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02/18/2012 - Daytona Beach, FL (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Martin Truex Jr. selected the pole position for the Budweiser Shootout during Friday night's random drawing at Daytona International Speedway.
Truex Jr., driver of the No.56 Toyota for Michael Waltrip Racing, was the 18th of 25 drivers to select his starting spot for Saturday's 75-lap preseason, non-points race at Daytona.
Kyle Busch picked the outside pole. Brad Keselowski will start third, followed by Jamie McMurray and David Ragan.
Kurt Busch, the defending race winner, Greg Biffle, Dale Earnhardt Jr., A.J. Allmendinger and Joey Logano will roll off sixth through 10th, respectively.
During the closing minutes of the first practice, scheduled late in the afternoon, a five-car crash occurred when Tony Stewart got into the rear of Kurt Busch and then turned him around coming out of turn three. Allmendinger, Keselowski and Kyle Busch were also caught up in the incident.
"I was pushing the 51 car [Kurt Busch], and he had to move a little bit, but I'm still the one pushing him, so I'm responsible for it," Stewart said.
Kurt Busch, making his debut in the No.51 Chevrolet for Phoenix Racing, will use a backup car.
"It was just a deal where Tony was trying to help, and we were just trying to learn the draft," he said. "A couple of slow cars were emerging in front of us, and I slid up to go around them, and I thought it was smooth, but I got turned around."
Allmendinger, Keselowski and Kyle Busch have also switched to their backup cars.
Stewart's No.14 team were hopeful to have his primary car repaired in time for the race.
Jeff Gordon managed to avoid the incident but did suffer minor damage to his car, which was quickly repaired.
Matt Kenseth led the way in the opening practice with a lap around the 2.5- mile superspeedway at 201.762 m.p.h.
The second and final practice, held in the evening, was curtailed due to rain. Just 12 drivers managed to turn a handful of laps in the opening minutes before the inclement weather forced NASCAR officials to halt action on the track.
Saturday's Budweiser Shootout is scheduled to start at 8:10 p.m. (et).
<< Jefferson, Jazz outlast Wizards
Salt Lake City, UT (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Al Jefferson scored 34 points with 12
rebounds and the Utah Jazz snapped a two-game losing streak with a 114-100 win
over the Washington Wizards on Friday night.
The Jazz also stopped a two-game sli
<< Nowitzki, Mavs pull away to beat Sixers
Philadelphia, PA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Dirk Nowitzki scored 28 points, including
24 in the second half as the Dallas Mavericks completed a comeback victory
over the Philadelphia 76ers, 82-75, at Wells Fargo Center on Friday.
Nowitzki's 24
<< Love leads Timberwolves over Rockets
Houston, TX (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Kevin Love had 33 points and 17 rebounds and
Nikola Pekovic scored a career-high 30, as the Timberwolves downed the
Rockets, 111-98, on Friday.
Ricky Rubio added 18 points and nine assists for the
<< Hornets beat Knicks; no last-minute luck for Lin
New York, NY (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Trevor Ariza scored 25 points, Marco Belinelli
had 17 and the New Orleans Hornets beat Jeremy Lin and the Knicks on Friday
night, 89-85, to snap New York's seven-game winning streak.
There wasn't any late-
Roddick upset in straight sets in San Jose >>
San Jose, CA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Second-seeded Andy Roddick lost to
Russia's Denis Istomin in the quarterfinals, 6-2, 6-4 on Friday at the
$531,000 SAP Open.
Roddick. a three-time San Jose titlist (2004-05, 2008), was the
Miyazato tops strong leaderboard in Thailand >>
Chonburi, Thailand (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Ai Miyazato fired a seven-under 65
Saturday to take a one-stroke lead after 54 holes of the Honda LPGA Thailand.
Miyazato, the 2010 winner, finished three rounds at 14-under-par 202. She will
go for her
Kruger owns slim lead at Avantha Masters >>
New Delhi, India (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Jbe' Kruger carded a six-under 66 in the
third round Saturday to grab a one-stroke lead after 54 holes of the Avantha
Masters.
Kruger finished three rounds at 11-under-par 205, but there are 18 players
wi
Flyers, Penguins clash in Philadelphia >>
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The latest edition of the Battle of Pennsylvania is on tap
today in Philadelphia, as the Flyers welcome the Pittsburgh Penguins for an
afternoon battle at Wells Fargo Center.
Today's contest marks the third of six schedule
My fellow Americans, as tempting as it may be to don the coat and HD-ready tie in order to deliver this State of the Game address before the cameras, I know better. As Brad Paisley sings on his latest album, "I'm so much cooler online."
The ideas for this annual essay to kick off the MySportsbook.com college football betting preview flowed like frat-house beer, which is to say they were cheap and spilled all over the floor. The 2007 season will be better than 2007, if only because there will be more of it. A year ago, the NCAA Football Rules Committee made two rule changes in the interest of speeding up the game. These changes went over like Kobe burgers at a vegan banquet.
To its credit, the rules committee rectified its mistakes. This season the clock once again will start when a kickoff is received, rather than when it is kicked, and the clock will not start so quickly on a change of possession.
