This Week in Auto Racing March 5 - 7

Autoracing Betting Lines

03/02/2010 - Las Vegas, NV (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - NASCAR returns to the East Coast, as the Sprint Cup and Camping World Truck Series tackle one of the fastest tracks on the circuit.

NASCAR

Sprint Cup Series

Kobalt Tools 500 - Atlanta Motor Speedway - Hampton, GA

Since his disappointing 35th-place finish in the season-opening Daytona 500, Jimmie Johnson has soared to fifth in the points standings with consecutive victories at California and Las Vegas.

Johnson's win at California came with a little bit of luck. The four-time defending Sprint Cup Series champion benefited from a late-race caution when he pitted just before the yellow flag was displayed. He then held off a hard- charging Kevin Harvick in the closing laps.

Last Sunday, Johnson spoiled Jeff Gordon's dominate day at Las Vegas. Gordon led a track-record 219 laps, but he took two new tires only during his final pit stop. After putting on four tires, Johnson chased down his Hendrick Motorsports teammate and then made the winning pass with 17 laps to go.

It's early in the season, but Johnson's "drive for five" straight titles appears to be in full gear.

"We're excited," Johnson said. "It's early in the year, and it's a relief to know that we worked in the right areas over the off-season. Richmond [fall race] is a long way away from right now. We need to keep collecting points, winning races, make the Chase and then get to work for what we're really here for."

If Johnson wins this weekend at Atlanta, it will be his 50th career victory, which will place him in a tie with Ned Jarrett and 2010 NASCAR Hall of Fame inductee Junior Johnson for 10th on the series' all-time race winners list.

Johnson has three victories at Atlanta, including a season sweep at the fast 1.54-mile track in 2007.

Heading into Atlanta, Harvick holds a 47-point lead over his Richard Childress Racing teammate Clint Bowyer. The resurgence of RCR continued at Las Vegas, with Harvick, Bowyer and Jeff Gordon turning in impressive performances once again. All three drivers have finished no worse than 11th in the first three races.

Atlanta has been one Harvick's best tracks. Despite a 19th-place result in points last season, Harvick finished fourth at Atlanta one year ago and then followed up with a second-place run there last September.

"We are really looking forward to Atlanta based upon how we ran there last time," Harvick said. "It has become one of those tracks that has been really good for us in anything that we have been racing there over the past three or four years."

Harvick's first Cup victory came at Atlanta on March 11, 2001, just weeks after RCR named him as replacement driver for Dale Earnhardt following Earnhardt's fatal crash in the Daytona 500. Harvick edged Gordon by 0.006 seconds at Atlanta for his maiden win in just his third start.

"I don't remember really anything from that day," Harvick said. "There were just so many different emotions and things that ran through my head that it was just kind of more of a strange moment than it was anything."

Ryan Newman will celebrate a career milestone at Atlanta, as the Stewart-Haas Racing driver is expected to make his 300th career start in NASCAR's top division. Newman is tied with Buddy Baker for most poles at Atlanta with seven. He won six consecutive poles there from March 2003 to October 2005.

"Atlanta has always been a place where I like to qualify, and it would be an honor to get the all-time pole record there," Newman said.

Newman has struggled in the early season, finishing 34th (Daytona), 36th (California) and 18th (Las Vegas). He currently is 32nd in points.

Forty-six teams are on the preliminary entry list for the Kobalt Tools 500.

Camping World Truck Series

Atlanta 200 - Atlanta Motor Speedway - Hampton, GA

After a two-week break, the Camping World Truck Series returns to action at Atlanta.

The series kicked off their season on February 12 at Daytona, with Timothy Peters winning the 250-mile race in thrilling fashion. Todd Bodine held the lead on the final lap, but Peters shoved Bodine up the track to claim the top spot. He went on to score his second career victory in the series.

"It's a very cool feeling being the points leader of the series, but Atlanta changes the game," Peters said. "It's a privilege to be in this position, but we also know it's our job to stay up there the entire season."

Peters has finished no better than 15th in his first three starts at Atlanta.

Kyle Busch is the defending Atlanta race winner. Busch, who is in his first year as driver and owner of a truck team, has four wins at Atlanta. If he takes the checkered flag for Saturday's event, he will join Bodine as the only drivers to score five series victories at the same track. Bodine has five wins at Texas.

"It's a track I really like," Busch said. "It's fast and the truck races are always really good. Obviously, getting a win there would be really huge, because it would be the first for Kyle Busch Motorsports."

