09/30/2008 - Philadelphia, PA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - It should be an exciting and wild weekend of racing as the Sprint Cup Series heads to the 2.66-mile, high-banked Talladega Superspeedway in Alabama for round four in the "Chase for the Sprint Cup." The Craftsman Truck Series will also be at Talladega.
NASCAR
Sprint Cup Series
Amp Energy 500 - Talladega Superspeedway - Talladega, AL
It's Talladega, the "wild-card," the "crap-shoot" race in the 10-race "Chase for the Sprint Cup" championship. For the fans, it's a 188-lap, 500-mile edge- of-your-seat thriller, but for drivers, especially those competing in the "Chase," it's find a good drafting partner and hold your breath and pray like heck you're not involved in "the big one," if it happens.
Talladega is famous for its restrictor-plate racing, which creates big packs of cars running two, three or even four-wide, just inches apart from each other and moving at speeds over 200 m.p.h. The track is also well-known for its numerous last-lap battles and some of the closest margins of victory in racing history. But most of all, Talladega has featured many spectacular crashes, involving as many as 30 drivers in a single incident.
Heading into Talladega, 30 points separate the top three drivers, with Jimmie Johnson at the top of the standings, Carl Edwards second and Greg Biffle third. But no lead is protected when it comes to Talladega. In the four years of the "Chase," only once has the points leader retained the top spot after Talladega. Despite a 27th-place finish in the 2006 UAW-Ford 500, Jeff Burton remained first in the standings, but his lead was cut to just six points. Burton ended the '06 season seventh in points.
Meanwhile, Johnson moved into the points lead after winning last Sunday at Kansas. He has an impressive track record at Talladega, where he has led at least one lap in each race there since April 2003. Johnson won at Talladega in May 2006 and has finished second in two of the last three races there. He finished 13th in the Aaron's 499 earlier this season.
Hendrick Motorsports has dominated Talladega the past several years, winning five of the last seven races there. Jeff Gordon is the defending race champion. Gordon, who started 34th, ran behind Johnson with two laps to go, but got drafting help from Tony Stewart to grab the lead from his teammate on the final lap en route to his fifth victory of the season and the 80th of his Sprint Cup career. He also scored a season-sweep at Talladega in 2007.
"Last year in this race, I hung back away from the big pack for much of the day and was still able to win," Gordon said. "While I hate that strategy, it worked in that instance."
Last year's fall race at Talladega marked the first time the Car of Tomorrow ran on a superspeedway.
Gordon is currently sixth in the "Chase" standings, 143 points behind Johnson. He holds the record for most restrictor-plate victories with 12, including six wins at Talladega. Gordon has been winless in the last 34 races, but Talladega could be the track where the four-time Cup champion ends his drought.
"A lot can happen points-wise in this race," Gordon said. "Hopefully, there are no big accidents, and if there are, we are able to avoid them. I feel this is a race we can win. We just need to be in a position at the end to challenge for the victory."
Dale Earnhardt, Jr., in his first year with Hendrick, has experienced his share of success at Talladega with five victories to his credit, all of them coming with Dale Earnhardt Inc. However, Earnhardt, Jr. has not won there in four years. In fact, he's scored just two top-10 finishes in the last seven races at Talladega. But "Junior" always looks forward to running there.
"I don't think everyone gets that sensation going into the race, but to me it's a pretty important place just 'cause my family's done so well there," Earnhardt, Jr. said. "And the way the fans treat us there make it exciting, make it a place you look forward to. I think that's probably the biggest key, the fans and how they've treated us at that track. It really gets you excited when it's coming up on the schedule."
Earnhardt, Jr. is eighth in points (-190). His late-father holds the record for most victories at Talladega with 10.
"I think as far as our position now in the 'Chase,' we just kind of got to go for broke, really throw it out there and take some chances, really take some risks," Earnhardt, Jr. said. "At Talladega, you can make some pretty ridiculous moves, and some of them pay off, some of them don't. We'll just have to see what kind of position we're in on any given lap to be able to try to take advantage of some things happening around us."
