Tony Stewart will go for his third Allstate 400 at the Brickyard title and Kyle Busch will try to win his third-consecutive Sprint Cup race on Sunday as the World Wide Leader in Sports will broadcast the event live from Indianapolis Motor Speedway at 2 p.m. EST.

Despite the fact that the historic Brickyard is a 2.5-mile Super Speedway, teams will play this one like Phoenix where clean air is at a premium, which makes position everything and qualifying all that much more important.

Who will win the Allstate 400 at the Brickyard?

Let's hope for good sunny weather because the last thing we need on Sunday is for Kyle Busch to get another Pole due to a qualifiers weather cancellation.

Two weeks ago I figured the final lap shootout would be between Busch and Junior. I was right and I was wrong; right about the shoot-out but I picked the wrong HMS driver. Rather than Junior it was the No. 48 car, Junior's teammate at Hendrick Motorsports, Jimmie Johnson.

You have to love Johnson's quiet approach. You don't really hear from him. Not a peep. The two-time defending Sprint Cup champion somehow manages to stay below the radar and let the likes of Junior, Smoke, Kahne, Edwards, get the face time. This is exactly what makes him so dangerous.

Johnson had the lead at Chicagoland with 16 laps to go in the race. But due to some bad luck and a restart with two laps left in the race Busch was able to pass Johnson on the high side and cruise to his second consecutive victory.

Despite his apparent stranglehold on the Sprint Cup with only seven weeks to go until the Chase begins, Busch has never won at the Brickyard and will face enormous competition as every driver in the grid would love to see Busch finish the race somewhere around 30th.

The driver to benefit most from that would be Junior, who sits in second place in the standings. This week NASCAR told Toyota they'll have to tame the wild horsepower to comply with NASCAR regulations. Whether that will have a bearing on the continued dominance of Toyota this year will have to play out on Sunday but we'll have to wait and see.

Defending Champion Tony Stewart will try like hell to win again, but, mark my words, some freak thing will knock him out of it after he's led the race for 80 laps or something ridiculous.

Gamblers should be aware in the modern NASCAR era, the last 10 year's, Jeff Gordon has won this race three times, Stewart and Johnson have both won here twice. I am banking on the Quiet Man in the No. 48 car to win his third Brickyard title rather than Smoke.

Pick! Jimmie Johnson, No.48, (7/1)

SOLID GOLD PICKS

Sportsbook.com has listed many matchups on the Allstate 400 this weekend. Last weekend we had a momentum play and backed Kurt Busch at +1.20 to beat Mark Martin. He didn't. The loss brings my record Over-the-Wall to 11-12 with -2.20 units on the season after 19 of 36 Sprint Cup races have been underwhelmingly overanalyzed by the gang in the FOX booth (save Mike Joy).

LONG ODDS PICK

The driver with the most wins in IRL history, and the 2006 Indy 500 winner, returns to the Brickyard on Sunday hoping a track that he has had success upon reaps that joy once more. Although it has been a tough rookie season for the No. 77 driver, there have been moments where his talent has shown he has the chops to ride in these days of thunder. He ran as high as second place in the Michigan 400 and if you are looking to throw some loose v-chips on a long odds champion then back the Penske team and the other Junior.

Pick! Sam Hornish, Jr., 77, (100/1)

SQUARE TIRE PICK

Kyle Busch (-1.55) vs. Denny Hamlin (+1.25)

I like this matchup because it pits Joe Gibbs Racing talent against each another with a large public favorite going against a lesser known, albeit excellent driver in his own right. But I suppose winning can get to your head; especially if you've won back-to-back races and own the points lead in both the Nationwide Series and Sprint Cup. Maybe that explains why Busch will be kissing brick in three races this weekend. Earlier this season Busch said he was not going to run the Truck Series since he was out of contention anyway. I guess driving a pickup truck, even if it doesn't have a shotgun rack, in a race at the Brickyard is like kicking a meth habit, bitch keeps calling you back.

I don't like it one bit; especially from an investment perspective. Last two times we bet against Busch it was due to the fact he was racing three races (in different locations) and was going to be worn out by Sunday. Granted there is a lot to like about backing Busch here. He's got a great average finish of seventh and Busch has been practically unbeatable this year. But there's a lot of pressure on him this Sunday; those who hate him can't wait until he makes a mistake and those who love him and want him to win his third race in a row. Hamlin has raced well all year better than his No. 12 ranking shows. Actually, I have him finishing in the top five (even though he has only one top-10 finish at the Brickyard). Call it a hunch but I really like Hamlin in this spot on the grid.

Pick! Denny Hamlin, No. 11, (+1.25) for 2 units.

ALLSTATE 400 ODDS TO WIN
JUL 27, 2008 14:00 PM

Kyle Busch (6/1)
Jimmie Johnson (7/1)
Kasey Kahne (7/1)
Tony Stewart (7/1)
Carl Edwards (8/1)
Matt Kenseth (10/1)
Denny Hamlin (10/1)
Dale Earnhardt, Jr (12/1)
Jeff Gordon (15/1)
Greg Biffle (15/1)
Brian Vickers (18/1)
Kevin Harvick (20/1)
Jeff Burton (25/1)
Mark Martin (25/1)
Martin Truex Jr (25/1)
Clint Bowyer (30/1)
David Ragan (30/1)
Kurt Busch (40/1)
Juan Pablo Montoya (50/1)
zx Field (Any Other Driver) (50/1)
Ryan Newman (50/1)
Elliott Sadler (60/1)
Jamie McMurray (75/1)
Travis Kvapil (100/1)
Bobby Labonte (100/1)
David Gilliland (100/1)
Casey Mears (100/1)
Michael Waltrip (100/1)
Reed Sorenson (100/1)
David Reutimann (100/1)
Sam Hornish Jr (100/1)
Dave Blaney (100/1)
AJ Allmendinger (100/1)
Paul Menard (100/1)

*Odds courtesy of Sportsbook.com