Kyle Busch and Carl Edwards had better be on their best behavior as they are now on six races probation by NASCAR officials for a post-race incident involving the two drivers and it all starts this week at California Speedway for the penultimate race before the Chase begins as Edwards will look for a season sweep at Fontana this Sunday, at 7 p.m. for the Pepsi 500.

Last time NASCAR raced at California Speedway it took more than 24 hours to complete the race and Busch moved into the Sprint Cup points lead by virtue of a pair of fourth-place finishes. Edwards comes to California arguably the hottest driver on the Sprint Cup, winning three of the last four races. The question is can Edwards repeat the success he had at California in February?

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Who will win the Pepsi 500?

Concrete Carl certainly earned his moniker as he won on concrete for the ninth time in his career at Bristol. Edwards was unable to make up significant ground in the points since Busch finished the Sharpie 500 in second place. It would have been beneficial for Edwards if Hamlin had held off Busch for third so he could shave the gap by more than 10 points. But it's certainly better than losing. And with his sixth win of the season Edwards gets 10 more bonus points, which means if the Chase for the Sprint Cup were to start today (it starts in two races) then Edwards would be a scant 30 bonus points behind Busch.

In his last two races Edwards has coincidently led both races exactly 84 laps. In fact it was mentioned during the Sharpie 500 in which Kyle Busch led for a whopping 415 laps that the driver who has led the most laps at Bristol never wins the race. And that is exactly what happened. Despite his controversial pass of Bush thirty laps from the finish Edwards utilized the bump-n-run well and raced cleanly. Busch, for his part, got in a retaliation nudge a few laps later but it wasn't enough to get him past the No. 99 car. During the cool-down lap Busch let the anger get the better of him and purposely bumped in Edwards and the checkered flag! This action got both drivers put on probation for the next six races.

Certainly Edwards must be feeling confident now going into California. He ran a great race at Bristol (despite what Kyle thinks) and having already won in California this year is in good position to win his fourth race in five weeks. And looking at the field it is hard to see anyone other than Busch beating him on Sunday night.

This is in direct contradiction to what I felt last week, but perhaps I'm starting to believe now. Last week I didn't believe that either Kyle Busch or Edwards would win and now it is hard for me not to see one of them winning the next 12 races. Of course the other drivers aren't exactly going to give the races to Busch or Edwards, but watching the races it barely seems like anyone else actually wants to win them. Busch and Edwards have combined to win 14 races this year.

Pick! Carl Edwards, No. 99, (7/2)

Solid Gold Picks

Sportsbook.com has listed many matchups on the Pepsi 500 this weekend. Bristol was like rolling a drunk and I cashed three units backing Clint Bowyer at -1.15. Truex, Jr., had troubles all day starting at lap 97 when he was battling for 15th place with AJ Allmendinger and blew a front tire. Four laps were the closest he got to the lead lap. Bowyer did his best to provide a scare when he got involved with the 10-car wreck at lap 217 but managed to scrape out a top-10 finish and cash our biggest play of the season. Now my record Over-the-Wall stands at 13-13 and +2.30 units on the season after 24 of 36 Sprint Cup races completed.

Long Odds Pick

This week is going to be another Rousch Fenway Racing weekend as they have been doing well on the 2-mile. Two weeks ago they raced at Michigan, a similar style course although Michigan is an oval and California Speedway is a tri-oval. However, RFR was dynamite at Michigan's two weeks ago as they finished four drivers in the top-five; Edwards first, Ragan third, Biffle fourth and Kenseth fifth. All of RFR's drivers finished in the top-10 as McMurray notched a 10th place in the race. If you are looking for a long odds pick look no further than RFR and the No. 6 car.

Pick! David Ragan 30/1

Square Tire Pick

Matt Kenseth, No. 17, (+1.20) vs. Jimmy Johnson, No. 48, (-1.50)

There are several matchups this week that I really like. Sometimes I like picking matchups that involve drivers on the same team. I think, depending upon the track, that this is a counter-productive. As I have shown in the past few weeks certain teams are better than others at certain tracks. While generally I'd be all over Hendrick Motorsports, and indeed Junior did win at Michigan, another two-mile track, RFR has too much momentum at this point in the season. They really seem to have figured out the CoT and that has translated into wins. This week our pick is once again a pick that backs the team rather than the driver.

Pick! Matt Kenseth, No. 17, (+1.20) for one unit

Pepsi 500 Odds*
Sun, Aug 31st (7:00pm EST)
Auto Club Speedway, Fontana, CA

A.J. Allmendinger 100/1
Bobby Labonte 100/1
Brian Vickers 25/1
Carl Edwards 7/2
Casey Mears 100/1
Clint Bowyer 50/1
Dale Earnhardt Jr. 12/1
Dave Blaney 100/1
David Gilliland 100/1
David Ragan 30/1
David Reutimann 100/1
Denny Hamlin 17/1
Elliott Sadler 50/1
Greg Biffle 25/2
Jamie McMurray 100/1
Jeff Burton 35/1
Jeff Gordon 14/1
Jimmie Johnson 5/1
Juan Pablo Montoya 100/1
Kasey Kahne 15/1
Kevin Harvick 30/1
Kurt Busch 50/1
Kyle Busch 4/1
Mark Martin 30/1
Martin Truex Jr. 45/1
Matt Kenseth 9/1
Michael Waltrip 100/1
Paul Menard 100/1
Reed Sorenson 100/1
Ryan Newman 60/1
Sam Hornish Jr. 100/1
Tony Stewart 11/1
Travis Kvapil 100/1
Field (Any Other Driver) 75/1

*odds courtesy of Bodog