Las Vegas’ favorite driver, Kyle Busch, hopes the trends end this week because he won the June 1st Dover race and he needs to get back on track after a poor outing last week in New Hampshire. After dominating the regular season it only took one race to send Busch sliding into 8th place, 74 points behind the series new point leader, Carl Edwards.

It always helps to get out of the gate quickly in the Chase. Kurt Busch won at New Hampshire to start the Chase a few years ago and didn’t win again for the remainder of the nine Chase races and held on to win by just being consistent. However, it doesn’t mean you can’t start out poorly and still win. Jimmie Jonson finished 39th at New Hampshire in 2006, but ended up winning the title anyway by basically just stomping the field. Kyle is very capable of duplicating that feat.

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When Kyle won the earlier Dover race this year, he led the final 73 laps and lapped almost everyone. Only six cars finished on the lead lap that day. Following Kyle was a brigade of Roush cars led by the “Concrete King”, Carl Edwards, who won this race last year. Greg Biffle and Matt Kenseth were in tow. Jimmie Johnson, surprisingly, finished a lap down.

There is a good chance that what we saw in June will repeat again this week, in particular, how well the Roush teams did. Greg Biffle who led the most laps in June could be on the brink of taking over the chase lead with a win. He pushed himself to his first win of the season last week and propelled himself all the way to 3rd in the standings. His odds to win the title took the biggest dive of any of the drivers going all the way from 35/1 down to 8/1.

The favorites to win the title are still Jimmie Johnson and Kyle Busch at 2/1 each, with Edwards moving up closer at 5/2.

Edwards will be the choice this week to win. His June run was impressive and his 10 career NASCAR wins on concrete is awfully good. Odds at 9/2 is very boring and I hate to jump on the favorite, but his record shows that he has excelled and won at almost all the tracks he was supposed to.

The best value on the board may be Martin Truex Jr who should be found in the 25/1 range. David Ragan and Jamie McMurray will also be competitive this week and may be offered at a much higher price than they should be after a few down weeks. I could see all five Roush cars finishing in the top 10 this week, that’s how good I believe they’ll be.

If looking for action on Saturday’s Nationwide race at Dover, do not look too far away from Denny Hamlin. He has won the last two Dover races in a row and will looking to become the only driver to win three straight Dover Nationwide races.

DOVER Top 5 Finish Prediction:

1) #99 Carl Edwards (9/2)
2) #16 Greg Biffle (10/1)
3) #48 Jimmie Johnson (6/1)
4) #18 Kyle Busch (9/2)
5) #17 Matt Kenseth (14/1)

The most inexpensive fun in town rolls in this Saturday Night at the Las Vegas Motor Speedway. The NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series takes its show to the fast 1.5 mile track of Vegas and there are opportunities everywhere for you and your family to see the race for free, yes FREE!

Several places around town are handing out tickets to all that want them. Places like PT’s Pub and Dunkin Doughnuts are the main outlets in town. The track would love to see a full house and is willing to sacrifice ticket sales for volume and concession sales. It’s a nice give and take situation, and fortunately for everyone in Vegas, you get to TAKE!

So get your girlfriend, wife, kids, Mom or Dad, and take them to the track for some great NASCAR racing. And before you drive out, stop at your favorite Station Casinos sports book and bet on the driver to win. Palace Station is very conveniently located on I-15 as you drive out. The race starts at 6:00 pm Saturday Night, see you out there.

The action should be great. The last nine Vegas races have had nine different winners. Jack Sprague is the only multiple winner in Las Vegas. Ron Hornaday has won the last two races of the season and is favored just barely over Johnny Benson just because of his record in the first 5 mile-and-a-half tracks this season. Hornaday has won two while 3 other drivers each won one. I like the charging Hornaday to win and eventually win the Championship. He sits only 74 points behind Benson.

My favorite Truck Series driver of all-time is another Vegas kid, Brendan Gaughan. He won the Vegas race a few years ago, but this will be his first start in this race while not driving for his family owned team over at South-Point. He hasn’t won this year, but he has shown a few signs of making a possible upset in a few races. Truck #10 should have plenty of support this week. Go Brendan!

LAS VEGAS 350 Truck Race Prediction:

1) #3 Ron Hornaday (5/2)
2) #22 Scott Speed (15/1)
3) #99 Erik Darnell (10/1)
4) #88 Matt Crafton (15/1)
5) #10 Brendan Gaughan (20/1)

Micah Roberts is the Race and Sports Director for Station Casinos in Las Vegas , Nevada, who covers motor sports from both a bettor and bookmaker's perspective.