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Kasey Kahne is officially a contender.

Kahne’s win a Bristol may have cost me 50 fake dollars, but it put Kahne into a different stratosphere with those predicting Sprint Cup success, one that might change how you watch Sunday’s Auto Club 400.

Kahne has excelled on bigger faster tracks. The fact he won at Bristol shows Kahne’s game is more rounded. Oddsmakers have since taken notice.

Even at tracks where Kahne does well, rarely he is lower than 10/1. This week, only Jimmie Johnson has lower odds. But here’s the catch. Johnso owns this track with two more wins here than any other active driver. In 16 starts, Kahne has just one win. Plus, nine other active drivers have a better average finishing position.

The only reason Kahne is 8/1 is because really smart people believe Kahne has a chance to win every week. There are a handful of drivers you can say that about, and this week that list grew by one.

I’m down 50 fake dollars and not going with Kahne. Here are my fake picks for the sake of entertainment alone.

13 fake dollars on Matt Kenseth at 8/1
Kenseth and Gordon each have three wins here. Roush Fenway cars have won here five of the last eight years, and that formula helped Kenseth earlier this year in a Toyota.

10 fake dollars on Carl Edwards at 12/1
See Kenseth, and insert a picture of a surly Jack Roush.

10 fake dollars on Tony Stewart at 12/1
Stewart won this race last year and hasn’t had a great run in 2012. Either he’s this year’s "Jeff Gordon Bad Vibe" award or he bounces back.

10 fake dollars on Jeff Gordon at 12/1
Gordon can’t win the award two straight years….

7 fake dollars on Clint Bowyer at 20/1
Bowyer has the highest active finish among active drivers without a win.  

Here’s what The Spread thinks. Enjoy California racing, and insert random catchphrase here.

For the Season:

• One Win
• Four Losses
• Down 50 fake dollars.

Jimmie Johnson 6/1
Brad Keselowski 8/1
Kasey Kahne 8/1
Matt Kenseth 8/1
Kyle Busch 8/1
Denny Hamlin 10/1
Greg Biffle 12/1
Jeff Gordon 12/1
Dale Earnhardt Jr 12/1
Tony Stewart 12/1
Kevin Harvick 12/1
Carl Edwards 12/1
Clint Bowyer 20/1
Martin Truex Jr 20/1
Brian Vickers 25/1
Joey Logano 40/1
Ricky Stenhouse 50/1
Ryan Newman 60/1
Kurt Busch 100/1
Paul Menard 100/1
Jeff Burton 100/1
Marcos Ambrose 100/1
Aric Almirola 100/1
Juan Montoya 100/1
Jamie McMurray 100/1
Danica Patrick 300/1
AJ Allmendinger 300/1
Field (Any Other Driver) 50/1

Now that's more like it! The NASCAR brass and chatter class can talk 'til the cows come home about what the sport needs, but the visual offered Sunday at Bristol Motor Speedway is a crystal clear picture of what fans like about racing.

How complicated can it be? The Food City 500 was one of those "don't leave the couch for the fridge" affairs. There were races for position all over the track, including- dare we believe it- races for the lead as race winner Kasey Kahne and Brad Keselowski locked horns for the lead. When Kahne went high, Bad Brad went high. When Kasey went low, there was Keselowski for the block. Eventually, Kahne closed the deal, after failing to close the deal at Las Vegas last week.

You want fender banging, we had fender banging. Jeff Gordon had a tire give way, taking out not just himself but Matt Kenseth as well. On a re-start, Denny Hamlin- who says he got a push from Joey Logano- got into the back of Brad Keselowski, impeding the reigning champion's progress and setting the stage, in part, for Kahne's victory.

Never has been at level ground felt so fulfilling.


After three straight weeks of losing, Matt Kenseth’s birthday victory brought me back to break even for the 2013 Sprint Cup season. Now comes the hard part.

You hear that deep sigh of relief? That’s the folks at Toyota Racing Development after the win by Matt Kenseth. You know who else is breathing a little easier? Matt Kenseth. You want to talk about a honeymoon? After his victory in the Kobalt Tools 400, the new pairing of the 41-year old with JGR is like a sunny, summer soirée in Cabo.

“I felt a lot of pressure that I put on myself to come in here and perform. I felt like coming over here and getting to know Jason, and really everybody in the shop and the organization and everything, you know, just it's a great feeling about the season.” After finishing 37th at Daytona, and 7th at Phoenix, the 2003 Sprint Cup champion picked up his first win for Joe Gibbs Racing in his third start with the team. “We're only three weeks in, but man, all three races we had a car, if everything would have went right, that we could have won, and it feels pretty awesome to have this win here.”
 

Talk about a big gamble...