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08/05/2007 - Long Pond, PA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Kurt Busch led 175 of 200 laps while capturing Sunday's Pennsylvania 500 Nextel Cup race at the Pocono Raceway. The No.2 Penske Racing Dodge driver crossed the finish line 4.132 seconds ahead of Dale Earnhardt Jr.
The victory was Busch's first of the season and 16th of his Nextel Cup career.
"This car was fabulous, I think anyone could have driven this car to Victory Lane," said Busch. "I can't thank the team enough for giving me a car this good to drive."
Pole winner Earnhardt Jr. brought the 43-car field to the green flag for 200 laps around the 2.5-mile Pocono Raceway tri-oval. But early on the top of the track seemed to be working better than the bottom and Busch teamed up with Ryan Newman to sweep past "Junior" to lead the first lap.
Busch and Newman quickly built a working margin, but the drivers on the move were Jimmie Johnson and Jeff Gordon. Johnson, who had been struggling of late, cracked the top-five on lap 12 and Gordon was following him up the ladder. Also moving up were Kevin Harvick and Tony Stewart.
Slowly, Busch pulled away from his Penske Racing teammate Newman. The lead was 3.830 over Newman after 25 laps and 6.906 seconds ahead of Earnhardt Jr. He led until he pitted for tires and fuel on lap 33, but after all cars had cycled through he again took his place on top of the charts.
After the first stop, Busch ran away and hid, leading by 7.221 seconds through 40 laps. Busch began lapping slower cars as the gap neared 10 seconds. The amazing performance continued as the margin exceeded 12 seconds just 53 laps into the 200-lap event. But a caution flag (debris) erased all of Busch's work in just a blink of an eye.
The race restarted on lap 59 and Busch took off with Hamlin trying to stay with him. He couldn't do it and Busch began to rebuild the lead. Another caution flag and restart and still nobody had anything for the No.2 Miller Lite Dodge.
The race reached the halfway mark and Busch was still going strong, leading by 4.244 seconds over Hamlin and 8.049 seconds over Gordon. In the next 10 laps Gordon caught Hamlin and took over second place, but he was still a long way behind Busch. Ninety laps to go and the margin was 7.886 seconds.
Another round of green flag pit stops and no errors from either of the leaders kept Busch and Gordon one-two. Then Earnhardt Jr. spun to bring out a caution flag and give Gordon a shot from right behind the leader on the restart.
Gordon was no better than Hamlin as Busch got a great jump and immediately opened up a 10-length lead. Busch built the lead to more than three seconds as Gordon had to fight off Newman and Stewart to remain in second place.
Gordon couldn't keep the No.12 Dodge or the No.20 Chevrolet behind him and fell to fourth place on lap 134.
Then Greg Biffle spun and after the caution flag Busch came off pit road in ninth place. Reed Sorenson didn't stop and assumed the race lead, but Busch was also behind Earnhardt Jr., Casey Mears, Matt Kenseth, Newman, Hamlin and Gordon who all had fast cars.
The restart came with 58 laps remaining and Busch showed just how strong his Dodge was. In two laps Busch was in fourth place and ducking underneath Kenseth for third place. Another lap and Busch was in second place behind pole sitter Earnhardt Jr. The margin was 1.453 seconds, but not for long.
Busch cut the gap to under one second with 50 laps remaining and methodically closed on the fan favorite. He caught him on lap 153 and it was no contest as Busch flew around "Junior."
Busch's No.2 Dodge was still in a class by itself and by lap 165 the lead was 3.888 seconds over Earnhardt Jr. and eight seconds on Gordon, who was in third place.
Final pit stops began for some on lap 168, but Busch was still building his lead. When he came in on lap 172 he had more than 12 seconds in hand. This time the stop was solid and he remained the race leader as he exited pit lane.
David Ragan spun on lap 173. The final run would begin with Busch, Earnhardt Jr., Hamlin, Gordon and Stewart holding the top-five spots.
The green flag dropped, Busch took off and no one could stay with him. A multi-car crash with 20 laps to go only slowed the inevitable.
The race would restart with just 16 laps to go. Busch quickly built up a solid margin as he had done all day. Earnhardt Jr. tried to stay within striking distance, but he just couldn't make a dent in the Busch armor and the No.2 cruised to the win and his first trip to Victory Lane since March 2006 at Bristol (52 races).
