Sprint Cup drivers tackle The Big One

Last week saw another lead change in the NASCAR Sprint Cup standings, as Carl Edwards took back the top spot thanks to a top-three finish at Texas. This week NASCAR moves on to Alabama for the running of the Aaron's 499 on Sunday at the home of The Big One, Talladega Superspeedway (1 pm Eastern, Fox)

Last Saturday night Matt Kenseth broke a long winless streak by taking the Samsung Mobile 500 at Texas. And those who backed Kenseth at oddsmaker.ag cashed in at a price of +1,600.

Clint Bowyer, at +2,500 on Oddsmaker's NASCAR betting board last Saturday, finished second; Edwards, at +600, took third; Greg Biffle, at +1,600, ran fourth; and Paul Menard, as part of �The Field� at +2,500, came in fifth.

So Edwards leads the Sprint Cup standings by nine points over second-place Kyle Busch and 13 points over Kenseth and Jimmie Johnson. Kurt Busch (-16) runs fifth, followed by Dale Earnhardt, Jr. (-21), Ryan Newman (-23), Juan Pablo Montoya (-24), Kevin Harvick (-28), and Tony Stewart (-43).

Last April Harvick won an Aaron's 499 at Talladega lowlighted by a prolonged green-white-checkered finish. Jamie McMurray, Montoya, Denny Hamlin, and Mark Martin rounded out the top five that day. Six months later Clint Bowyer took the lead on the final lap and won the AMP Energy Juice 500 at Talladega. Harvick, Montoya, David Reutimann, and Joey Logano finished 2 through 5.

Over the course of the last five years of Sprint Cup racing at Talladega, Johnson, with a win and five other top-10 finishes in 10 races, owns the best average finish at 12.5. Logano, with three top-10s in four races, owns an average finish of 13.2. Brad Keselowski, with a win and two other top-10s in four races, comes in at 13.2. David Ragan, with three top-10s in eight Talladega starts, owns an average finish of 14.2 And Montoya, with three top-fives in eight races, comes in at 14.8.

Seven different drivers have won the last seven Sprint Cup races at Talladega.

Chevies won both races at Talladega last year, and have taken 16 of the last 20 'Dega checkered flags.

As of Wednesday morning oddsmaker.ag is listing Harvick as a +650 favorite on a wide-open Aaron's 499 betting board. Kyle Busch and Stewart are co-second favorites at +1,000, followed by Kurt Busch and Dale Junior at +1,200; Hamlin, Johnson, McMurray, Bowyer, Edwards, and Jeff Gordon at +1,500; Jeff Burton at +2,000; Montoya at +2,500; Newman, Kasey Kahne, Brian Vickers, Kenseth, Ragan, Greg Biffle, and Logano at +3,000; Martin at +3,500; Martin Truex Jr., Reutimann, Trevor Bayne, Keselowski, and Menard at +4,000; and �The Field� can be wagered on at +2,000.

As always Oddsmaker is offering driver-vs.-driver betting on Friday's Sprint Cup qualifying, and will be doing the same on Sunday's race.