– After a one-week break the drivers of the Sprint Cup Series return on Sunday, March 21 for the Food City 500 at Bristol Motor Speedway.

Kurt Busch will be looking for his second straight victory when he takes to the track at Bristol; Busch is coming off a win in the Kobalt Tools 500 at Atlanta Motor Speedway on March 7.

Matt Kenseth was second at Atlanta, followed by Juan Montoya, Kasey Kahne, and Paul Menard. A.J. Allmendinger, Brian Vickers, Greg Biffle, Kevin Harvick, and Scott Speed rounded out the day’s Top 10 drivers.

Jimmie Johnson, who had won the previous two races, ended up in 12th place in the Kobalt Tools 500.

After four events Harvick has the lead in the driver standings; he’s 26 points up on Kenseth. Biffle, Johnson, Clint Bowyer, Jeff Burton, Mark Martin, Tony Stewart, Menard, Busch, Jeff Gordon, and Speed make up the rest of the Top 12.

Kurt Busch has five career wins at Bristol – most recently in the Food City 500 in 2006. Kyle Busch has three Cup wins at Bristol, including the last two events on the track. Gordon, Kenseth, Martin, and Carl Edwards also have multiple Cup wins at Bristol.

After racing in the Food City 500 the drivers of the Sprint Cup Series will move on to Martinsville Speedway for the Goody’s Fast Pain Relief 500 on March 28. The April calendar then begins with the Subway Fresh Fit 600 at Phoenix on April 10.

Kurt Busch had the lead most of the day and held on after a late green-white-checkers restart to capture his first win of the season in the Kobalt Tools 500 at Atlanta Motor Speedway.

The win moved Bush up to tenth in the driver standings. Kevin Harvick, who was ninth on Sunday, continues to lead in the standings. Harvick has a 26-point lead on second place Matt Kenseth.

Following Busch over the finish line on Sunday were Kenseth in second, Juan Pablo Montoya in third and Kasey Kahne in fourth. Paul Menard was fifth, A.J. Allmendinger was sixth and Brian Vickers was seventh. Rounding out the rest of the Top 10 were Greg Biffle, Harvick and Scott Speed.

The Sprint Cup Series returns to the track on March 21 in the Food City 500 at Bristol Motor Speedway.

– Jimmie Johnson will be looking to make it three consecutive wins on Sunday when he takes to the track at Atlanta Motor Speedway for the Kobalt Tools 500.

Johnson rallied late for a win in the Shelby American at Las Vegas Motor Speedway last time out; that followed his win in the Auto Club 500 at Fontana two weeks ago.

Kevin Harvick and Jeff Gordon followed Johnson across the finish line at Las Vegas. Mark Martin and Matt Kenseth rounded out the day’s Top 5.

Joey Logano, Tony Stewart, Clint Bowyer, Kasey Kahne, and Greg Biffle also picked up Top-10 results in the Shelby American. Carl Edwards ended up in 12th place, Kyle Busch was 15th, Dale Earnhardt Jr. was 16th, and Denny Hamlin was 19th.

Harvick holds down the lead in the driver standings after three races; he’s 47 points up on Bowyer, and 49 points up on Martin. Kenseth sits fourth in the current standings, while Johnson is up to fifth place after back-to-back victories.

Kurt Busch won the Kobalt Tools 500 last season, while Kasey Kahne won the Pep Boys Auto 500 at Atlanta Motor Speedway in September. Johnson and Edwards each have three career Cup wins at Atlanta, while Gordon has won there four times.

After racing at Atlanta the drivers of the Sprint Cup Series will move on to Bristol Motor Speedway for the Food City 500. That race will take place on Sunday, March 21.

It’s Kevin Harvick atop the standings as the Sprint Cup Series heads to Las Vegas Motor Speedway for this Sunday’s race, the Shelby American.

Harvick didn’t win either of the first two races of the season, but with a pair of Top-10 results at Daytona and Auto Club he’s holding down top spot in the series standings.

Clint Bowyer, Greg Biffle, Daytona champ Jamie McMurray, and Jeff Burton round out the standings’ current Top 5. Jimmie Johnson, who won at Auto Club over the weekend, enters Sunday’s race in 12th place.

Harvick finished second to Johnson at Auto Club, with Jeff Burton third, Mark Martin fourth, and Joey Logano fifth.

Kyle Busch, who was 14th at Auto Club, won the Shelby 427 at Las Vegas last season. Carl Edwards won at Las Vegas in 2008, while Johnson took the checkered flag there in three straight races from 2005 to 2007.

Matt Kenseth (two), Burton (two), Jeff Gordon, and Mark Martin have also picked up Cup wins at Las Vegas in their careers.

After racing in the Shelby American the drivers of the Sprint Cup Series will move on to Atlanta Motor Speedway for the Kobalt Tools 500. The March calendar also features the Food City 500 at Bristol, and the Goody’s Fast Pain Relief 500 at Martinsville.

