What is Tony Stewart going to do for an encore in 2012? After racing up the standings late last season and winning the Sprint Cup championship can Stewart provide a big payday on theNASCAR futures once again this year?

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Stewart wasn’t considered a top Sprint Cup contender when the Chase began last season, but with five trips to Victory Lane over the last 10 events of the year he grabbed the title.

Smoke began his run for the championship with a win in the first race of the Chase, the Geico 400 at Chicagoland Speedway. Stewart then made it back-to-back wins the following week at New Hampshire, and won consecutive races once again later in the Chase at Martinsville and Texas.

That put Stewart into position to win the championship at the final race of the year, the Ford 400 at Homestead-Miami Speedway, and he didn’t disappoint – he took the checkered flag after a battle with Carl Edwards and won the Sprint Cup on a tiebreaker.

Overall Stewart had just the five victories in 2011, but they all came during the Chase. As well, Stewart put up nine Top-5 results and 19 Top-10 finishes in 2011. Back in 2010, when Stewart ended up seventh in the standings, he won two races with nine Top-5 results and 17 Top-10 finishes.

That 2011 success, however, hasn’t translated to top odds for Stewart to win the 2012 Sprint Cup on the Bovada NASCAR futures – at last update he was at 7/1 to win the title this year, putting him behind Jimmie Johnson (5/1) and Edwards (6/1) on that list.

In the first event of the 2012 campaign on Saturday night Stewart finished second behind Busch at the Budweiser Shootout at Daytona International Speedway. He’ll be looking to end up one spot better when the season officially begins at the Daytona 500 on Sunday.

Find Sprint Cup Series betting odds - including all your Daytona 500 lines – today at Bovada.