This Week in Auto Racing May 2 - 7

Autoracing Betting Lines

05/05/2010 - Darlington, SC (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - NASCAR Sprint Cup and Nationwide Series teams spend this Mother's Day weekend at Darlington Raceway, while Formula One competes in Europe for the first time this season with the Spanish Grand Prix in Barcelona.

NASCAR

Sprint Cup Series

Showtime Southern 500 - Darlington Raceway - Darlington, SC

It's one of NASCAR's biggest traditions -- the Southern 500 at Darlington Raceway.

Nicknamed "The Lady in Black" and "The Track Too Tough To Tame" by NASCAR competitors and fans, Darlington held the sport's first-ever superspeedway race in 1950, with Johnny Mantz winning the inaugural Southern 500 from the 43rd starting position in a 75-car field.

The Southern 500 had been held at Darlington on Labor Day weekend annually for 54 years before the holiday event shifted to Auto Club Speedway in Fontana, CA in 2004. NASCAR moved the Southern 500 that year to November as part of the championship chase schedule. In 2005, the track's date switched to the night before Mother's Day, and has remained there since then.

This year, Showtime Networks becomes the title sponsor of the Southern 500.

Darlington is 1.366 miles in length and has a unique egg-shaped layout, making it one of stock car racing's most challenging tracks. Prior to it being repaved in time for the 2008 race, Darlington's rough, sandy surface made havoc for teams as far as tire management. The track's surface now is smooth and quite speedy.

"This track used to be so tough because the surface was so abrasive," said Jeff Gordon, who leads all active drivers with seven wins at Darlington. "You had to use a lot of finesse as a driver while dealing with the two very different ends of the track.

"Now it's smoother and has more grip, but it's still pretty treacherous, because you run right up next to the wall. It's still an awesome racetrack that is much faster now. And it can still bite you."

Every driver at one time or another has earned a "Darlington Stripe," a mark left on the car when it rubs against the track's outer wall.

"Darlington is the hardest place we race," Biffle said. "We run inches off the wall at speeds we run at mile and a half tracks. Any second it'll reach out and bite you, and that's why they call it 'The Lady in Black.' It is also very hard to pass there which obviously adds another challenge. We've been able to have some success there, including a couple of wins, so I always have high expectations when we go to Darlington."

Kyle Busch won the first race on Darlington's repaved surface two years ago. Busch overcame a pit road penalty for a missing lug nut to finish three seconds ahead of Carl Edwards for his third of eight Sprint Cup victories during the '08 season. Last year at Darlington, he finished 34th after cutting a tire and making contact with the wall late in the race.

"I won the first year there (in the Car of Tomorrow), and I think it was just because everyone was new to the car," Busch said. "Last year, a lot of people got a lot smarter, and we fell a little bit behind. You just have to be patient. You just have to bide your time, and I wasn't very good at that last year. You've got to make sure you keep working on your car."

Last Saturday, Busch snapped a 21-race winless streak in the series at Richmond. He started on the pole and led 221 of the first 229 laps before experiencing an ill-handling car. Busch rallied in the closing laps when he passed Jeff Gordon for the lead just after the final restart. He held it for his first win since last August at Bristol.

Gordon, who finished second, let another win slip away from him this season. He also lost the lead late in the races at Las Vegas, Martinsville, Phoenix and Texas earlier this year.

Mark Martin is the defending race winner at Darlington. Martin gambled on fuel late in the race and then held off several challenges from four-time defending series champion and Hendrick Motorsports teammate Jimmie Johnson for his first win at Darlington since 1993.

"It was cool to win there," Martin said. "It had been so long since we'd won the Southern 500 that most people didn't know I had won one. It is kind of cool."

Forty-six teams are on the preliminary entry list for the Showtime Southern 500.

Nationwide Series

Royal Purple 200 - Darlington Raceway - Darlington, SC

Brad Keselowski remained the points leader in the Nationwide Series after winning last Friday's race at Richmond. Earlier in the week, NASCAR docked a total of 50 points from Keselowski's lead after his car failed post-race inspection at Talladega, where he won his first race of the season

Keselowski enters this week's race at Darlington with a 59-point advantage over Kevin Harvick and 84 markers ahead of 2009 series champion Kyle Busch.

Penske Racing is making a strong statement in the early season as the team to beat in this year's Nationwide title race. Keselowski, in his first year with Penske, has won the last two races, while teammate Justin Allgaier recorded his first career victory in March at Bristol.

"These last two weeks have been pretty amazing," Keselowski said. "I knew when I made the move to Penske Racing last year that the potential was there for us to contend for wins and championships in the Nationwide Series, but I figured it would take a few more races for everyone to gel."

Allgaier is currently fourth in points (-180).

Keselowski will attempt to become the first driver in the series to win three consecutive races since Busch last did it in April 2008. Busch won at Texas, Phoenix and Mexico City before Tony Stewart ended his streak at Talladega. Keselowski has finished 11th, 15th and 36th in his first three races at Darlington.

