Micah Roberts’ Sprint Cup Driver Ratings

Air Guard 400

Richmond International Raceway, Richmond, Va.

Coverage begins at 4:30 p.m. today on ABC (13)

Rating Driver Odds Practice 1 Practice 2 Qualifying Spring Results*

1. Jeff Gordon 12/1 19th 16th 22nd 2nd
Finished in top four on similar tracks at Phoenix, Richmond and New Hampshire this year

2. Carl Edwards 15/1 4th 1st 1st 5th
Terrific practices using fifth-place chassis from spring; Roush team charging hard

3. Jimmie Johnson 6/1 1st 21st 11th 10th
Three-time Richmond winner, using same car from May 1 race; broke slump last week

4. Kyle Busch 7/2 15th 36th 32nd 1st
Won two of past three at Richmond; nine top-five finishes in 11 Richmond starts

5. Kevin Harvick 12/1 10th 8th 20th 3rd
2006 winner; using chassis that had top-five finishes at New Hampshire and Richmond

6. Clint Bowyer 25/1 1st 12th 4th 12th
Using fourth-place Bristol car; two wins on similar New Hampshire and Richmond tracks

7. Ryan Newman 30/1 2nd 14th 23rd 8th
2003 winner with average finish of 11.4 in 17 starts; won on similar Phoenix track in April

8. Tony Stewart 12/1 25th 6th 15th 23rd
Three-time Richmond winner with four runner-up finishes; using car from May race

9. Denny Hamlin 5/1 21st 22nd 14th 11th
Hometown driver won race last year; has average finish of 8.8 in nine Richmond starts

10. Juan Pablo Montoya 25/1 3rd 4th 2nd 6th
One of most outstanding drivers in Friday's practice; using Martinsville chassis

* Results from May 1 Richmond race.

Note: Only two scheduled practices Friday, followed by qualifying. The first practice in race trim was the more important of the two.

Odds courtesy of the Las Vegas Hilton Super Book.

Micah Roberts, a former race and sports book director, has been setting NASCAR lines in Las Vegas since 1995. He writes for multiple publications covering all sports. He can be reached at MM.Roberts7@Gmail.com. For more insight from Roberts on the Richmond race, log on to LVRJ.com/Motorsports.