Two races into the 2011 season, we’ve seen 20-year-old Trevor Bayne win the Daytona 500 and Jeff Gordon snap a 66-race winless drought. In other words, surprise winners seem to be a trend. When you factor in that the Cup Series is heading to Las Vegas Motor Speedway, betting on an underdog or two just makes sense. Two drivers flying under the radar with oddsmakers that have the potential to deliver big pay days are Kasey Kahne and David Reutimann.
Kahne has finished as high as second at Vegas and has compiled an 8.7 average finish in his last three starts at the track, yet he is being given a 22/1 shot at winning Sunday. More importantly, he is one of the top performers at 1.5-mile tracks and he is driving for a Red Bull Racing team that has been at its best at the intermediate ovals. He has momentum on his side as well, coming off a top-10 finish at Phoenix, which has traditionally been one of his worst tracks on the schedule.
Kahne has gone to Victory Lane 11 times in his Cup career, and six of those wins have come at 1.5-mile tracks. He has won three times at Charlotte, twice at Atlanta and once at Texas. Las Vegas isn’t currently on the list, but the track has a near identical layout to the three tracks where he has won. If the series is at a 1.5-mile track, Kahne has a chance to win, and betters should take a chance on Kahne this weekend.
Despite having only two career Cup wins, Reutimann could help betters cash in this weekend as well. At 40/1, he is probably the driver with the worst odds with a realistic shot at winning Sunday. Reutimann won at Charlotte in 2009 and Chicagoland last year, and both tracks share the 1.5-mile layout of Vegas. In his two victories, Reutimann has outdueled Kyle Busch and Jeff Gordon head to head. When he hits the setup, he has can compete with any driver in the series.
He is definitely a gamble, but we are in Vegas after all. Reutimann has proven he can win races at the Cup level, and history tells us the wins are likely to come at a track like LVMS. The oddsmakers have him as a longshot, but there are more than enough reasons to throw some cash his way.
Check out the 2011 Kobalt Tools 400 Betting Odds for each driver.