Busch and Kevin Harvick are the only Sprint Cup Series regulars on the entry list for the Atlanta truck race. Nationwide Series veteran Steve Wallace is entered as well. Wallace will make his truck debut, driving the No.15 Toyota for Billy Ballew Motorsports.

For the first time since in nearly six years, Geoff Bodine will compete in a truck race. Bodine will drive the No.95 Dodge for Danny Gill Racing. His last start came in July 2004 at Kentucky.

Bodine has spent the past several weeks at the Winter Olympics in Vancouver, overseeing the fortunes of his Bo-Dyn Bobsleds that carried the United States' four-man bobsled team to its first gold medal in the 62-year history of the event.

Thirty-nine teams are on the preliminary entry list for the Atlanta 200.

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College Football Betting Tips From a Pro

While the NFL is the sport wagered on the heaviest, college football betting lines has become more and more popular as people realize it’s a game that can be beat. The NCAA football season gets longer each year with the addition of numerous bowl games and with that comes more opportunities for more money in your pocket, if handled correctly.

Betting on college football is not the same as with the NFL, so make sure you separate the two. Because of the vast number of teams, the parity between college football programs is slight and thus, you are going to see some high numbers in the NCAA. Teams favored by more than 40 points are not uncommon especially early in the season when teams playing their non-conference schedules.

The best advice when trying to tackle these enormous spreads and is to just stay away. A team that is favored by 40 points is favored by that many for a reason while teams getting 40 points are bad enough that they shouldn’t be touched. Set yourself a spread limit. Getting rid of these games will cut down on the number of contests that you need to handicap while staying away from backdoor or front-door covers.

What is a backdoor and front-door cover you ask? A backdoor cover is a team that is getting beat by more than the spread, but scores late to get within that number thus covering the spread. A front-door cover is just the opposite where the favorite scores late and covers the number they are favored by.

These front-door and backdoor covers are common when second and third string players enter games in college football and it can be the worst nightmare for some bettors. These players can also be your best friend, but ask any bettor and he will give you more instances on losing in this situation than winning. It just seems to work out that way even though everything evens out in the end.

College football betting has some of the softest lines of any sport and it’s being able to find these lines that will make you a successful college football handicapper. The NFL and NBA have the tightest lines around and while those sports can be beat by looking at situations and systems, college football doesn’t quite work that way. It’s much more manual, but when done correctly, it’s much more gratifying as well.

Getting into the nuts and bolts of college football means looking at the many stats in order to beat the number. As opposed to pro football, college football is less dependent on situations and angles and more on certain statistics. Rushing offense and defense, pass efficiency offense and defense and turnover margins are huge. These are vital in the NFL, but even more so when it comes to college football.

Being able to run the ball in college football has always been a key factor in the overall success of a team. The same adage also goes for teams who have the ability to stop the run. Putting these two factors together can produce some positive results in a team’s record both straight up and against the spread. These numbers show huge differences in teams and the spread may not take those into effect, which is where the value comes into play.

Passing yardage numbers both for and against can be a misinterpreted statistic. However, pass efficiency has always been one of the best ways to look at a teams’ passing game ability both offensively and defensively. But is it really a true indication of how they perform? I wouldn’t say so since they are raw passing numbers with nothing else taken into consideration.

I use pass efficiency ratings when doing my handicapping but I adjust my numbers based on a number of factors including power ratings, strength of schedules, personnel and injuries. This gives a much better picture of a team’s ability to pass effectively and also being able to defend the pass. Tweaking pass efficiency stats instead of raw passing yards is the key.

Turnovers are the single most frustrating, and at times the most gratifying, aspect of a college football lines, mostly because they are so unpredictable. They are part of the game and most of the time nothing can be done to control them. However, turnovers are contagious and they can carry over from game to game and season to season.

It’s important to know how to forecast these unforeseen events and how to use them to your advantage. You can find ways to give yourself an edge by looking at past histories of teams and coaches and how they have fared in turnover wars in the past. Instead of turnovers hurting you at the wrong times, find ways to use them to your advantage.

As you can see, college football handicapping is very labor intensive and isn’t just based on where teams are ranked in the AP and coaches polls. Experience, coaching and match-ups are all important since unlike the NFL, college teams turn over much more often with new personnel at most positions every single year. Keeping current on this information is vital.

Betting NCAA football can be lucrative if done correctly, but more importantly, it’s just plain enjoyable because it can be beat. College football is one of the best sports to watch with some of the best rivalries taking place in all of sports. The only downfall is that a championship isn’t decided on the field but on a computer-based system that is the Bowl Championship Series. That will change someday and we will all be better off for it.

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