Three to watch, one to avoid for NASCAR at Sonoma

At Sunday's Toyota/Save Mart 350 at Sonoma Raceway in the heart of Northern California's wine country, the NASCAR Cup Series is back to drivers turning left and right on a road course.

Road courses always bring out a special crop of drivers who tend to run up front. Here are three to watch – a favorite, a contender and a dark horse – as well as one to avoid for Sunday's twists and turns.

Favorite: Tyler Reddick (+900, per Draft Kings as of Friday afternoon)

There are plenty of candidates when it comes the best road racer in NASCAR. Chase Elliott, Kyle Larson and Martin Truex Jr. hold claims to that title, but Reddick may top them all. He has three wins on the winding circuits since the start of 2022, earning W's with Richard Childress Racing and 23XI Racing.

Inexplicably, Reddick is only tied for the fifth-best odds to take Sonoma on Sunday, an exceptional value for a driver who could be your best bet to win.

Contender: Ty Gibbs (+900)

One of the other drivers tied at +900 with Reddick is Gibbs, who patiently awaits his first Cup Series win. The 21-year-old has been strong on the road courses throughout his young career, including a third-place finish at Circuit of the Americas earlier this season – the only previous road course on the 2024 schedule.

This could be the weekend Gibbs has been waiting for and even if it's not, he's a solid pick to run near the front.

Dark horse: Kyle Busch (+2200)

It feels weird to use "Kyle Busch" and "dark horse" in the same sentence, but you must scroll pretty far down the odds list to find him at +2200 – that's behind drivers such as A.J. Allmendinger, Michael McDowell and Denny Hamlin, the latter of whom is not known as a road-course savant.

Busch is a two-time Sonoma winner and even though both of those wins came with Joe Gibbs Racing, he ran second a year ago during his first trip with RCR.

Still searching for his first victory of 2024, Busch would breathe a heavy sigh of relief with a win because it would clinch a playoff bid and extend his streak of winning at least once every season to 20 years. Hammer that money.

Avoid: A.J. Allmendinger (+1200)

Allmendinger is always one of the first names that comes up regarding road-course prowess in NASCAR, but it's hard to envision him contending for the win in this spot. He is only a part-time Cup Series driver this season and his Kaulig Racing team has taken a big step back from its performance over the past few years.

There are simply too many great road racers in the field for Allmendinger to be considered among the favorites.

You can find much better value throughout the field and it's probably best to look elsewhere with your money.