Kevin Harvick added to his Cup Series-leading point total with another strong performance at New Hampshire Motor Speedway last Sunday.

After recording his eighth consecutive top-five finish, Harvick will get a couple of opportunities to add to his championship bid at one of his favourite tracks.

The NASCAR Cup Series is set to go back-to-back at Michigan International Speedway this weekend.

First up, it’s the Firekeepers Casino 400 on Saturday.

Then on Sunday, it’s the Consumers Energy 400.

Harvick, who remains the betting favourite to win the NASCAR Cup Series title at 3-to-1 odds, has won two of the last three races at Michigan.

He’s also delivered a 2.8 average finish position in his last four Cup Series starts at this course.

Harvick will be the obvious consensus favourite to win each of this weekend’s races.

Here is a closer look at the odds for the Firekeepers Casino 400.

The Favourite

Kevin Harvick +375

While he wasn’t able to keep up with race winner Brad Keselowski at NHMS last week, Harvick extended his impressive run with an eighth straight top-five finish.

The veteran Stewart-Haas Racing driver has produced a 6.4 average finish position in the first 20 races of the season.

He’s on pace to deliver the best average finish of any driver in a Cup Series season since 1998, when Jeff Gordon posted a 5.7 AFP.

Harvick also owns a 6.2 average finish position at Michigan since 2013.

That’s the fourth-best AFP by any driver at any one track a minimum of 10 starts over that span.

With two wins and another six runner-up results in his last 14 races at this track, it’s no surprise that Harvick is listed at such short odds to win the Firekeepers Casino 400 outright.

Next In Line

Denny Hamlin +550

Hamlin followed up his latest win at Kansas with a narrow runner-up finish at New Hampshire, losing to Keselowski by just 1.647 seconds.

While he hasn’t won at Michigan since 2011, he was the runner-up to Harvick in the Consumers Energy 400 at this track last August.

Hamlin’s 11 wins over the last two seasons is three more than any other driver.

After a combined 92 laps led over the past two weeks, Hamlin should be in the mix again at Michigan where he’s posted the fourth-best AFP of any driver over the last four races here.

Brad Keselowski +725

With Harvick and Hamlin battling for the outright wins lead, it would have been easy to overlook Keselowski last week at New Hampshire.

After all, he was the sixth choice on the board at 12-to-1 odds to win outright.

However, Keselowski went on to lead 184 of the 301 laps on his way to his third Cup Series win of the season.

The driver of the No. 2 Ford for Penske Racing extended his run of consecutive top-10 finishes to six in a row, following up a runner-up at Kansas with the victory.

Keselowski has never won at Michigan.

He led 105 laps in here in the 2017 Pure Michigan 400, but finished 17th.

He also led 66 laps in last year’s Consumers Energy 400 at this track but went on to finish 19th.

With only one top-five in his last six starts at Michigan, we aren’t banking on Keselowski doubling down after last week’s win.

Joey Logano +750

The defending champion of the Firekeepers Casino 400 is tied for the all-time lead among active drivers with three career wins at Michigan.

Currently fourth in the Cup Series standings, Logano has turned it on a bit of late with top-10 finishes in three of his last four starts including a fourth-place finish at New Hampshire.

The veteran Penske Racing driver also has top-10 finishes in three of his last four starts at Michigan, and 12 of his last 14 starts overall at this course.

While the fact that he doesn’t have a win since March 8th at Phoenix will force bettors to look elsewhere when it comes to picking an outright winner, Logano’s strong track record at Michigan means he should be in play in alternate markets.

Don’t Sleep On

Chase Elliott +850

After cashing in on the $1 million first-place prize in the NASCAR All-Star Race, Elliott has struggled to generate any positive momentum since.

Last week’s ninth-place finish is his lone top-10 in his last three starts.

However, Elliott has placed in the top-10 in seven of his eight career Cup Series starts at Michigan.

No other driver with at least five starts at Michigan has produced a higher rate of top-10 results than Elliott’s 87.5 per cent mark.

While he’s still a long shot to win this race outright, Elliott could fly under the radar as a decent bet to place in the top-10 once again.

Aric Almirola +1500

Speaking of top-10 finishes, Almirola is a driver to keep an eye on this weekend.

The driver of the No. 10 Ford for Stewart-Haas Racing has delivered nine straight top-10 finishes overall – the longest streak of his career and the longest active streak right now.

Almirola doesn’t have the greatest track record at Michigan.

Still, it’s impossible to ignore what he’s done of late.

Almirola is definitely worth a look in top-10 markets once again for this week’s Firekeepers Casino 400.

*All Betting Information appears as listed by Bodog on Friday, Aug. 7, 2020.