However, kickoffs have been moved back five yards, to the 30, which will force more returns. (Thus forcing the clock to run. Clever, huh?) Special teams might decide a lot of games, because coaching strategy will come straight out of another new Paisley lyric (almost), I'd like to check you for kicks.
Paisley sings with a twang, which is why he's appropriate for this college football season. The sun coming up over the 2007 college football betting lines season rises from the south. It's a Southern football world. As the Southeastern Conference begins its 75th year, the power shift is noticeable.
Eight-figure budgets, glamorous settings -- and that's just for the head coaches. The SEC has four coaches who have won national championships -- the greatest aggregation of coaching know-how since Eddie Robinson dined alone.
Steve Spurrier, Phil Fulmer, Nick Saban and Urban Meyer have given lie to the idea that a conference championship game is too daunting a hurdle on the road to No. 1. In six of the past 10 seasons, the national champions played and won a conference championship game -- three of the six (Tennessee, 1998; LSU, 2003; Florida, 2007) from the SEC.
There will be more of the same this season, if the preseason prognostications are correct. Six SEC teams are in the preseason coaches' poll, more than from any other conference. Only one conference has talent so deep that a team with 15 returning starters, including the best quarterback in the league, from an eight-win season is considered an afterthought. That may speak more to Kentucky's losing legacy than to the wisdom of the predictions, but there you have it. And seriously, keep an eye on Wildcats QB Andre' Woodson.
The reach of the South extends all the way to No. 1. Take a look at the team that is a consensus pick to win the national championship. The quarterback is from Shreveport. The best wide receiver is from Nashville. The top recruit is from New Orleans.
So what's the campus doing in Los Angeles? Hey, it is the University of Southern California.
USC lost two Pacific-10 Conference games a year ago, the first time that had happened in five seasons, and university officials withstood the urge to form blue-ribbon panels to unearth the cause of such a disaster. Instead, the Trojans gathered themselves and routed Michigan, 32-18, in the Rose Bowl.
USC's losses at Oregon State and at UCLA last year should have given pause to those who question the Pac-10's football prowess (such as, without naming names, L.M. from Baton Rouge). The league only got deeper this season; Dennis Erickson is taking over an Arizona State team that never quite got out of its own way under his predecessor, Dirk Koetter.
Erickson will resume his quest to become the first coach to win a national championship at two schools. Both he and Spurrier, now in his third season at South Carolina, returned to college football at schools with lower profiles than where they won their titles.
That isn't the case for the third coach looking for the national championship double. You may have missed this, but NASA reported the astronauts on the space shuttle last spring made contact with what can only be described as beings from another galaxy.
The leader of the aliens said, "We come in peace," followed by, "So how do you think Nick Saban will do at Alabama?"
The public is reacting to the new Crimson Tide coach as if he is the Barry Bonds of college football -- beloved at home for what his fans believe he is going to do, hated on the road for his intimidating attitude and for what his detractors believe he did (bend NCAA recruiting rules). I made this comparison from the dais at a charity dinner in Mobile, Ala., last month, and the chill that washed over me didn't come from the air conditioning.
Saban will attempt to prove that he can remake in Tuscaloosa what he built in Baton Rouge, much like another member of the national championship fraternity. Bobby Bowden is attempting to remake at Florida State what he built at, um, Florida State. Bowden rebuilt his offensive staff, bringing in four new coaches led by Saban's former offensive coordinator, Jimbo Fisher, to jump-start an offense that has been dead for a couple of years.
The Atlantic Coast Conference is expected to show new signs of life, too. That is said with no disrespect toward last season's champion, Wake Forest, which provided one of the best story lines of 2007. The Demon Deacons begin this season in their customary position, overshadowed by the Virginia Techs, Miamis and Florida States.
It's not that Wake will find it difficult to duplicate its success in 2007 as much as the feeling that success engendered. Surprising success is the narcotic of sport. It never feels quite so euphoric the next time. Big East commissioner Mike Tranghese has figured this out. He refers to 2007, when a league looked down upon by fans and foes alike took three undefeated teams into November, as "Cinderella."
The fairy tale may be over, but the Big East has four genuine Heisman Trophy candidates in Louisville quarterback Brian Brohm, West Virginia tailback Steve Slaton and quarterback Pat White, and Rutgers tailback Ray Rice. Rutgers, as did Wake Forest and, of course, Boise State, proved last season that the have-nots in college football occasionally have quite a lot.
The Broncos' rousing 43-42 overtime victory over Oklahoma in the Fiesta Bowl has raised the profile of all schools in conferences that don't get automatic BCS bids. This season, TCU and Hawaii are the preseason favorites to burst through the BCS doors and earn an at-large bid. The Warriors return 14 starters from an 11-3 team, including quarterback Colt Brennan.
Brennan not only broke the single-season record with 58 touchdown passes in 2007, but he also led Division I-A in passing efficiency (186.0). The senior is expected to contend for the Heisman Trophy, and neither his success nor the rise of his team should come as any surprise in the 2007 season.
After all, Hawaii is the southernmost team in the country.
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