This week the Sprint Cup series will make its first trip this season to one of the most storied NASCAR tracks in the country for the running of the Aarons 499 at Talladega Superspeedway. Sunday\u2019s race is set to get underway at 1 p.m. and it will be broadcast nationally on FOX. <\/p>\n
NASCAR Sprint Cup Aarons 499 Preview and Prediction<\/strong> Kevin Harvick took his first checkered flag of the season in a point race last Saturday night with a win at Richmond. Clint Bowyer ended-up in second place and Joey Logano finished third.<\/p>\n The following is a closer look at our favorite, contender, and longshot picks for this Sunday\u2019s race with odds provided by Top Bet.<\/p>\n Given how wide open the field is for this Sunday\u2019s race we had to bend the rules a bit for this week\u2019s favorite considering that the best odds for any driver to win are 10\/1. Both Kyle Busch and Matt Kenseth<\/strong> opened at these odds, but Kenseth gets the nod.<\/p>\n He has already posted victories at Las Vegas and Kansas and despite being docked 50 points in the Sprint Cup standings for an engine violation after his last win, the No. 20 car came very close to winning last week after leading the race for 140 laps.<\/p>\n What really tips the scales in Kenseth\u2019s favor is his recent performance at Talladega with a third-place finish in last year\u2019s race to complement a victory in the second race here in 2012.<\/p>\n There are a pile of contenders listed at 12\/1 to win on Sunday, but we are going with crowd favorite Dale Earnhardt Jr<\/b>. in this category. [ad-8757089]<\/p>\n The No. 88 car started the season like a house on fire with five top-10 finishes in the first five races that included a second-place finish in the Daytona 500 and another second at Fontana.<\/p>\n Dale Jr. has cooled-off over the past few weeks but remains tied for third-place in the Sprint Cup standings with 297 points. There is also some solid value in Junior\u2019s odds given his success over the years at restrictor plate tracks such as Talladega.<\/p>\n While he has not won here since reeling-off four straight victories from 2001 to 2003, he did finish fourth in this race in 2011 and ninth in the second race here last season.<\/p>\n While the meat of the order for Sunday is crammed in somewhere between 10\/1 and 15\/1, the one driver that does stand out at 30\/1 is Joey Logano<\/b>. This guy may be a thorn in a number of people\u2019s sides, but his aggressive style of racing has resulted in three top five finishes so far.<\/p>\n The No. 22 car\u2019s best performance this season was at Fontana when it led the field for 41 laps before finishing third and it remained a factor in last week\u2019s race to the very end.<\/p>\n What makes Logano a real reach to win this race is an average finishing position of 18.1 in eight previous Sprint Cup races at this track, but current form may be able to compensate for that.<\/p>\n Matt Kenseth 10\/1
\n Race: Aarons 499, Talladega Superspeedway<\/strong>
\n Date: Sunday, May 5, 2013<\/strong>
\n Time: 1 p.m. (ET)<\/strong>
\n Broadcast: FOX<\/strong>
\n Odds: Bovada<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\nThe Favorite (odd of less than 10\/1)<\/b><\/h3>\n
The Contender (odds from 10\/1 to 19\/1)<\/b><\/h3>\n
The Longshot (odds 20\/1 or greater)<\/b><\/h3>\n
Odds from Bovada<\/a><\/strong><\/h3>\n
\nKyle Busch 10\/1
\nDale Earnhardt Jr 12\/1
\nJimmie Johnson 12\/1
\nKevin Harvick 12\/1
\nTony Stewart 12\/1
\nClint Bowyer 12\/1
\nJeff Gordon 12\/1
\nBrad Keselowski 12\/1
\nKasey Kahne 12\/1
\nCarl Edwards 15\/1
\nGreg Biffle 15\/1
\nJamie McMurray 20\/1
\nMartin Truex Jr 25\/1
\nJoey Logano 30\/1
\nKurt Busch 30\/1
\nRyan Newman 35\/1
\nRicky Stenhouse Jr 35\/1
\nDanica Patrick 35\/1
\nJuan Montoya 35\/1
\nJeff Burton 40\/1
\nPaul Menard 40\/1
\nMichael Waltrip 40\/1
\nMarcos Ambrose 50\/1
\nAric Almirola 50\/1
\nTrevor Bayne 75\/1
\nElliott Sadler 75\/1
\nRegan Smith 75\/1
\nDave Blaney 100\/1
\nDavid Ragan 100\/1
\nBobby Labonte 100\/1
\nCasey Mears 100\/1
\nDavid Gilliland 100\/1
\nField (Any Other Driver) 15\/1<\/p>\n