NASCAR heads to America’s West Coast for Sunday's Nextel Cup Toyota-Save Mart 350 road race at Infineon Race Way in Sonoma, Calif, one of two road courses on the Nextel Cup schedule. NASCAR will also mandate the use of the Car of Tomorrow, the safer chassis race teams are phasing in this year. Oddsmakers at Sportsbook.com have installed Jeff Gordon as the driver to beat installing the Nextel Points leader the favorite at 5/2 odds . Tony Stewart , winless on the season, has been impressive in his career on road courses and oddsmakers think at 4/1 odds he might challenge for his first win of 2007. Betting Juan Pablo Montoya of Chip Ganassi Racing could be the best value at 7/1 odds . Montoya, of Bogota Columbia, is a seasoned road racer from his career on the Formula-One circuit.
Montoya, who began racing Open-Wheel as a teenager has captured an International F3000 title, a world title in the CART Championship Series, and victories in some of the most prestigious races in the world. He is the only driver to have ever won the premier North American open-wheel CART title, the Indianapolis 500 and the 24 Hours of Daytona, all at first attempt. Montoya remains one of only two drivers to have ever won the CART title in h is rookie year.
The only win in 2007 for Montoya came in the Bush Series Telcel-Mororola 200 in Mexico City. In this win, Montoya was by far the strongest and most experienced driver on the road course. Montoya must be excited about the chance to showcase his talents at Sonoma; especially after struggling on the traditional oval tracks.
If you want to back an extreme long shot, A.J. Almendinger at 100/1 odds might be a good choice. Almendinger, a rookie, has plenty of road racing experience from his days of open-wheel racing. Allmendinger, who drives the No. 84 Red Bull Racing Toyota Camry, won five times last year in the Champ Car World Series.
Odds to win the Toyota/Save Mart 350
A.J. Almendinger 100/1
Bobby Labonte 100/1
Boris Said 15-1
Carl Edwards 40-1
Casey Mears 40-1
Clint Bowyer 60-1
Dale Earnhardt Jr 40-1
David Gilliland 100-1
David Stremme 100-1
Denny Hamlin 12-1
Elliott Sadler 100-1
Greg Biffle 60-1
JJ Yeley 75-1
Jamie McMurray 40-1
Jeff Burton 35-1
Jeff Gordon 5-2
Jimmie Johnson 20-1
Juan Pablo Montoya 7-1
Kasey Kahne 100-1
Kevin Harvick 12-1
Kurt Busch 12-1
Kyle Busch 30-1
Martin Truex Jr 25-1
Matt Kenseth 40-1
PJ Jones 100-1
Reed Sorenson 100-1
Regan Smith 100-1
Ricky Rudd 60-1
Robby Gordon 12-1
Ron Fellows 15-1
Ryan Newman 25-1
Terry Labonte 75-1
Tony Stewart 4-1
Field (Any Other Driver) 15-1
