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Arena: Chicagoland Speedway

Location: Joliet, Illinois

Date: September 15, 2013

NASCAR Betting Odds: Introduced in 2001 to the NASCAR circuit as the Tropicana 400, the race has seen five different winners in its first six years, with Kevin Harvick and Tony Stewart being the only repeat winners. The race is now sponsored by the insurance giant GEICO after USG Corporation and LifeLock served as sponsors. In 2006, Jeff Burton won the pole here at Chicagoland Speedway in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series.

The GEICO 400 is a NASCAR Sprint Cup Series stock car race held annually at the Chicagoland Speedway in Joliet, Illinois. In 2007 it was announced that the 2008 race would become a night race after being held as a day time race for the past 7 years.

After 10 years of being held in July, on August 9, 2010 it was announced that the race will become the first race in the Chase For The Sprint Cup for the 2011 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series season, replacing and bumping New Hampshire's chase race to the second race in the chase. Also, the race has returned to daytime.

Chicagoland Speedway

The plan to build a superspeedway in the third-largest market in the nation had been rumored for years. Auto racing executives and major-league sanctioning bodies had long maintained that the untapped market of Chicago was perhaps the most lucrative in the country.

The race to build a major speedway in the Windy City took its first step toward becoming a reality during an informal meeting between Indianapolis Motor Speedway president Tony George and Bill France in late 1995.

The Motorsports Alliance, consisting of George, France and home-remodeling magnate John Menard, was formed in the spring of 1996 and immediately began considering sites that summer.

The first effort to begin the project was to focus on a 500-acre plot of land less than 30 miles from downtown Chicago, near the Dupage County Airport. Faced with constructing a facility that would be able to host NASCAR and the Indy Racing League on a small parcel of land, the trio decided that the extremely high price of real estate would not fit properly into the budget.

The Alliance was contacted by several communities that were interested in building the facility and even looked at sites as far west as Rochelle, before turning their attention to the small farm community of Plano, about 70 miles west of Chicago, in the fall of 1997.

Unfortunately, Illinois annexation laws at the time prevented Plano from incorporating the land. The project was abruptly stalled.

Menard then withdrew from the Motorsports Alliance, citing an increased demand to attend to his business affairs. However, as auto racing's visibility continued to skyrocket, the desire to begin racing in Chicago grew. Then came a call from Dale Coyne, who was raised in nearby Plainfield. He had successfully negotiated with Joliet to build the ultra-modern Route 66 Raceway there in 1997.

When it opened in 1998, Route 66 Raceway was the best state-of-the-art facility built for drag racing. The facility was an instant success, not only with race fans and participants, but in Joliet as well.

Aware of the trials and tribulations Motorsports Alliance were having in building a superspeedway, Coyne suggested Joliet officials meet with the ownership group to discuss the possibility of building a 1.5-mile state-of-the-art speedway adjacent to Route 66 Raceway property.

In May 1999, Raceway Associates was unveiled. Coyne relinquished his position of chief operating officer of Route 66 Raceway, and was appointed president of Raceway Associates, joining George and France as partners in building a premier, multi-purpose motorsports complex in Joliet.

With all of the pieces finally in place, development of the 930-acre dream began in August 1999.

The news that all of Chicago was waiting for was finally revealed on May 8, 2000, during a press conference at scenic Navy Pier. The onlookers learned the name of the track: Chicagoland Speedway.

Jimmie Johnson was the first NASCAR driver to visit Victory Lane at Chicagoland after winning a Nationwide Series race on July 14, 2001. A day later, Kevin Harvick won the speedway's first Cup event.

How to bet on Nascar GEICO 400

The odds of a driver to win the GEICO 400 will generally look something like:

• Jeff Gordon + 200
• Mark Martin + 250
• Jeff Burton + 300
• Bill Elliott + 700
• Robby Gordon + 700
• Field + 500

These betting odds will be lower when betting on a driver to finish in the top three, as the sportsbook must pay off three different winning bets.

A player would have to bet $10 to win $20 that Jeff Gordon will win the GEICO 400, while the bettor wagering on Bill Elliott stands to win $70 on their $10 wager.

Another commonly placed bet in NASCAR is head-to-head finish between two drivers. With this bet, a player doesn't really care what place the driver finishes in, as long as the driver finishes higher than the other driver.

A head-to-head betting line for the GEICO 400 will look something like:

• Mark Martin - 130 Jeff Burton + 110

In this bet, players wagering on Martin to finish higher than Burton will be asked to risk $13 to win $10, while bettors believing that Burton will finish higher than Martin will bet $10 to win $11.

Those familiar with sports betting will have no trouble making the transition to NASCAR wagering, while those new to the world of sports betting should be able to pick up the concepts of NASCAR betting without too much hassle.

2012 Geico 400 Winner - Keselowski passes Johnson to win Chase opener

Brad Keselowski and Penske Racing met the “gold standard” in NASCAR on Sunday. To win a championship, however, they will have to exceed it.

It’s what Keselowski and team owner Roger Penske have dearly wanted: To come out on top in a head-to-head battle with Jimmie Johnson’s No. 48 Hendrick Motorsports team for a NASCAR race victory.

Keselowski did just that Sunday using a fast late-race pit stop under green-flag conditions to overtake Johnson and then held him off for the win in the GEICO 400 at Chicagoland Speedway.

The win not only gave Keselowski his first Sprint Cup Series win in the Chase for the Cup but also vaulted him into the series points lead for the first time in his career.

After Sunday’s race, Penske repeatedly referred to Hendrick Motorsports as the “gold standard” in NASCAR of late.

There is certainly plenty of evidence to back that claim, including Johnson’s NASCAR-record five consecutive Cup titles from 2006 to 2011.

Keselowski qualified for the Chase for the first time last season and finished a surprising fifth in the standings, but failed to post a win in the final 10 races.

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