Picks: Betting on Underdogs for Big Payoffs – How to Bet on the 2011 Good Sam Club 500: No two tracks on the current NASCAR schedule have produced more upset winners than the restrictor-plate tracks of Daytona and Talladega. With rookie Trevor Bayne and David Ragan already collecting their first career wins at plate tracks in 2011, bettors have to like their chances of hitting it big this weekend when the series makes a return trip to Talladega Superspeedway. While expecting another 250/1 longshot like Bayne to end up in Victory Lane is probably asking a bit much, it is completely reasonable to expect a driver with 25/1 odds or worse to pull off an upset. Nothing equalizes the gap between big names and underdogs like plate racing, and two drivers that could take advantage of the level playing field are Joey Logano and Menard.

When Logano finished ninth in his Talladega debut as a rookie, many wrote it off as beginner’s luck. After all, young drivers don’t have sustained success at NASCAR biggest track. However, he has continued to defy the odds, piling up four top-10 finishes in five career starts at Talladega. Not to mention the fact that Logano enters this weekend’s race with a series-leading 12.6 average finish.

He has certainly benefitted from his Joe Gibbs Racing equipment. After all, Logano is driving for the same No. 20 team that picked up a win and five second-place finishes when Tony Stewart was behind the wheel. Still, Logano definitely has a feel for the draft that is beyond his age. He had yet to cash in with a victory at Talladega, but with as much time as he spends around the front, he is bound to have things fall into place for him eventually. Considering he has 28/1 odds to win this weekend, bettors may want to gamble that he ends up in Victory Lane sooner rather than later.

Menard has some pretty good equipment on his side as well. In fact, he is driving for a Richard Childress Racing team that has dominated the plate tracks the last two seasons. RCR drivers Kevin Harvick and Clint Bowyer combined to win both races at Talladega last season, and Bowyer inches short of winning at the track earlier this season. The argument can easily be made that RCR owns the top plate track program in the series today.

As his 12th-place finish in the spring event at Talladega suggests, Menard is more than capable of taking advantage of the equipment. Throw in the fact that he already ran well at Talladega, and he could end being a steal for bettors at his current 35/1 odds. Menard has five top-15 finishes in his last seven starts, including a runner-up effort. The RCR equipment could be the extra boost he needs to get to Victory Lane.

View the most current 2011 Bank of America 500 Odds for the 2011 Good Sam Club 500 this Sunday, October 23rd at Talladega Superspeedway.