Ambrose aiming for Watkins Glen trifecta
Autoracing Betting Lines
08/03/2010 -
Watkins Glen, NY (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Series: NASCAR Nationwide. Date: Saturday,
August 7. Race: Zippo 200. Site: Watkins Glen International. Track: 2.45-mile
road course. Start time: 2:00 p.m. (et). Laps: 82. Miles: 200.9. 2009 winner:
Marcos Ambrose. Television: ESPN. Radio: Motor Racing Network (MRN)/SIRIUS
NASCAR Radio.
The Nationwide Series will join Sprint Cup this weekend at Watkins Glen
International. This will be the second of three road course races for
Nationwide this year. Carl Edwards won the inaugural event at the Road America
road course in Wisconsin two months ago. Circuit Gilles Villeneuve in Montreal
is scheduled for August 29.
Marcos Ambrose will attempt to win his third consecutive Nationwide race at
Watkins Glen. If Ambrose does so, he will join Terry Labonte as those drivers
who have won three Nationwide events in a row here. Labonte won at The Glen
from 1994-96. He also scored the victory in the inaugural race here in 1991.
Ambrose, a Sprint Cup regular, has yet to compete in a Nationwide event this
year. He ran a full-schedule in that series from 2007-08 before he was
elevated to Cup full-time last year.
Ambrose competed in just two Nationwide races during the '09 season, with a
win at Watkins Glen and a second-place finish at Montreal.
"I've got a good base setup that I carry to all the road course races, and I
really know what I'm looking for," Ambrose said. "We don't have to muck around
with trial and error, and I pretty much engineer it from the seat, because I
have such a clear vision of what I need to do to get around these places well.
I guess I lacked that at some ovals and other places we go to."
Kyle Busch is perhaps Ambrose's biggest threat for a three-peat at Watkins
Glen. Busch has accumulated nine wins in his 17 Nationwide starts this year,
including victories at Iowa last Saturday and O'Reilly Raceway Park at
Indianapolis the week before. He is one win away from tying the series record
for most victories in a season with 10, a record he shares with Sam Ard.
One more win in either the Sprint Cup, Nationwide or Camping World Series will
give the 25-year-old Busch his 75th career victory in NASCAR.
"It's pretty big," Busch said. "It's a lot of them, but it's not quite where I
want to be. The big number is 200, so hopefully I can get there. We're 25 away
from cracking halfway there, and I might be able to get it here in the next
two years, so that would be pretty cool."
Richard Petty holds the all-time record with 200 wins in NASCAR's premier
series.
Busch has finished second to Ambrose in the last two Nationwide races at
Watkins Glen.
Last year, Ambrose passed Busch late in the race, with a maneuver Ambrose
called a "dive bomb," and one Busch referred to as "cheap-shotted."
Forty-two teams are on the preliminary entry list for the Zippo 200.
<< Rangers to be put to auction Wednesday
Seattle, WA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Texas Rangers will be formally put up for
auction Wednesday morning at 8:30 am (ct) in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Ft.
Worth.
There are three known bidders and the winner will then have to be approved
<< Stewart looking to master The Glen again
Watkins Glen, NY (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Series: NASCAR Sprint Cup. Date: Sunday,
August 8. Race: Heluva Good! Sour Cream Dips at The Glen. Site: Watkins Glen
International. Track: 2.45-mile road course. Start time: 1:00 p.m. (et). Laps:
90. Miles:
<< Heat visit Celtics in NBA opener, LA on Christmas
NEW YORK (AP) -The NBA will open its season with a battle of Big Threes, then offer up the new-look Miami Heat against Kobe Bryant and the defending champion Los Angeles Lakers on Christmas Day.The Heat will debut their All-Star trio of Dwyane Wade,
<< Panthers add depth at defense with Weaver signing
Sunrise, FL (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Florida Panthers agreed to terms with
defenseman Mike Weaver on a two-year contract Tuesday.