"Kurt obviously had the best car today," said Earnhardt Jr.
Hamlin, Gordon and Johnson completed the top-five.
The next race is scheduled for Sunday, August 12th at Watkins Glen International.
<< Celtic draws Kilmarnock to open SPL season
Glasgow, Scotland (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Glasgow Celtic FC got off to a rough
start to the 2007-2008 Scottish Premier League season, drawing with
Kilmarnock, 0-0, in the first game of their title defense.
The champions dominated
<< Marlins hold off Astros
Miami, FL (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Cody Ross went 2-for-2 with a double and two runs
batted in as the Florida Marlins held on to defeat the Houston Astros, 6-5, in
the finale of a three-game series at Dolphin Stadium.
Ross came in to replace Migu
<< Lyon, Le Mans start season on winning note
Lyon, France (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Lyon, the defending French Ligue 1 champions,
got their title defense off to a good start, winning their first contest of
the 2007-2007 season 2-0 over Auxerre, Sunday.
Goals by Milan Baros and Karim Ben
<< Tigers' Casey injures elbow
Detroit, MI (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Detroit Tigers designated hitter Sean Casey
left the team's 3-1 loss to Chicago Sunday after being hit by a pitch in the
third inning.
The 33-year old Casey was plunked by Gavin Floyd on the left elbo
Any Given Saturday gets Sunday Haskell win >>
Oceanport, NJ (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Any Given Saturday, ridden by Garrett Gomez,
gave trainer Todd Pletcher his second consecutive victory in Sunday's $1
million Haskell Invitational at Monmouth Park. Last year Bluegrass Cat gave
Pletche
Kiefer among first-round winners in Montreal >>
Montreal, QC (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - German Nicolas Kiefer, Frenchman Arnaud
Clement and Czech Radek Stepanek were first-round winners of the $2,450,000
Rogers Masters Tournament.
Kiefer dropped his first set to Russian Dmitry Tursunov
Webb blanks Dodgers >>
Los Angeles, CA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Brandon Webb hurled his first shutout of
the season, extending his scoreless streak to 24 innings, as the red-hot
Arizona Diamondbacks finished off a three-game sweep of Los Angeles
with a
Weibring birdies final three for 3M Championship >>
Blaine, MN (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - D.A. Weibring birdied his final three holes on
Sunday to overtake Champions Tour money leader Jay Haas and win the 3M
Championship.
Weibring finished with a five-under 67 and finished at 18-under-par
While the NFL is the sport wagered on the heaviest, college football betting lines has become more and more popular as people realize it’s a game that can be beat. The NCAA football season gets longer each year with the addition of numerous bowl games and with that comes more opportunities for more money in your pocket, if handled correctly.
Betting on college football is not the same as with the NFL, so make sure you separate the two. Because of the vast number of teams, the parity between college football programs is slight and thus, you are going to see some high numbers in the NCAA. Teams favored by more than 40 points are not uncommon especially early in the season when teams playing their non-conference schedules.
The best advice when trying to tackle these enormous spreads and is to just stay away. A team that is favored by 40 points is favored by that many for a reason while teams getting 40 points are bad enough that they shouldn’t be touched. Set yourself a spread limit. Getting rid of these games will cut down on the number of contests that you need to handicap while staying away from backdoor or front-door covers.
What is a backdoor and front-door cover you ask? A backdoor cover is a team that is getting beat by more than the spread, but scores late to get within that number thus covering the spread. A front-door cover is just the opposite where the favorite scores late and covers the number they are favored by.
These front-door and backdoor covers are common when second and third string players enter games in college football and it can be the worst nightmare for some bettors. These players can also be your best friend, but ask any bettor and he will give you more instances on losing in this situation than winning. It just seems to work out that way even though everything evens out in the end.
College football betting has some of the softest lines of any sport and it’s being able to find these lines that will make you a successful college football handicapper. The NFL and NBA have the tightest lines around and while those sports can be beat by looking at situations and systems, college football doesn’t quite work that way. It’s much more manual, but when done correctly, it’s much more gratifying as well.