Jimmie Johnson didn’t take long to get back to victory lane. In the second race of the season Johnson held off Kevin Harvick late to take the checkered flag in the Auto Club 500 at Auto Club Speedway.

Following Johnson and Harvick across the finish line was Jeff Burton in third, Mark Martin in fourth and Joey Logano in fifth. Kurt Busch was sixth, Matt Kenseth was seventh and Clint Bowyer was eighth. Rounding out the rest of the Top 10 were Tony Stewart and Greg Biffle.

The early lead in the chase belongs to Harvick, who posted back-to-back Top 10 finishes with a sixth place last week at Daytona. He has 331 points on the season and leads Bowyer by 19 points.

The Sprint Cup Series returns to the track next week at Las Vegas Motor Speedway in the Shelby American.

– Jamie McMurray will be looking to build on his season-opening win when the Sprint Cup Series hits Auto Club Speedway for the Auto Club 500 on Sunday afternoon.

McMurray raced to the win in the Daytona 500 over the weekend, holding off Dale Earnhardt Jr. to claim the checkered flag. Greg Biffle, Clint Bowyer, and David Reutimann rounded out the day’s Top 5 drivers.

Martin Truex Jr., Kevin Harvick, Matt Kenseth, Carl Edwards, and Juan Montoya made up the rest of the Top 10 at Daytona. Tony Stewart ended up well back in 22nd place in that race, while Jimmie Johnson stumbled to a 35th-place result.

Johnson, though, has won three of the past five races at Auto Club Speedway, and he took the checkered flag in the Pepsi 500 on the track back in October. Overall, Johnson has four Cup wins at Auto Club in his career.

Kenseth won the Auto Club 500 last season, and he also visited victory lane in the event in both 2007 and 2006. Edwards won the Auto Club 500 in 2008, while Jeff Gordon has three career Cup wins on the track (most recently in 2004).

Kyle Busch, Kurt Busch, Biffle, Mark Martin, Elliott Sadler, and Kasey Kahne have also picked up wins at Auto Club in their careers.

After racing at Auto Club the drivers of the Sprint Cup Series will move on to Las Vegas Motor Speedway for the Shelby American on February 28. The circuit’s March schedule then begins on March 7 with the Kobalt Tools 500 at Atlanta Motor Speedway.

– The Sprint Cup Series heads to the desert this weekend for the season’s second-last event, Sunday’s Checker O’Reilly Auto Parts 500 at Phoenix International Raceway.

Mark Martin will be looking to put another big dent in teammate Jimmie Johnson’s lead in the driver standings on Sunday. Martin finished fourth over the weekend in the Dickies 500 at Texas, while Johnson ended up well back in 38th place in that race.

Kurt Busch took the checkered flag in Texas, while Denny Hamlin and Matt Kenseth followed him across the finish line. Kevin Harvick, Tony Stewart, Clint Bowyer, Greg Biffle, Jeff Burton, and A.J. Allmendinger also had Top-10 results in the Dickies 500.

Johnson now leads Martin by 73 points in the driver standings after eight of 10 Chase events. Jeff Gordon, who ended up in 13th place in the Dickies 500, is 112 points back of the leader in third place in the standings. Kurt Busch and Stewart are fourth and fifth.

Martin won the Subway Fresh Fit 500 at Phoenix back in April, and Johnson had taken the checkered flag in each of the previous three Cup races at the venue.

Harvick and Dale Earnhardt Jr. have each won twice at Phoenix International Raceway in their Cup careers. Gordon, Stewart, Kenseth, Kyle Busch, and Kurt Busch have one win apiece on the track.

After racing in Phoenix the drivers of the Sprint Cup Series will head back east to Homestead-Miami Speedway for the season finale, the Ford 400, on November 22.

Those who play NASCAR odds will be aware of Jimmie Johnson’s domination of Dover International Speedway, which is the site of Sunday’s AAA 400, the second race of the Chase. Johnson made a mockery of the field here in June, and he may do it again.

Dover Odds – Sunday, September 27, 2:00 PM ET

Johnson is the online sports betting favorite at +400, and he has a solid 10.4 average in 15 races at Dover, including four wins. The No.48 driver swept the 2002 races here, and he’s coming off a fourth-place result at New Hampshire.

Mark Martin kept his points lead by winning at New Hampshire, and he lines up at +600 with Tony Stewart, who led the regular season points. Martin has four wins at Dover like teammate Johnson, but it’s taken him 46 races to do so. However, he was 0-of-25 at New Hampshire last week and leads the series with five wins, so a bet with Martin wouldn’t be a bad one.

Roush-Fenway made it a 1-2-3 sweep in last year’s fall race at Dover, headed by Greg Biffle (+800), Edwards (+800) and Matt Kenseth (+2200). Although Edwards leads all active drivers with an amazing 7.6 average in 10 races, his broken foot has to be bothering him more than he’s letting on, and Dover is one of the most physically demanding tracks on the Sprint Cup circuit. If you have to bet on Roush-Fenway, go with Biffle, whose 10.6 average in 14 races is fourth, and he finished third here in June.