"Mike is a hard working, high character defenseman who averaged nearly 17
minutes of ice time per ga
<< This Week in Auto Racing August 6 - 8
Watkins Glen, NY (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - It will be an enjoyable weekend of road
course racing in both NASCAR and the IZOD IndyCar Series. The Sprint Cup and
Nationwide Series wind their way through Watkins Glen, NY. The Camping World
Truck S
Trucks make second trip to Nashville this season >>
Lebanon, TN (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Series: NASCAR Camping World Truck. Date:
Saturday, August 7. Race: Nashville 200. Site: Nashville Superspeedway. Track:
1.333-mile concrete surfaced oval. Start time: 9:00 p.m. (et). Laps: 150.
Miles: 200. 2009 w
IndyCar returns to U.S. with Mid-Ohio >>
Lexington, OH (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Series: IZOD IndyCar. Date: Sunday, August 8.
Race: Honda Indy 200 at Mid-Ohio. Site: Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course. Track:
2.258-mile, 13-turn road course. Start Time: 3:00 p.m. (et). Laps: 85. Miles:
191.25. 2009
Rockies activate Helton from DL >>
Denver, CO (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Colorado Rockies on Tuesday reinstated
first baseman Todd Helton from the 15-day disabled list and optioned infielder
Jonathan Herrera to Triple-A Colorado Springs.
Helton is batting .246 with a pai
Lions agree with top pick Suh >>
Allen Park, MI (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Detroit Lions have
reportedly agreed to terms with defensive tackle Ndamukong Suh, the second
overall pick in the 2010 NFL Draft.
MLive.com is reporting that it is a five-year d
Cardinals' Freese done for season >>
St. Louis, MO (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The St. Louis Cardinals learned Tuesday that
rookie third baseman David Freese will miss the remainder of the season due to
a tendon injury in his right ankle that will require surgery.
Freese was original
“You play to win the game!”
Those are the words of notoriously intense head coach Herman Edwards. Unfortunately, from a bettors’ perspective, most coaches don’t feel that way about the NFL preseason. August is a time to evaluate young players, finalize the depth chart and pray your star players stay healthy.
The trick to making money during the exhibition schedule is identifying coaches – like Edwards – who can’t stand losing even when there's nothing on the line.
The New York Jets betting won 15 of 21 preseason games and went 14-7 against the spread (ATS) during Edwards’s five-year tenure with the club. In his first season as the Kansas City Chiefs field boss, the team improved from 0-4 to 2-2.
Identifying win-a-holics like Edwards is a good start if you plan betting the preseason – even though most say you shouldn’t ... but what the hell do they know anyway?
Here’s a brief rundown of two teams that have a habit of winning during the second-stringers’ season, and another club that has a good chance of exceeding this year.
New York Giants betting lines
Playing in the media hub of North America can be stressful but the press can’t write anything negative about the way Tom Coughlin’s boys play in the preseason. The Giants won and covered all four games last summer, improving their record to 7-1 both straight up (SU) and against the spread over the last two years.
Coughlin has shown he’s not afraid to give his starters more time in the second preseason game than most of his colleagues, no doubt one of the reasons his team has been so dominant.
Dallas Cowboys betting lines
Bettors can count on America’s team early on. The Cowboys are 14-6 both SU and ATS since 2002 in warm-up contests. Former coach Bill Parcells, the coach of the team the last four years, has an intimidating, in-your-face presence – surely a reason Dallas has had so much early success.
The Big Tuna won’t be strolling the sidelines with looks of disgust, but new coach Wade Phillips will be anxious to make a good first impression for owner Jerry Jones.
Dallas plays the Indianapolis Colts and the Denver Broncos before things get serious. They then face the Houston Texans in their third contest (the game starters see most game time) and finish off with the Minnesota Vikings.
Expect a Dallas team able to walk away with another 3-1 preseason record.
Oakland Raiders betting lines
This team scored a league-worst 12 offensive touchdowns last season, so the rookies and veterans each have something to prove. There’s a bounty of first-unit jobs up for grabs and plenty of bodies competing for those slots.
First-time head coach Lane Kiffin will be eager to impress an owner who employs the philosophy, “Just win, baby!”
The 32-year-old Kiffin has to command respect from a locker room full of players older than him. All of these factors should lead to purpose in preseason.
Don’t forget: before playing like a team that belonged in NFL Europe, Oakland went 4-1 (both SU and ATS) in exhibition games.
To visit this online sportsbook got to MySportsbook.com for all your football wagering needs. Mysportsbook.com online sportsbook accepts Visa and Mastercard credit cards.