Since the start of the 2000 season, Chevrolet drivers have won 15 of 17 races at Talladega. Dale Jarrett and Kyle Busch were the only exceptions to Chevrolet's total reign there with Jarrett driving a Ford to victory lane in the October 2005 race and Busch picking up the win in a Toyota in this year's spring event.
Craftsman Truck Series
Mountain Dew 250 - Talladega Superspeedway - Talladega, AL
With only one point separating Ron Hornaday, Jr. from leader Johnny Benson in the championship standings, Saturday's Mountain Dew 250 at the Talladega Superspeedway should make things that more interesting in the Craftsman Truck Series.
Benson saw his 74-point lead disappear September 20 with a 27th-place finish at Las Vegas. He cut a right-front tire and slammed into the wall during the mid-stages of the race.
Hornaday, meanwhile, dealt with an ill-handling truck in the early going but rallied for a fifth-place finish.
Benson is hoping for the best at Talladega, but knows how unpredictable the track is.
"Talladega is your typical superspeedway where anything can happen and happens fast," Benson said. "We just have to keep out of the big wreck and be there at the end of the race."
One year ago, Hornaday came to Talladega in the middle of a very tight points battle with Mike Skinner. He finished seventh in last year's Mountain Dew 250 and captured the points lead in the process.
"Last year going into Talladega, I would say we were more on the conservative side," Hornaday said. "We were only three points behind Skinner, and we just needed to make it out of Talladega with a good, solid finish and not try too hard and let one little mistake cause us to lose points. We need to have the same mindset this year."
Todd Bodine is the defending race winner. Bodine nipped Rick Crawford at the finish line by .014 seconds - about a fender length - to score the victory.
Crawford, a native of Mobile, AL, has not won since August 2006 (54 races).
"Just being able to participate at a race track of (Talladegas) size and magnitude with that history means enough to me," Crawford said.
The Truck Series veteran is currently sixth in points (-246).
"The points will take care of themselves," he said. "I'm going to Talladega to win."
Joey Logano is expected to make his first career truck start at Talladega. Logano, the 18-year-old NASCAR phenom, will drive the No.59 Toyota for team owner Jim Harris. Logano made his first Nationwide start in May at Dover and his Sprint Cup debut in September at New Hampshire.
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In any football or basketball game (the main sports that use point spreads) there are two teams playing against each other.
Those teams, though, are rarely exactly evenly matched – meaning that typically one team has a better chance than the other to win the game. If bettors were allowed to bet on who was simply going to win the game, smart ones would obviously bet on the better team (likely winning more than 50% of the time in the process).
If winning were that easy the Las Vegas and online sportsbooks would stop taking any bets! This is where the point spread comes in: the basic function of the point spread is to balance the likelihood of each team “winning” by adjusting the final score by the point spread. After this adjustment is made you get the Against The Spread result (ATS result for short).
Let’s look at Super Bowl XXXIX, New England Patriots vs. Philadelphia Eagles. Most people believed the defending champ Patriots to be the better team – so if betting were simply based upon which team would win the game, an uneven majority of people would have wagered on New England. But, by using the point spread, the bookmakers adjusted the terms of the bet, evening the proposition so about half the people believed the Pats to be the smart bet, while the other half considered Philly to be the smart bet.
New England Patriots -7 vs. Philadelphia Eagles
The better team, called the Favorite, is expected to win the game and must “give” or “lay” points to the weaker team. The favorite is listed with a minus sign and the number of points they are favored by (e.g., New England -7)
In the case of our example, New England must not only win the game, but they must win by more than 7 points for Pats bettors to have a winning ATS result. An Eagles bettor wins his bet either if:
There was also the possibility that the final score could land exactly on the spread number (for example, the Pats winning 28-21 when -7), which is called a “push” or “no action” and a refund is then issued to bettors of both teams.