Juan Pablo Montoya was points racing all season to get into the Chase, but he showed that was all gone at New Hampshire as he drove like the aggressive Montoya that has won in every level he’s raced at. He set a record to win the pole at New Hampshire, and then led 105 laps before finishing third. He hasn’t finished higher than 30^th in his last two races at Dover, but past history means nothing to the No.42 driver.

For a darkhorse in your gambling software, check out Ryan Newman at +2200, as the No.39 driver has three wins here, including a sweep of the 2003 races. He finished eighth here back in June.

PICK: Go with Jimmie Johnson this week. With his track record both at Dover and in the Chase, there’s not many better places to make the three-time defending champion one of your sports picks.

If you don’t have a NFL Week 2 matchups headache, take a look at the Sylvania 300 at New Hampshire Motor Speedway on Saturday as the Chase for the sprint Cup really gets exciting. Look for a driver from the Chase to reach Victory Lane: it’s happened every year since the Chase started in 2004.

New Hampshire Odds – Sunday, September 20, 2:00 PM ET

With no Kyle Busch (+1000) in the fold, it’s on Denny Hamlin (+600) to fly the JGR flag. Rookie teammate Joey Logano won the rain-shortened summer race, while Hamlin finished outside of the top 10 for only the second time in seven races here. Still, his 8.3 average is the best among current drivers, and he has two wins in his last six races, including last week at Richmond, his hometown track.

He’ll have to fight off the Hendrick boys, Jimmie Johnson (+600), Jeff Gordon (+700) and top seed Mark Martin (+800), who had four wins during the “regular season”, but he hasn’t won in 25 trips to New Hampshire. Johnson and Gordon have five wins between them, but none since Johnson swept the 2003 races here on the one-mile track with low banking. All three finished in the top 14 during the summer race, headlined by Gordon’s second-place finish, while Johnson led 93 laps.

If you’re looking for a value pick, your betting software could go for Kurt Busch (+1200), who finished third here in June, and he’s won three races at New Hampshire. He swept the 2004 races en route to the championship, and he added the 2007 fall race to his victory list. Busch finished second to Hamlin at Richmond, and if he gets a good car under him, the No.2 driver will definitely be a factor.

The driver that online betting players should watch out for, though, is Tony Stewart (+800), who would have ran away with the title under the old points system. Stewart’s team took their foot off the gas once they made the Chase to experiment with setups, which made some discount them in the title race. With a 12.2 average in 21 races, including two wins, Stewart knows how to win at New Hampshire. Look for the No.14 driver to make a statement on Sunday, and make Tony Stewart one of your sports picks.

NFL picks.

When it comes to this week’s NASCAR odds, it’s a tossup between Jimmie Johnson and Carl Edwards. The two have combined to win four of the last five Pep Boys Auto 500s, and they’ll go at it again on Sunday night on what could be, pound for pound, NASCAR’s fastest track.

NASCAR Odds – Sunday, September 6, 7:30 PM ET

Johnson is the favorite at +450, and he has three overall wins at Atlanta, two coming in this race in 2004 and 2007. He finished ninth here in March, leading 11 laps along the way. His numbers at Atlanta are excellent, and that’s an understatement: in 16 races overall here, his 9.1 average is best among active drivers, with nine top-fives. In eight Pep Boys 500s, the No.48 driver (and three-time defending series champion) has five top-fives with an average of 9.5, which is second among active drivers. He’s definitely worthy of being the favorite in your online betting sportsbook.

However, Edwards, who is rated at +800, should also be considered when making your sports picks. The No.99 driver won the Pep Boys 500 in 2005 and 2008, and last year, he led 98 laps, which was second to teammate Matt Kenseth’s 128. He also finished third here back in March, leading the way for 28 laps. If you think Johnson’s numbers at Atlanta were astounding, Edwards can hang with him. In 10 Atlanta races overall, he has a finishing average of 10.7, which is second only to Johnson, and in five Pep Boys 500s, he has four top-fives, and an unbelievable 2.8 finishing average, which is almost seven spots better than Johnson.

Jeff Gordon (+800) has four wins here and finished second in March behind Kurt Busch (+1200), but his back has been acting up lately. Mark Martin and Kyle Busch (both listed at +700) are trying to get into or stay in the Chase, so they could be going to simply beat whoever is in front of them in the standings. Johnson and Edwards are pretty much in, so they can afford to go for broke. Johnson has been a little better as of late, as his only finishes outside the top 12 in 10 races were a pair of fuel-mileage mistakes at Michigan. Edwards hasn’t finished outside of the top 20 since the middle of May. However, he’s hungry for a win, as he hasn’t been to Victory Lane since the final race of 2008 at Homestead-Miami. For value alone, go with Carl Edwards, but either driver is a solid selection in your sports betting software.