Roush Fenway Racing has been the dominate team at Darlington, with team owner Jack Roush collecting 15 Nationwide wins there so far.

Mark Martin, Jeff Burton, Greg Biffle and Matt Kenseth have won for Roush at Darlington. Kenseth is the defending race winner.

"Darlington is a great race track, known for its history and unique layout," Kenseth said. "It's very fast and narrow, and the biggest challenge is getting around there as fast as possible without hitting the wall. Since they paved it a few years ago, it's a pretty difficult place to race. You need a really fast car, and you got to have the track position at the end of the race.

"We were fortunate enough to win last year's Nationwide Series race, and I'd like to get another good finish for this [team] Friday night in order to help them improve their position in the point standings."

For the second week in a row, Kenseth will drive the No.16 Ford in place of rookie Colin Braun, who has posted five DNFs already this season. Kenseth will have to qualify the car on time, since Roush's No.16 team is 31st in owner points.

Forty-six teams are on the preliminary entry list for the Royal Purple 200.

FORMULA ONE

Spanish Grand Prix - Circuit de Catalunya - Barcelona, Spain

With the first four races in 2010 -- Bahrain, Australia, Malaysia and China -- now in the history books, the "European season" on this year's Formula One calendar begins with this weekend's Spanish Grand Prix.

Teams are quite familiar with Circuit de Catalunya, since pre-season testing is held at the 2.892-mile (4.655 km) road course. The track, located just north of Barcelona, has hosted F1 races since 1991.

McLaren's Lewis Hamilton, Mark Webber from Red Bull and Mercedes GP's Nico Rosberg posted the quickest lap times during four days of testing at Barcelona in February.

Rosberg perhaps is on the cusp of winning his first career F1 grand prix. The 24-year-old German has moved up to second in the world championship standings after posting two straight podium finishes (third place at both Malaysia and China).

"It's a very nice feeling to be going into the European season with second place in the drivers' championship and with a significant upgrade for our car in Barcelona [this] weekend," Rosberg said. "Returning to Europe is when the season feels like it really gets underway, and we will be doing our best to continue our good run and podium finishes from the first four races. I'm looking forward to it."

Rosberg has been capturing more attention than his Mercedes teammate and seven-time F1 champion Michael Schumacher, who returned to the sport this season after a three-year retirement period.

Last November, Mercedes-Benz took control of Brawn GP after the team had a sensational maiden season in F1, with Jenson Button winning the drivers' championship and Brawn capturing the constructors' title.

Button, in his first season with McLaren, claimed the points lead after winning last month's Chinese GP -- his second victory of the season. He has accumulated 60 points so far, compared to 50 for Rosberg. Button is the defending winner of the Spanish GP.

"I'm looking forward to returning to Europe," Button said. "It's been an incredibly exciting series of flyaway races, but I think everybody in Formula One looks forward to racing closer to home, back in the sport's heartland."

In last year's Spanish GP, Button's team opted for a two-stop pit strategy compared to three for all other teams. Button started on the pole, but his then Brawn teammate Rubens Barrichello quickly passed him for the lead heading into the first turn on the opening lap. Barrichello's three-stop strategy backfired, allowing Button to capture the lead for good on lap 55 of the 66- lap event.

The last nine Spanish GPs have been won from the pole position. Will someone make it ten in a row on Sunday?

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Numerous College Basketball teams take final big step to March Madness betting

So, what turned on the lock spigot? Well, after what felt like weeks of teams treading water and slipping back into the bubble muck, a bunch of them finally decided to say "to heck with parity" and won games that should put them into the Big Dance.

Disagree with some of these? Then here's the challenge. Take all of the "should be ins" and make a legit case that each should be ahead of the team that's a lock. Then find 10 more teams that also should be placed in the bracket ahead of that lock team. Not so easy, is it?

If you want more evidence that these locks should be good to go, check out what our research department dug up. Since the NCAA Tournament went to 64 teams in 1985, only six teams from a "big six" conference have had a record of 10-6 or better in conference play and not been selected: Colorado (2004) and Nebraska (1999) from the Big 12, Boston College and Seton Hall (both 2003) from the Big East, Indiana (2005) from the Big Ten and UCLA, which somehow went 12-6 in the Pac-10 in 1988 and still missed out. (Note: Five teams went 11-7 and didn't get in, the latest being last season's Stanford team, which had a brutal nonconference run.)

Yes, 10 conference wins doesn't always mean what it used to because of unbalanced schedules, but this season, it should be plenty good in all but the extreme cases (see: Iowa).

In a way, this is a welcome development, because this is a bubble watch, not a lock watch. We can finally be done with teams like Maryland and Virginia Tech and start really bearing down on at-large battles such as Syracuse-West Virginia and Appalachian State-Georgia Tech.

Interestingly, all the shifting of teams into lock status appears to be more administrative than impactful. The number of remaining available at-larges didn't change one iota. The only difference is that teams on the bubble now have a clearer idea of which team(s) they are competing with for those precious bids.

