NASCAR Picks -- How Quickly Will Matt Kenseth Catch On?

  • In Charles Jay
  • Sun, May 17th, 2020 11:23:28 am
  • By Charles Jay - Exclusive to OSGA


Matt Kenseth gets in a Cup car for the first time in a year and a half at Darlington in the Real Heroes 400.


If you have been following the news about NASCAR returning to the track for live racing, you have probably heard about the numerous protocols they have had to put into place. For example, they are not only not allowing fans, they have limited the number of people from racing teams that can even be on the site.

This includes the people who actually work on the car in the shop. And the organization has completely eliminated the process of qualifying, replacing it with a drawing, divided into three groups and based on owner's points to this date.

The restrictions on these teams will, at the very least, inconvenience the drivers. Some will probably be handicapped more than others. One of them is a former champion who hasn't been through ANY process relative to NASCAR in quite some time.

We're not talking about Ryan Newman, whose return to action has been miraculous enough, considering the crash and head injuries he experienced at the end of the Daytona 500. This has been a strange time, and in a strange way, the hiatus the NASCAR circuit has had to take has played to his advantage, because he has only missed a handful of races and maintains eligibility to get to the Cup playoffs.

No, we're talking about Matt Kenseth.

Kenseth actually has shorter odds than Newman (+3300 to win), even though he hasn't competed in a Cup race in a year and a half and hasn't been a full-time Cup racer since 2017. It's not that he hasn't wanted to race, but the former Cup champion hasn't really found a situation that suited him. At the age of 48, the market has been soft too. But an opportunity arose when Kyle Larson, who drove the #42 for Chip Gamassi Racing (to three top tens this year), was tossed when making a racial slur during one of the iRacing events.

You have to appreciate Kenseth's accomplishments in the sport, but you also have to appreciate that NASCAR is a difficult thing. After all the time out of ride, it would be difficult enough for him to compete the first time out even with a lot of preparation.

But in this situation he's had NO preparation. No qualifying. No test laps, No practice. And needless to say, no races. He's with a new vehicle, a new crew chief and new crew. He can't get into the shop. He knows this track, but also recognizes that it is a rough one, and will be driving against some people who might be especially aggressive.

We're sure that Kenseth is going to become comfortable in his surroundings in this re-introduction, because there are going to be five Cup races in these next two weeks. It would stand to reason that he'll get back in the swing of things, as time progresses.

However........

The Cup series is way too difficult to think that Kenseth can step right in and make an impact under these circumstances. Our preference is to fade him in a number of situations - he is priced at -735 to make it into the top five, and that price has jumped quickly from +550.

He is also part of a couple of head-to-head propositions at BetAnySports. In one of them, he is +145 against his new Ganassi teammate, Kurt Busch, and in the other, he is +120 against William Byron, who is perhaps disadvantaged fro being back toward the middle of the pack but showed a little something - for what it's worth - in the iRacing series, with three wins.

BetAnySports knows there's going to be a lot of NASCAR action upcoming, and they will get you very close to it, with the most comprehensive odds available. Check them out, and in the meantime look around for what else is available. The best is yet to come!......... Five casino options are available, two of them with real dealers. And enjoy 50% Rakeback on poker in The DragonRoom.......... Open an account with your debit card, credit card, person-to-person transfers or the virtual currency of Bitcoin, which is easy to use and NEVER incurs a transaction fee!


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