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06/11/2010 - Brooklyn, MI (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Kurt Busch edged Jamie McMurray in Friday's qualifying to take the pole position for the Heluva Good! Sour Cream Dips 400 at Michigan International Speedway.
Qualifying was delayed briefly due to a shower that moved over two-mile track earlier in the day. The inclement weather halted the last final 15 minutes of Sprint Cup Series practice and canceled the final practice for the Camping World Truck Series, which runs at Michigan on Saturday.
Busch, a two-time race winner at Michigan, turned a lap of 189.984 m.p.h. for his second pole of the season and the 12th of his Sprint Cup Series career. He won here in June 2003 and August 2007.
"The car felt comfortable in that one lap, and we were just looking at weather and looking at tomorrow and thinking we needed to stay in race trim more today, and after that one [qualifying] run, I thought, let's just tweak a few things,' and with the rain and qualifying getting back under way, I saw McMurray running in 37 [seconds], and I said, oh, the track is fast," Busch said.
Juan Pablo Montoya was quickest in today's lone practice, followed by Jimmie Johnson and Busch.
"We freed up the car just a little bit to make sure we weren't on the tight side, and that paid perfect dividends for us," Busch added.
McMurray will start on the front row at Michigan for the first time in 15 races here after qualifying 0.04 seconds behind Busch.
Johnson, the four-time defending series champion, will start third, followed by Kasey Kahne and Jeff Burton.
"It was a great lap there, but I'm not really sure how I could have gotten much faster there," Johnson said. "This [car] was awesome today. I'm very excited for this race. We've had the last two get away from us on fuel, and I hope this doesn't become a fuel-mileage race, because we can handle well and race for it."
Both races at Michigan in 2009 came down to a fuel-mileage battle, with Mark Martin winning the June race and Brian Vickers taking the August event. Jimmie Johnson held the lead in the closing laps but ran out of fuel in each of those two races at Michigan.
Jeff Gordon qualified sixth, while Denny Hamlin, last weekend's winner at Pocono, took the seventh spot. Ryan Newman, David Reutimann and Juan Pablo Montoya completed the top-10.
Points leader Kevin Harvick will start 31st. Harvick currently holds a 19- point advantage over Kyle Busch, who will roll off 15th.
Dave Blaney, Michael Waltrip and Johnny Sauter failed to qualify.
Sunday's 400-mile race at Michigan is scheduled to start just after 1:00 p.m. (et).
<< Penguins' Orpik has successful surgery
Pittsburgh, PA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Pittsburgh Penguins defenseman Brooks
Orpik underwent successful sports hernia surgery Friday, the club announced.
The procedure was performed in Boston by Dr. David Berger.
General manager Ray Sh
<< Boise State joins Mountain West Conference
Colorado Springs, CO (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Mountain West Conference announced
Friday that Boise State has accepted an invitation to join the conference
beginning July 1, 2011.
Boise State moves on from the Western Athletic Conference a
<< Penguins' Orpik operated on for sports hernia
PITTSBURGH (AP) -Pittsburgh Penguins defenseman Brooks Orpik has undergone surgery to repair a sports hernia and will require a month to six weeks of rehabilitation.A sports hernia occurs when there is a weakening of the muscles or tendon in the low
<< AP source: Hawks set to hire Larry Drew as coach
ATLANTA (AP) -A person familiar with the situation says that the Atlanta Hawks are poised to hire Larry Drew as their next head coach.The person spoke to The Associated press on condition of anonymity because the team is still working out details of
Cowboys WR Austin signs tender >>
Arlington, TX (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Dallas Cowboys wide receiver Miles Austin
has reportedly signed his $3.168 million tender for next season.
The Dallas Morning News is reporting the signing of Austin, who set career
highs with 81 rec
Giants sign S Chad Jones >>
East Rutherford, NJ (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The New York Giants have signed
safety Chad Jones, their third round selection in the 2010 NFL Draft.
The 6-foot-3, 218-pound Jones played in 40 games over three seasons at LSU,
starting 19 t
Report: Hawks pick Drew as new head coach >>
Atlanta, GA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Atlanta Hawks have reportedly hired Larry
Drew to be the team's next head coach.
Drew, who has been Atlanta's lead assistant for the past six years, will take
the place of Mike Woodson, according to The
GB&I leads after first day of Curtis Cup >>
Manchester, MA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Great Britain & Ireland won two of the three
afternoon four-ball matches Friday to take a 3 1/2 - 2 1/2 lead over the
United States after the first day of the Curtis Cup.
After the teams halved a
Michael Vick is back, Brett Favre isn't and the NFC East remains the best division in the NFC, maybe in all of football.
As players start to gather for the start of another season, some things change and some stay the same in the world of the NFL.
The NFC East has been the dominant division in the National Conference for a while, despite limited playoff success, save for the New York Giants surprise Super Bowl win two seasons ago.
Hell, there's a generation of kids in Texas who have never seen the Cowboys win a playoff game (last win was in 1996).
But collectively, the Giants, Eagles, Cowboys and Redskins (well, maybe not so much the Redskins) are as good as a division gets in an NFC conference that has struggled to stay competitive with the AFC side.
Sports bettors have both acknowledged the NFC East's dominance, as one glance at the NFL future odds menu will show.
