NASCAR

Ready to roll in ATL

The 10th race of the 2020 NASage to make some educated deciin another category of drivers beCAR Cup Series season takes us to sions at the betting window. We coming elite and having odds to Atlanta Motor Speedway Sunday saw two races at Darlington when win numbers dropped to single for the Folds of Honor QuikTrip digits. 500. It will be the fourth race of the season on a 1.5-mile layout Finish Kevin Harvick led 159 laps at the first Darlington race followed by and seventh using the race package with engines producing 550 Line Bowman and then Denny Hamlin won the weekday race at Darlinghorsepower. In the previous six, a different driver has won making Micah Roberts ton aided by runner-up Kyle Busch pushing a hard-charging Chase Sunday’s race wide open. @MicahRoberts7 Elliott with fresher tires out of the

Of course, there won’t be any way during the final laps. Brad Kepractices or qualifying again in NASCAR first came back and then selowski would win the Coca-Cola the modified schedule that has we saw two more at Charlotte 600 with Elliott runner-up, and already squeezed out five races which were almost identical as its then Elliott would win the Thursin two weeks. Atlanta was origisister track in Atlanta with its high day night Charlotte race. nally scheduled as the fifth race of bankings. So there we have it. Six different the season on March 15 until our The teams that were good at races with the 550 horsepower country was shut down due to the coronavirus pandemic.

Despite no practices, I feel as if those two tracks will be good again at Atlanta and we also have the two races at Las Vegas and package, six different winners. Between the nine races total including the superspeedway package Photo from USA Today Alex Bowman is 9-1 to win Sunday in Atlanta. there is enough data from the four Fontana that raced before the at Daytona and the 750 horsepowraces using the 550 HP race packshutdown that can be applied to er at smaller tracks like Phoenix Martin Truex Jr who both drive for Although Elliott has joined the a betting equation. and Sunday’s Bristol race, we have Joe Gibbs Racing. Busch hasn’t led multi-time winners club yet this

Roberts’ Top 5 at QuikTrip 500

Joey Logano got this race package started with a win at Las Vegas, a race where his crew chief Hamlin, Keselowski, and Logano with two wins each. Team Penske has four wins, Joe Gibbs Racing many laps this season but does have five top-five finishes while Truex doesn’t have any. Truex led season, he’s the driver that stands out the most for Sunday’s race and it’s not just because Atlanta

1 2 3 4 5 #9 #88 #2 #12 #11 Chase Elliott Alex Bowman Brad Keselowski Ryan Blaney Denny Hamlin (7-1) (9-1) (10-1) (14-1) (12-1)

told him to pit late and Logano pretended to not hear him and it proved to be the right move as his older tires held up. At Fontana’s 2-mile layout, Alex Bowman led 110 of the 200 laps to put himself has two wins, Hendrick Motorsports has two wins and StewartHaas racing has one win.

Boxing makes its glorious return to the fight capital of the world, war with Isaac Dogboe on ESPN. 2020 Cup Champion to-be. Las Vegas, this coming Tuesday (June 9) as WBO featherweight Magdaleno looks to be entering as a -1400 favorite with a +800 But we’re only a quarter of the champion Shakur Stevenson takeback on Vincente. In the co-feature, Adam Lopez faces Luis Coria way through the season and other moves up in weight to face Felix Caraballo in a 10 round Off the in a featherweight battle. On June 16, bantamweight contender Joshua Greer Jr. battles Mike teams are going to get better. It’s kind of cool seeing rookies like Tyjunior lightweight bout at the MGM Grand. Canvas Plania. Greer Jr. hopes to stay sharp in preparation for his mandatory title shot versus WBO champion John Riel Casimero. Prior to the main ler Redick, Cole Custer, and Christopher Bell running in the top-10s.

Noticeably absent from the winner’s log is two-time Cup Champion Kyle Busch and 2017 Champion the series with seven wins last season and the sharp turnaround for the worse this season can be mostly attributed to crew chief Cole Pearn quitting after 2019 and being replaced by James Small. Motor Speedway is the Dawsonville, Georgia native’s home track. He’s raced there four times and has a 10th-place average finish which is the best among active drivers. He could have won the last four races and proved he’ll Action picks up this weekend for Vegas have a strong car anywhere with any race package. He’s had topfives in four of the six races on 1.5-mile tracks. He looks like the

Stevenson’s promoter Top Alan Berg event, unbeaten junior welterweight Giovani Santillan fights Antonio Or how about Ricky Stenhouse Jr. Rank is just getting started. The promotion has cards sched@PercentBerg DeMarco.

Stevenson is a can’t-miss fighter and is a massive favorite in the June 23 – MGM Grand Las Vegas: junior bantamweights, Andrew Busch finally wins, which would -10000 range to the 20-1 payoff on Caraballo. Take that out of the Moloney vs. Joshua Franco be his third Atlanta, but I like two equation for Stevenson will likely want to put on a memorable performance knowing how much fans have missed boxing. At press UFC 250 of his teammates better; Denny Hamlin and Erik Jones. I also like time, betting lines were not yet available in Las Vegas. Amanda Nunes returns to the octagon Saturday to defend her UFC Ryan Blaney, who finished third

In the co-feature, undefeated junior lightweight Mikaela Mayer featherweight title against Felicia Spencer at UFC 250. The card is on in both Charlotte races last week. takes on Helen Joseph. Mayer is a 2016 United States Olympian. PPV and live from the UFC Apex in Las Vegas. Brad Keselowski has won two of

The headliner two days later is action packed featherweight JessIe Nunes comes in as a solid favorite as usual, with -600 the most the last three Atlanta races, but I Magdaleno against Yenifel Vincente. Magdaleno is a former WBO favorable number for her at various Las Vegas sportsbooks while have to go with Elliott and Bowjunior featherweight champion, who you may remember from his Please see Berg p19 man as the top plays. MicahRoberts@GamingToday.com

Here are the remaining main events: chasing top-fives? It seems that there is a lot more parity than last uled for June 11, 16, 18, 20 and June 18 – MGM Grand Las Vegas: junior welterweights, Jose Peseason which was top-heavy with 23. All fights will be held at the MGM except for the card on the 20th draza vs. Mikkel LesPierre Joe Gibbs Racing drivers winning from Mexico City. All events will have no fans in attendance but will June 20 – Mexico City: junior featherweights, Emanuel Navarrete 19 of the 36 races. be broadcast on ESPN’s platform of networks. vs. Uriel Lopez This could be the week that Kyle