The Bubble Breakdown
CONFERENCE LOCKS SHOULD BE INS AT-LARGES TAKEN
(assuming no auto bid outlier)
ACC Betting Odds 6 0 5
Big East Betting Odds 5 0 4
Big Ten Betting Odds 2 2 3
Big 12 Betting Odds 3 0 2
Pac-10 Betting Odds 5 1 5
SEC Betting Odds 4 0 3
MVC Betting Odds 1 1 1
MWC Betting Odds 2 1 2
TOTAL 28 5 25

As always, I've tried to be as inclusive as possible while only including teams that would have a reasonable chance of at least being discussed if this were Selection Sunday. If your team's not on here, there's probably a good reason (or three) -- start with the RPI and SOS numbers and work your way down.

(Please remember, per selection committee criteria, that records displayed are Division I only. Next update: Feb. 28)

If you have a legitimate grievance, or just like talking bubble, send an e-mail. Polite ones with fact-based arguments have a much better chance of receiving a response. I apologize in advance if I can't get back to all of you.

Atlantic Coast Conference

Work left to do: Clemson, Florida State, Georgia Tech

The ACC moves to six locks as BC, Va Tech and Virginia all got their 10th ACC wins, which should be more than enough this season, and Maryland rallied past North Carolina to get the final piece the Terps needed. After that? It could end there unless FSU, Ga Tech or Clemson picks things up in a hurry.

 

Work left to do:

Clemson [19-9 (5-9), RPI: 41, SOS: 42] The Tigers are closer to locking up the collapse of the year award (in a good battle with OK State) than they are to grabbing an at-large. Clemson's been very competitive, but there's no really positive way you can spin nine losses in 11 games. They now cannot get to .500 in ACC play and still must head to Virginia Tech in the season finale (after hosting Miami). Unless the Tigers win both and/or do some serious work in the ACC tourney, they very well could be left out. There are no great nonconference wins, but ODU, App State, Miss. State, South Carolina and Georgia are all respectable W's.

Florida State [18-11 (6-9), RPI: 48, SOS: 14] The Noles got thrashed at Maryland to run their losing streak to five, but then pounded NC State at home to set the table for what likely is an elimination game at Miami. You can at least make a case for the Seminoles at 7-9 in ACC play (and some work in the ACC tourney), but 6-10 is not going to cut it. Wins at Duke and over Florida will resonate, but the computer numbers remain questionable. Beyond Florida, FSU thrashed bubble buddy Providence, but there's not a ton beyond those two games that will help. They didn't show well in big-time opportunities against Pitt and Wisconsin (before the Florida win).

Georgia Tech [18-10 (6-8), RPI: 51, SOS: 46] The Jackets beat Wake on Wednesday but couldn't get it done at UVa on Saturday, which could be a crucial loss with UNC and BC (both at home) remaining and 8-8 almost a certain need for at-large consideration. A nonconference win over Memphis helps, but the RPI and SOS are not at-large quality right now; if you combine those with a sub-.500 ACC mark, that could spell NIT for GT.

For more College Basketball betting lines go to MySportsbook.com

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Mens NCAA Basketball Tournament odds  
As of February 9, MySportsbook.com has released its coveted 2007 Mens NCAA Basketball Tournament betting odds. “March Madness betting ” only a month away, the top ranked Florida Gators are favorite at 7-2 to win it all. The defending champs have not disappointed at all this season and currently have a 22-2 record and are undefeated (9-0) in SEC play. The Gators’ thrive off of their extremely balanced, experienced and versatile attack. All five starters started in last seasons National Championship game. What is most impressive with this group is their balance; the five starters all average between 10.7 and 13.6 PPG. The Gators have been on an absolute roll having won 15 straight by an average of 16.4 PPG.

Right behind the Gators are the 5th ranked UNC Tar Heels at 9-2. The Heels (21-3, 7-2) are absolutely loaded with top notch talent and are as deep as any team in the country. A concern for the Tar Heels might be inexperience. Of their top four scorers/ minute earners, three are freshmen and the other is a sophomore. The rest of the regular season, the Tar Heels play only one team that is currently ranked (Duke). Their remaining opponents do combine for an impressive 107-58 record though.

Other teams that the MySportsbook.com members seem to believe will win it all include the west coasts’ top team #2 UCLA (6-1), #3 OSU behind man-child Greg Oden (8-1), and #4 Wisconsin (10-1) behind their defense which has given up 70+ points only three times all season.

Below is a list of some of the favorites to win the 2007 Men’s NCAA Basketball Championship lines. For the full list of teams and March Madness odds be sure to log onto MySportsbook.com. If you want to use your credit card to bet on college hoops or any other event, MySportsbook.com has the highest credit card acceptance rate in the industry.

Arizona 20-1

Butler 20-1

Duke 30-1

Florida 7-2

Georgetown 30-1

Indiana 35-1

Kansas 15-1

Marquette 25-1

Maryland 40-1

Memphis 50-1

Nevada 50-1

UNC 9-2

OSU 8-1

Oregon 30-1

Pittsburgh 15-1

Texas 30-1

Texas A&M 18-1

UCLA 6-1

Wisconsin 10-1

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