![\"NASCAR](\"http:\/\/photos.lasvegassun.com\/media\/img\/photos\/2019\/02\/28\/AP19055746522573_t653.jpg?214bc4f9d9bd7c08c7d0f6599bb3328710e01e7b\" "\\"NASCAR")
<\/p>\n\nScott Cunningham \/ AP\n<\/p>\n
Crew members tend to Kyle Busch\u2019s car during a pit stop in a NASCAR Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series auto race at Atlanta Motor Speedway, Sunday, Feb. 24, 2019, in Hampton,\u00a0Ga.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n
By Case Keefer<\/cite><\/a> (contact<\/a>)<\/p>\n Saturday, March 2, 2019 | 2 a.m.<\/p>\n Gamblers have traditionally been well-served by concentrating their wagers on drivers at the top of the betting board in NASCAR\u2019s annual local spring race.<\/p>\n Only one driver in the last 17 years has overcome odds of more than 10-to-1 to win a race in NASCAR\u2019s top series at Las Vegas Motor Speedway \u2014 and that was Martin Truex Jr., who was 12-to-1 in 2017. This year\u2019s Pennzoil 400, which begins at 12:45 p.m. Sunday and airs on Fox, could be the one to break the predictability and end with a surprise.<\/p>\n \u201cIt definitely feels like it\u2019s more open than it\u2019s ever been for anyone to win essentially,\u201d said Ed Salmons, vice president of risk at Westgate Las Vegas Superbook. \u201cBy anyone, I mean anyone as far as the good teams. You\u2019re still not going to have one of the bottom guys win.\u201d<\/p>\n The reason for the change is a new rules package NASCAR is implementing for the race in an effort to foster more competition. The 2019 season is already under way after races at Daytona and Atlanta the last two weekends, but Las Vegas will be the first site where cars have to abide by tapered-space and aeroduct restrictions among other changes.<\/p>\n It\u2019s causing a lot of uncertainty for everyone, even the sharpest racing bookmaker in town in Salmons, who had become accustomed to Las Vegas races playing out a certain way.<\/p>\n \u201cThe cars would run so fast that passing was difficult,\u201d Salmons said. \u201cIt would take like five laps to line up one pass on one guy so if you got kind of in the back of the pack, it took you forever to move forward. This package, it\u2019s the first time they\u2019re really using it so it\u2019s hard to tell how much track position could mean, but it could mean very little.\u201d<\/p>\n Salmons posted Kevin Harvick as the favorite, at 9-to-2, to win for the second straight year and claim his third Las Vegas victory in his last six tries, but there\u2019s been no shortage of drivers attracting action.<\/p>\n For the first time ever, the Superbook put odds on all 38 drivers to win as opposed to their usual modus operandi of choosing 29 and making the remaining competitors part of \u201cthe field.\u201d Every driver has drawn at least one wager.<\/p>\n \u201cAt least now I can see one of 15 guys winning the race whereas in years past, you could probably narrow it down to six or seven guys,\u201d Salmons said. \u201cIt\u2019s just hard to tell from the early stuff, but I think Austin Dillon looked really good in practice and he was somewhere from 40- to 60-to-1 to win. I\u2019m not saying he\u2019s going to win, but at that price, it\u2019s kind of worth $5 or $10. It\u2019s not a bad gamble.\u201d<\/p>\n Jimmie Johnson, who opened at 40-to-1, has been the most popular pick at the Superbook, largely because of his seven Cup championships and four Las Vegas wins. Truex took the largest single wager of $3,000 at 6-to-1 odds.<\/p>\n There are more ways to bet on the Pennzoil 400 than any other race on the NASCAR calendar. Even though the handle hasn\u2019t continued to grow exponentially like in past years, demand remains high when the race is in town.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s probably dropped the last few years as the popularity of the sport went down,\u201d Salmons said. \u201cI don\u2019t think it\u2019s dropped as much as the TV ratings have dropped, but it\u2019s sort of leveled out. Some races are more popular than other ones, and this is certainly one of those.\u201d<\/p>\n NASCAR has gone all-in on combatting its decline by creating more parity. It remains to be seen if the latest attempt of the new rules package turns out the way it anticipates.<\/p>\n So far, it\u2019s mostly succeeded in creating a foreign sense of mystery in sports books.<\/p>\n \u201cIt may be a matter of which driver is able to keep it more gassed down through the straightaways because you\u2019re going to build up all your momentum by keeping it down and going faster through the corners,\u201d Salmons predicted. \u201cThat kind of tells you the guys who have excelled in Infinity and trucks might have the advantage, but you just don\u2019t know. There are a lot of unknowns.\u201d<\/p>\n Check below for the Superbook\u2019s full menu of Pennzoil 400 wagers. Please note the odds and numbers are likely to have changed.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n Case Keefer can be reached at 702-948-2790 or [email\u00a0protected]<\/span><\/a>. Follow Case on Twitter at <\/strong> twitter.com\/casekeefer<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n