2008 Dodge Challenger 500 Odds & Predictions
Written May 8, 2008 by Jack Jones
The NASCAR Sprint Cup Series is heading to Darlington Speedway for the annual Dodge Challenger 500. The race is set to take place on Saturday May 5 in Darlington, South Carolina. This will be the second weekend in a row that drivers will be racing under the lights. Last week at the Richmond International Speedway we saw Clint Bowyer take home the checkered flag for his first win of the season. It’s also good to note that Kyle Busch backed up his win at Talladega with a 2nd place finish last week, but that finish didn’t come without some hard feelings around the NASCAR world. Many people were upset with the run-ins Busch had with Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Rusty Wallace. Making for an even more interesting race than we already had. Jeff Gordon will come in, as your defending champion and Gregg Biffle will be trying to win 3 out of the last 4 here at Darlington. Here is our weekly prediction of who we think is going to have a big week.
Bet on NASCAR Using Your Credit Card
#48 Jimmie Johnson 5-1 odds at Sportsbook.com
Jimmie Johnson seemed to hit a minor bump last week at Richmond when he finished at 30th. This was a disappointing week for Johnson who had seemed to be getting on the right track to returning to the form that landed him back-to-back season championships. Johnson isn’t have that bad of year, its just he has set such high standards for himself, that if he doesn’t finish in the top 10 then it’s considered a bad week. There is still a long way to go this season, and though he dropped to 7th in the point standings he is still only 177 points behind the new leader Kyle Busch. The reason we like Johnson this week is that he has pretty much owned this track. He only has one finish outside of the top 10 and 8 inside the top 10. He also knows how to win here as he has collected 2 victories on this track during his career. We believe Johnson gets right back on track and takes home his 2nd win of the season this week at the Dodge Challenger 500.
#11 Denny Hamlin 7-1 odds at Sportsbook.com
Joe Gibbs racing will be looking for another win this week, and we really feel that Hamlin is the guy that will get the job done. Hamlin has been in the point’s race all season long, and has even spent some time on top. After five straight finishes in the top 6, Hamlin took a minor set back with a 24th place finish last week. So you can easily see that we aren’t putting to much emphasis on what happened last week, as both Hamlin and Johnson had poor runs. Hamlin doesn’t have the background that Johnson does at Darlington Speedway, but he has had some pretty good success on this track. In 2006 he finished 10th in his first race on this track, and then in 2007 nearly won the race with a 2nd place finish. Over the last 7 weeks there hasn’t been to many drivers that have brought the consistency that Hamlin has to each and every track. Look for another great showing this week from the FedEx car.
Head over to Sportsbook.com and get your bets in this weekend on the Dodge Challenger 500. Sportsbook.com is a great place for all your NASCAR betting needs. Remember to check back each and every week, as we will continue to bring you race-by-race breakdowns throughout the season. As always feel free to leave any comments in our comment box.
Here is a list of each driver’s odds to win at the Dodge Challenger 500.
Bobby Labonte 100 - 1
Brian Vickers 100 - 1
Carl Edwards 6 - 1
Casey Mears 60 - 1
Clint Bowyer 20 - 1
Dale Earnhardt Jr 8 - 1
David Gilliland 100 - 1
David Ragan 50 - 1
David Reutimann 100 - 1
Denny Hamlin 7 - 1
Elliott Sadler 100 - 1
Greg Biffle 15 - 1
Jamie McMurray 100 - 1
Jeff Burton 25 - 1
Jeff Gordon 8 - 1
Jimmie Johnson 5 - 1
Juan Pablo Montoya 100 - 1
Kasey Kahne 30 - 1
Kevin Harvick 20 - 1
Kurt Busch 30 - 1
Kyle Busch 7 - 1
Mark Martin 20 - 1
Martin Truex Jr 25 - 1
Matt Kenseth 15 - 1
Michael Waltrip 100 - 1
Paul Menard 100 - 1
Reed Sorenson 100 - 1
Robby Gordon 100 - 1
Ryan Newman 30 - 1
Sam Hornish Jr 100 - 1
Scott Riggs 100 - 1
Tony Stewart 10 - 1
Travis Kvapil 100 - 1
zx Field (Any Other Driver) 50 - 1