At least for one Sunday afternoon, Las Vegas won’t be about gambling.

Then again, we all know sports gamblers will still be betting on this race anyway. And since it’s still a free-for-all in these early stages of the 2009 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series, betting on these races and cashing in with an underdog should still be a breeze.

The 2009 NASCAR Sprint Cup Shelby 427 this Sunday is one of the most exciting stops on the NASCAR schedule since it’s just a few miles north of The Strip and the Las Vegas Motor Speedway sits like a diamond in the desert.

Fifty-one teams have filed entries for this year’s event, that’s the second-most entries ever for a Sprint Cup race at the Las Vegas Motor Spedway. The most entries happened during the 2007 season, when a whopping 53 entires were filed.

Every former Cup winner at Las Vegas entered, including 2002 race winner Sterling Marlin, who did not attempt to qualify last year. Six Sprint Cup Series champions also are in the field.

This race has a history of multiple winners, as Jimmie Johnson, Matt Kenseth and Jeff Burton have repeated as champions in Las Vegas. Johnson won three consecutive races (2005-07), while Kenseth (2003-04) and Burton (1999-2000) won back-to-back titles.

Last season, Carl Edwards snapped Johnson’s strangle-hold of this race as he recorded his 9th career Sprint Cup title. Starting in the second position, Edwards reclaimed the lead on lap 238 and held on to edge Dale Earnhardt Jr. by less than a second. Edwards led four times for a race-high 86 laps, while pole sitter Kyle Busch, who finished 11th, led three times for 56 laps.

Two-time Vegas winner Matt Kenseth placed 20th after leading four times for 70 laps. Edwards’ win total now stands at 16.

In 2007, Jimmie Johnson reclaimed the lead for the last time on lap 240 and held on to defeat Jeff Gordon by almost three seconds for his third straight win in Vegas. Johnson, who started 23rd on the grid, led four times for 89 laps, while Gordon, in the 36th starting spot, led for 111 laps. Pole sitter Kasey Kahne, who led for the first 13 laps, failed to finish the race due to an accident and placed 35th.

The Las Vegas Motor Speedway has the distinction of being the first completely new superspeedway to be built in the southwest region of the United States in more than 20 years. The superspeedway features a 1.5-mile track, a 2.5-mile FIA-approved road course, a 4,000-foot drag strip, paved and dirt short tracks, motocross circuits, stadium truck racing facilities, go-kart and Legends cars layouts as well as a junior drag racing strip. The track was originally built as the Las Vegas Jockey Club horse track. Only three motorsports events were held at the mile-long dirt track before it was modified to make way for the Las Vegas Hilton, an IndyCar championship race in 1954, a NASCAR event in 1955 and a USAC stock car race in 1959.

Since its inception in 1998, the Sprint Cup race at the Las Vegas Motor Speedway has been run at a length of 400.5 miles, which is 267 laps around the 1.5-mile oval. In order to accommodate the new event name, the race will be increased by 27 miles and will feature 285 laps.

Who will win the 2009 NASCAR Sprint Cup Shelby 427 this Sunday? SportsBetting.com has the odds.

Jeff Gordon 7-1

Dale Earnhardt Jr. 18-1

Jimmie Johnson 5-1

Matt Kenseth 7-1

Want more odds? Visit SportsBetting.com for more NASCAR betting odds. Want to watch NASCAR live? Get sporting events tickets online now.

NASCAR Shelby 427