The same game with the same point spread can be considered from the weaker team’s perspective: The Underdog (Philly in the case of our example) is not expected to win the game and thus receives or “gets” points given by the stronger team. When a game is stated from the underdog’s perspective the team is listed with a plus sign and the number of points they are underdogs by:
Philadelphia Eagles +7 vs. New England Patriots
Keep in mind that Philadelphia +7 and New England -7 is the same point spread on the same game, simply stated differently. The first is from the underdog’s perspective; the later is from the favorite’s.
Not a must, but for some a mathematical approach is insightful. You can determine the ATS winner by either:
Let’s look at the actual result of Super Bowl XXXIX: New England 24 Philadelphia 21
The favorite, New England, won the game but not by more than the point spread they were favored by (7), so the ATS result was a LOSS for Pats bettors.
Looking at it from the underdog’s perspective, Philly did not win the game, but they lost by less than the point spread (7), so the ATS result was a WIN for Eagle bettors.
Mathematically considered, 24 for the favorite Pats minus 7 equals 17, which is less than the 20 the Eagles scored, so the underdog Eagles win the ATS result (or you could figure 20 plus 7 equals 27 for the Eagles, which is more than 24 for the Pats).
Emily’s boyfriend understood the point spread and wagered $100 on the Eagles at +7. The Eagles may not have gotten a Super Bowl ring, but since they won the ATS result Emily’s boyfriend cashed his bet – giving him money to take her out to a nice dinner.
And now hopefully you understand how to read point spreads, putting you one step closer to joining the fun of sports betting.
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LaDainian Tomlinson Favorite to be 2007 NFL MVP
With the first NFL preseason game less than two weeks away, it is time to start thinking about football once again at MySportsbook.com. Reigning NFL MVP LaDainian Tomlinson is currently the 5-1 co-favorite to win the award again alongside Super Bowl MVP Peyton Manning.
This shouldn’t be a surprise to anyone after his all out assault on the record books last season. For those suffering from amnesia or were under a rock last football season, all L.T. did last season was set the NFL record for rushing touchdowns (28), total touchdowns (31) and total points scored (186) to go along with his 1815 rushing yards and 508 receiving yards. At 6-1, Tom Brady is next in line which isn’t surprising considering all of the firepower the Pats added over the off-season. With the addition of Randy Moss, Donte Stallworth and Wes Welker; it would be quite difficult for Brady’s numbers not to improve from last years 3529 yards and 24 touchdowns. There appears to be some decent value in Drew Bees at 10-1 considering he probably would have won the award last year if it wasn’t for L.T.’s record breaking season.
There is no reason to think the Saints will come back to earth this season and playing in a weak NFC, they should have as good a shot as any to represent the NFC in the Super Bowl. At 15-1, Donovan McNabb could also be worth a look. Remember, many felt he was the MVP of the first half of the season before going down with a season ending injury. Reportedly, he is in great shape and well ahead of schedule to return to form. Also, he could have some added motivation to put up big numbers this season with the Eagles using their first pick in the draft on McNabb’s future successor Kevin Kolb.
Be sure to log on to MySportsbook.com to check out the complete odds for NFL MVP as well as all of the new football related futures. With the popularity of NFL futures, these betting lines will be sure to change as the money comes in; get the early sports lines now.
MySportsbook is considered one of the finest football sportsbooks according to several surveys performed by independent industry analysts considering such factors as payout accuracy and timeliness, overall quality of website, and bettor satisfaction.
MySportsbook is a large company with strong financial backing. Considered the best sportsbook for betting football online You will find their customer service is second to none and their web site is extremely user friendly and easy-to-use. All major professional sports games are available. Once you signup with MySportsbook, you may never use another online sportsbook again.
To visit this online sportsbook got to MySportsbook.com for all your football gambling needs. Mysportsbook.com online sportsbook accepts Visa and Mastercard credit cards.
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