Getting into the nuts and bolts of college football means looking at the many stats in order to beat the number. As opposed to pro football, college football is less dependent on situations and angles and more on certain statistics. Rushing offense and defense, pass efficiency offense and defense and turnover margins are huge. These are vital in the NFL, but even more so when it comes to college football.
Being able to run the ball in college football has always been a key factor in the overall success of a team. The same adage also goes for teams who have the ability to stop the run. Putting these two factors together can produce some positive results in a team’s record both straight up and against the spread. These numbers show huge differences in teams and the spread may not take those into effect, which is where the value comes into play.
Passing yardage numbers both for and against can be a misinterpreted statistic. However, pass efficiency has always been one of the best ways to look at a teams’ passing game ability both offensively and defensively. But is it really a true indication of how they perform? I wouldn’t say so since they are raw passing numbers with nothing else taken into consideration.
I use pass efficiency ratings when doing my handicapping but I adjust my numbers based on a number of factors including power ratings, strength of schedules, personnel and injuries. This gives a much better picture of a team’s ability to pass effectively and also being able to defend the pass. Tweaking pass efficiency stats instead of raw passing yards is the key.
Turnovers are the single most frustrating, and at times the most gratifying, aspect of a college football lines, mostly because they are so unpredictable. They are part of the game and most of the time nothing can be done to control them. However, turnovers are contagious and they can carry over from game to game and season to season.
It’s important to know how to forecast these unforeseen events and how to use them to your advantage. You can find ways to give yourself an edge by looking at past histories of teams and coaches and how they have fared in turnover wars in the past. Instead of turnovers hurting you at the wrong times, find ways to use them to your advantage.
As you can see, college football handicapping is very labor intensive and isn’t just based on where teams are ranked in the AP and coaches polls. Experience, coaching and match-ups are all important since unlike the NFL, college teams turn over much more often with new personnel at most positions every single year. Keeping current on this information is vital.
Betting NCAA football can be lucrative if done correctly, but more importantly, it’s just plain enjoyable because it can be beat. College football is one of the best sports to watch with some of the best rivalries taking place in all of sports. The only downfall is that a championship isn’t decided on the field but on a computer-based system that is the Bowl Championship Series. That will change someday and we will all be better off for it.
To visit this online sportsbook got to MySportsbook.com for all your NCAA college football betting needs. Mysportsbook.com online sportsbook accepts Visa and Mastercard credit cards.
The most popular sports to bet on are NFL and college football along with NBA and NCAA basketball. There are multiple betting opportunities within those sports, beginning with the basic wager on a game’s outcome (also called betting the side). College Football Point spreads are used in both football and basketball in an attempt to even the attractiveness of each team in a match-up. ( See our article detailing how and why point spreads are made)
But you could also simply bet on the money line, or straight-up winner of the game. Oddsmakers use the money line so that more money must be risked on the favorite or expected winner and less money on the underdog to balance the action on both sides. While money line gambling is an attractive option for football and basketball bettors who only care about picking a winner, it is the primary option for those bettors who enjoy wagering on MLB baseball and individual sports like boxing, tennis, golf and racing events such as NASCAR. ( More details on playing the Money Line)
Another bet across all major team sports including football, basketball, baseball, and hockey involves wagering on the amount of scoring in a game, called an Over/Under total. For example, the Over/Under total on Super Bowl XXXIX was 48, which means a bettor could wager whether there would be more or less than 48 points scored by both teams combined in the game.
The final score of Super Bowl XXXIX was 24-21; the scoring of both teams added up to 45, which means the game went Under . So Under bettors won, and Over bettors lost.
Sports gambling doesn’t end there. Betting sides and totals are the most common wagers available everywhere, but many sportsbooks also offer future bets on big upcoming events like who will win next year’s Super Bowl and what movie will win Best Picture at the Academy Awards.
The main advantage of futures is that you can get appealing odds by betting far in advance. For example, with NFL futures you often can get much higher odds on a team by betting before the season even starts. A NFL future bet on a team to win the Super Bowl odds might be 20/1 in the preseason; but by midseason, their odds might decrease to 10/1 if they turn out to be legitimate championship contenders.
Involves one individual wager, whether it be on your team to cover the point spread, to win the game straight-up on the money line, or to go over/under the total.
To visit this online sportsbook got to MySportsbook.com for all your football betting needs.
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