NASCAR is blessing us with two races in five days, as the Super Start Batteries 400 at Kansas Speedway is set to take place tonight (Thursday) under the lights. Kansas is another “cookie cutter” 1.5-mile track, and as we’ve seen over the last two weeks, that opens the door for some surprise winners. That’s precisely why I only have a small bet on an outright winner tonight, while I putting a larger chunk of change on a few other prop bets. Tire-wise, Goodyear is bringing the same left sides as Charlotte this year, while the right sides will be the same ones we had at Kentucky and Texas the last two weeks as well as Las Vegas earlier this year.
The bets listed below are ones that I have already placed via the DraftKings Sportsbook, with the odds posted.
My Top Bets for the Super Start Batteries 400 at Kansas
Kurt Busch to Finish Top 10 (-118) – This is my favorite bet of the race and also the one I have the most money on. Kurt Busch has finished 8th or better in four of the five races on 1.5-mile low wear tracks this season, and here at Kansas he’s also finished 8th or better in four of the last five. Kurt has also been a top 10 machine this season, with 11 through the first 18 races, ranking 3rd-best behind Harvick’s 15 and Keselowski’s 13. I used the Profit Boost bonus to put $50 on this at -107 and then also put another bet at the listed -118 odds.
Grid Position of Race Winner Under 4.5 (+180) – I actually like this bet quite a bit. Not as good as the top 10 finish for Kurt Busch, obviously, but this is a solid bet. With this one, you basically get Harvick, Logano, Almirola, and Blaney to win the race. Harvick is the favorite tonight, Blaney has had–by far–the best speed on 1.5-mile tracks this year, Almirola is blazing fast right now, and Logano finished 3rd at Texas last Sunday and won at Las Vegas this year.
Ryan Blaney Stage 1 Winner (+750) – Kevin Harvick is the obvious favorite to dominate tonight, but Ryan Blaney has been the absolute fastest car on the low wear 1.5-mile tracks this season so I like the value here. His Green Flag Speed average ranking on them is a ridiculous 2.6 over the five races thus far, with the lowest ranking being the first Charlotte race (he was 7th). At Las Vegas, Kentucky, and Texas, Blaney has had the fastest car each race, and looking at Stages, YRB won both at Texas last Sunday and has three 2nd-place Stage finishes in the four previous breaks on this track type. Again, I like the +750 value here.
Other bets added to my card:
- Joey Logano to Win (+1300) – This is my small bet on an outright winner this week. This is also the bet that tends to be the one that jinxes the driver (see Truex at Texas for a recent example). But at 13-to-1, I just couldn’t pass up putting some on Logano. He ranks 2nd in terms of green flag speed on the low wear 1.5-mile tracks this year and he’s won twice in the past here at Kansas. If Paul Wolfe can use his pit road gambling and get Joey in clean air, he could steal this race like he did at Las Vegas. Again, the 13-to-1 was too good to pass up.
