Can Kevin Harvick be stopped? Las Vegas oddsmakers don't seem to think so.
NASCAR’s western road trip has been great to Harvick, who will be going for a sweep of the three Cup Series races in Sunday’s Auto Club 400 at Auto Club Speedway in Fontana, Calif. Harvick will be looking for his fourth consecutive win overall after triumphs at Atlanta, Las Vegas and Phoenix and he's posted at 3/1 odds to capture his first four-race winning streak.
While oddsmakers love Harvick, they are disrespecting seven-time champion Jimmie Johnson to win Sunday (25/1). Johnson has had a poor start to the season in the new Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 but he leads drivers in almost every category at Auto Club Speedway. In 23 starts at the track, Johnson is the leader in wins (six), runner-up results (five), top-five finishes (12), top 10s (16), laps led (980), average finish (7.13) and lead-lap finishes (23).
With the forecast of cooler temperatures in Fontana this weekend at the two-mile track, Martin Truex Jr. feels that could even the playing field. That's bad news for Ford and good news for Truex and our pick to win Sunday, Chase Elliott.
Elliott has to win sometime, right? NASCAR's new most popular driver might have his best shot Sunday on a track similar to one of his best in Michigan. Over the last six races at Michigan and Fontana, Elliott leads all drivers in average finish and driver rating with 71 laps led.
In Elliott’s Cup and Xfinity Series career (10 combined starts), he has never finished outside the top 10 on a two-mile speedway. In his two previous Cup starts at Auto Club, Elliott has finished sixth (2016) and 10th (2017) from an average starting position of 10.5.
What are the betting odds for NASCAR at Fontana?
Kevin Harvick 3/1
Kyle Larson 4/1
Kyle Busch 4/1
Martin Truex Jr. 4/1
Brad Keselowski 10/1
Joey Logano 15/1
Ryan Blaney 15/1
Chase Elliott 15/1
Denny Hamlin 18/1
Erik Jones 25/1
Jimmie Johnson 25/1
Clint Bowyer 40/1
Kurt Busch 40/1
Aric Almirola 60/1
Ryan Newman 100/1
Jamie McMurray 100/1
Paul Menard 100/1
Daniel Suarez 100/1
Alex Bowman 100/1
William Byron 100/1
Austin Dillon 200/1
Ricky Stenhouse Jr. 200/1
Trevor Bayne 300/1
Kasey Kahne 500/1
Darrell Wallace Jr. 500/1
Ty Dillon 500/1
Chris Buescher 500/1
AJ Allmendinger 1000/1
Michael McDowell 1000/1
Field (all others) 1000/1
Odds via Westgate
Which drivers are best for fantasy NASCAR at Fontana?
Last year's Fontana winner Kyle Larson has also led the most laps over the past six races at Fontana and its sister track in Michigan with four wins.
Joey Logano hasn't started well at Fontana of late but he's made up for it in the race, equaling an average of 61.3 DraftKings fantasy points over his last two races. Clint Bowyer (47.8), Daniel Suarez (40.0), and Jamie McMurray (37.3) have also scored well on DraftKings recently at Fontana.
Austin Dillon has just four previous Cup Series starts to his credit at Auto Club Speedway, earning his best finish of 11th in 2014 and in 2017.
Matt DiBenedetto, David Ragan, and Trevor Bayne are low-salary options that have solid place-differentials at Fontana the past two races.