Looking over the NFL betting odds at online sports book MySportsbook.com we see the top three teams listed to win the NFC Championship are all from the NFC East:
Dallas Cowboys - 7 - 1
Philadelphia Eagles - 13 - 2
New York Giants - 9 - 2
Slotting in behind these three are two teams from the NFC North: the Minnesota Vikings (15-2) and the Chicago Bears (10-1).
Again, despite the lack of recent playoff success, the Dallas Cowboys are popular with the sports betting community, as they hold 14% of all the money wagered on who will win the NFC Championship.
So far, the New York Giants are the bettors' favorite to represent their conference in the Super Bowl, as they have 24% of the overall NFC Championship betting volume.
And what about the Philadelphia Eagles? For the most part, the Eagles had a very productive offseason, the kind that could bring them back to the top.
They had a good draft adding the likes of WR Jeremy Maclin and RB LeSean McCoy.
Unfortunately, the team received a blow when long-time defensive coordinator Jim Johnson passed away on Tuesday.
But this team will make a real run at the division title this year. Going into the regular season, Philly is listed at +240 to win the division.
Last season the Eagles were 9-6-1 SU and 10-6 ATS.
Teams from the NFC East will play teams from the AFC West in the regular season and the Eagles haven't really been a good bet in the last 20 games against the likes of San Diego, Oakland, K.C. and Denver, only going 8-12 ATS.
Two seasons removed from that Super Bowl title, the New York Giants see themselves listed as the odds-on favorite in NFC East championship futures at +162.
Plaxico Burress is gone and with him all the bad publicity surrounding the gun in the sweatpants incident, but can they replace him in the offense?
Last season the Giants were a very reliable bet going 12-4 ATS.
In the Giants' last 20 games against fellow teams from the NFC East; they are 13-7 ATS.
Dallas is listed at +240 to win the division.
Dallas went 9-7 SU and 7-9 ATS last season and with the amount of talent the Cowboys have, a similar performance won't do.
The Cowboys have been atrocious against divisional rivals, going 6-14 ATS in their last 20.
The Washington Redskins are longshots to win the division at +550.
Visit MySportsbook.com for free sportsbook odds RSS feeds go to MySportsbook.com for all your betting football needs.
MySportsbook.com: New College Football Clock Rules Examined
Coaches and bettors alike are desperate to make sense of the new time-keeping rules on the NCAA gridiron. One of the big stories to come out of the Ohio State-Texas clash last weekend was Texas coach Mack Brown's criticism of the NCAA's new clock rules that are intended to shorten the duration of college football games, therefore affecting college football betting.
"They scored with six minutes left and the game was over before we had a chance to do anything," Brown told ESPN.com. "I really hope whoever made these changes will go back and look them over."
Sure, it might be sour grapes; the Buckeyes thoroughly trounced the defending national champion Longhorns 24-7. However, Brown isn't alone in giving the changes their due thought. Bettors are also wondering about them, albeit for a completely different reason. Most experts agree that the changes will result in games being shortened by anywhere from 10 to 20 plays. The obvious consequence is lower scores, with more time rolling off the clock during changes of possession. (The Ohio State-Texas game flew well under the total of 52.)
According to research at the online sportsbook MySportsbook.com, more than 18 plays a game disappeared last weekend into thin air. That's a 10-percent reduction. In 2005, a typical game had 168.58 plays. For 2007 already, it's down to 150.26.
As a result, teams combined to gain an average of about 100 fewer yards a game last weekend versus the 2005 openers. Scoring was also down by about 4.5 points (attention Las Vegas sports lines).
Of course, oddsmakers were able to adjust to the changes before the season started. Proof of that came as the over went a balanced 8-9 at My Sportsbook on Saturday.
Other angles to consider:A shorter game should theoretically result in shorter lines. Whereas Team A might have been a 14-point favorite in a 168-play game (last year), if there are 10 percent less snaps in 2007, the line should also be reduced by 10 percent (to 13 or 12.5). Of course, this is an over-simplification of the matter, but something to keep in mind.
Less possessions means a better chance the game will be decided by three or seven points. For example, what might have been a 20-10 final score in 2005 may end at
17-10 in 2007. Granted, a 24-17 game last year might end at 21-17 these days, but the former - a three- or seven-point advantage being preserved as opposed to created - is the most likely scenario.
*UPDATE* - Sept. 25, 2007
New Clock Rules Boon for online bookmakers
By adjusting the time-keeping rules to shorten the duration of college football games, the NCAA hoped to make its product more enjoyable for the fans. While the NCAA's success in this regard is still up for debate, bookmakers couldn't be happier with the results.
"We are seeing a massive jump in college football betting," noted the MySportsbook.com management team. "With all the early Saturday games (12 a.m. ET) ending before the second wave begins (3:30 p.m. ET) - something that didn't always happen before the changes - bettors are now able to re-invest their winnings from the morning session in the afternoon games."
While not all bettors will choose to roll over their winnings, it doesn't take much for an impact to be seen on the bottom line. "Not all of the millions of dollars in morning payouts get re-bet. In fact, it's probably only 10 to 20 percent," noted the sportsbook management team. "Still, the increased football betting lines window will create a ton of growth for us over the course of the season."
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