NFL owners, already life's biggest winners, want to try their luck with the lottery.
That was the news out of their meetings last week, where team bosses voted unanimously to allow stamping state and local lottery tickets with franchise logos, if, ahem, any governments wanted to do a deal.
A shocker: Within days the Pats announced they'd be sponsoring the Massachusetts state lottery, the Skins said they'd slap their sticker on Virginia scratch-offs and the Ravens admitted they were talking to Maryland lottery bosses. In all likelihood, it won't be long before every team is a presenting sponsor of scratch-offs or just plain old pick fives. "The change in policy was approved 32-0," said NFL spokesman Greg Aiello. "So you can expect to see more deals soon."
It's a branding opportunity too big for the owners to ignore, and one a couple of dozen baseball franchises have enjoyed for years. The fact the NFL has been slower to act than those slack-brained Seligites is indicative of its complicated relationship with all forms of gambling. Consider this: Last Thursday, as the Pats and the Redskins finalized their new lottery deals, a lawyer representing the NFL argued before Delaware's Supreme Court that the state's newly signed sports betting law should be repealed.
The NFL betting is the face of opposition to sports gambling . And as much as it would like to share that responsibility with other leagues, that's not going to happen as long as more than 40% of all money legally wagered on games is bet on football. That's why the Brewers can do a multi-million dollar deal with a local casino, or the Celtics can make their own pact with the Mass lottery, and the response is, "Sweet, let's play." But when the NFL does it the stakes are higher, and everyone from NPR's Frank Deford to the Associated Press to the guys blogging at Deadspin will line up to play gotcha.
So I asked Aiello, who surely knew there'd be piling on, how the league can rail against being bait for sports bettors, then allow its franchises to be just that for lotteries, the most insidious and addictive form of gambling around. He emailed me this response: "We are not moral crusaders. NFL personnel are permitted to engage in legal forms of gambling, except for betting on NFL games. We are making a distinction here between the spread of gambling on the outcome of our games and supporting state lottery scratch-off games, that have nothing to do with the outcome of our games."
Here's where I should rip him. But, the thing is, he's right. Not to get Obama on you, but this is a complicated, nuanced issue. As much as lotteries are considered a tax on the poor, the NFL isn't a socially obligated government program -- it's just a business. Scratch-off's help the bottom line, sports betting doesn't.
Now, it's okay to call the league hypocritical when it releases injury reports, which players have told me only helps bettors … But when it supports other forms of gaming? Big Deal.
Now, it's okay to call the league hypocritical when it releases injury reports, which players have told me only helps bettors. And it's okay to mutter something obscene when the league pretends gambling doesn't help drive TV ratings and fan interest and put money in owners' pockets. But when it supports other forms of gaming? Big Deal. The Bears should put an orange "C" on every deck of cards dealt at Harrah's in Joliet; the Eagles should slap their logo on roulette wheels at the Borgata in Atlantic City; the Dolphins should hold training camp at the El San Juan in Puerto Rico.
Seriously.
The NFL's problem, when it comes to the gambling world, isn't hypocrisy, it's worse: The bosses lack vision. That's why the league is picking unwinnable fights in Delaware and taking pot shots from critics after making smart sponsorship deals. Roger Goodell and his gang are acting and thinking locally rather than globally, which is rare for them, especially compared to their professional (and amateur) counterparts.
The NBA held its All Star game in Las Vegas and David Stern's kingdom didn't crumble (although the town did bring plenty of players to their knees.) I'd say it's 6 to 5 and pick 'em that Lebron will make a road swing through Sin City before his career is over.
Even the NCAA College Football Betting is more progressive on this issue than the NFL. Several years ago Rachel Newman Baker, college sports' gambling czar, opened a dialogue with Vegas bookmakers to learn about how they do business. She's visited Nevada sports books, studied their operations and listened to how they regulate action. Now she knows she can expect a call from bookmakers, who lose money when sports are fixed, if they think something sketchy is going on in NCAA games. She's not in favor of sports betting, but, as she once told me, "I know it's not going away, either."
The NFL can't seem to accept that. And until it can find peace with the idea, it'll get flack, even when it's right.
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