11/14/2008 - Homestead, FL (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - David Reutimann recorded his first career pole in the Sprint Cup Series by taking the top starting spot in Friday's qualifying for the Ford 400 at the Homestead-Miami Speedway. Reutimann, the driver of the No.44 Toyota for Michael Waltrip Racing and a native of Zephyrhills, FL, rounded the 1.5-mile oval in 31.462 seconds (171.636 m.p.h.).
Reutimann's first pole came in his 63rd start. He becomes the fourth first- time pole winner in the series this year, joining Travis Kvapil (Talladega), Paul Menard (Daytona) and Patrick Carpentier (New Hampshire).
"I think we sat on the outside pole at Bristol and came close a couple of other times," Reutimann said. "It feels really good to see the 44 up there, and it shows all of the guys at the shop and on the team that they've been working hard all year long and doing a great job."
Scott Speed, in just his fifth Sprint Cup start, secured the outside pole with a time of 31.494 seconds. Speed and Red Bull Racing teammate Brian Vickers switched rides for this weekend, with Speed moving over to the No.83 Toyota, and Vickers taking the wheel of the No.84 car. Vickers will start 20th.
Roush Fenway Racing teammates Matt Kenseth (31.500) and Carl Edwards (31.502) will start on the second row.
Edwards, currently 141 points behind Jimmie Johnson, will start the season- finale 26 positions ahead of the championship leader.
"That was a good lap for us," Edwards said. "We're not the strongest qualifier, so a lap like that was impressive."
If Johnson finishes 36th or better at Homestead, regardless of Edwards' performance, he will join Cale Yarborough as the only drivers to win three consecutive Cup championships. Yarborough captured his titles from 1976-78.
"The lap was okay, and I felt good about the lap," Johnson said. "Unfortunately, coming to the green flag, I lost a bunch of time and I didn't take the green flag with the speed I needed into those long straightaways. I think I lost most of my time there."
Johnson will start 30th.
Kevin Harvick and David Ragan will make up row three.
Jamie McMurray, Kyle Busch, Reed Sorenson, and Martin Truex, Jr. will start seven through 10th, respectively.
Other notable drivers and their starting positions include: Tony Stewart (13th), Dale Earnhardt, Jr. (22nd), Ryan Newman (29th), and Jeff Gordon (37th).
Ken Schrader, Max Papis and Sam Hornish, Jr. did not qualify.
Homestead will mark the end of Stewart's 10-year run with Joe Gibbs Racing as the two-time Cup champion leaves the No.20 Toyota to drive for his own team - Stewart Haas Racing - in 2009.
Newman, the 2008 Daytona 500 winner, will make his final start in the No.12 Dodge as he departs Penske Racing at the end of the season to join Stewart's new team.
Homestead is also one last chance for several drivers to end their season with at least one victory. Most notably is Gordon, who has won a race in 14 consecutive years. However, Gordon has not scored a victory since October 2007 at Charlotte. He has yet to win a Cup race at Homestead, but did take the checkered flag for a Nationwide event there in 2000.
Kenseth and Harvick are also winless this year. Kenseth has won at least one race in the previous six seasons, while Harvick has recorded a victory in the last three years.
The green flag is scheduled to drop Sunday around 3:45 p.m. (et).
<< Isles D Pock suspended
Toronto, ON (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The National Hockey League has suspended New
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Pock wa
<< Bears' Orton probable, could start Sunday
Lake Forest, IL (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Chicago Bears quarterback Kyle Orton is
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Orton, who missed last Sunday's game against Tenn
<< NAC rolls over Heracles to move into first
Breda, Netherlands (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Ellery Cairo, Edwin De Graaf and Patrick
Zwaanswijk scored as NAC defeated Heracles 3-0 on Friday at Rat Verlegh Stadion
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NAC entered this week's matches
<< Hannover settles for draw against Bochum
Hannover, Germany (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Jan Schlaudraff scored his fifth goal but
Hannover handed Bochum a 1-1 draw on an own goal on Friday at AWD-Arena.
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Cowboys RB Jones out for Sunday >>
Irving, TX (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Dallas Cowboys will get quarterback Tony
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Jones has not
NCAA announces women's Final Four sites from 2012-2016 >>
Indianapolis, IN (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The NCAA announced Friday the women's
basketball Final Four sites for the years 2012 through 2016, a list that
includes Denver and Nashville.
Denver will host the women's Final Four in 2012,
Bush a no-go against Chiefs >>
Metairie, LA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - New Orleans Saints running back Reggie Bush
will not dress for Sunday's game against the Kansas City Chiefs.
Bush, three-plus weeks removed from arthroscopic knee surgery, took limited
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Stanford leads Ochoa's tournament by two >>
Guadalajara, Mexico (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Angela Stanford continued her recent
hot streak with a six-under 66 on Friday that gave her the second-round lead
at the Lorena Ochoa Invitational.
Stanford, on the heels of four consecutive top-fi
Rule No. 1 in the gamblers' handbook states, "Avoid sports betting on meaningless games."
When you're drowning in a sea of baseball monotony, however, things change. Even a hint of pro football betting can persuade the most disciplined bettor to break a few rules.
The NFL preseason is around the corner, with a tempting Hall of Fame match kicking off on Sunday. But bettors must stay vigilant. Wagering on NFL exhibition games is an entirely different beast than the regular season. Most fans don't recognize the players on the field because starters get as much action in August as Warcraft fans get on Prom night.
The only certainty about the NFL this time of year is uncertainty – and yet there are some who say betting in August can be a gold mine.
“I actually feel the NFL preseason presents solid profit opportunities for sharp bettors and handicappers,” Sports Expert Steve Merril explains. “My experience has been that the sportsbooks fear the preseason, which is evident by lower limits and massive moves.”
The line moves are attributed to the limited knowledge available regarding playing-time distribution. One team’s top unit out on the field for one more series has an impact on the pointspread. Setting lines in the preseason often is a shot in the dark.
“We base the betting lines mostly on public perception,” Pete Korner, founder of the Sports Club in Las Vegas, says. “It’s very tough to predict, almost a guessing game.”
The preseason is all about figuring out who’s in and for how long.
“It becomes a race between bettors and oddsmakers to find out how long the quarterbacks are going to stay in,” Korner admits. “If a sharp gets the information first, he could exploit an early line. I’m a full believer in moving the line in the preseason if the books find out something late in the week.”
Determining what each team’s motive is can help bettors handicap. To do this you must pay close attention to the philosophies head coaches employ in exhibition play.
“You need to know what a coach is trying to accomplish,” says Covers Expert Bryan Leonard. “Sometimes a new coach will want to instill a winning attitude. Others just want to make sure their starters don’t get hurt."
So how do you distinguish who’s playing scared and who’s playing for keeps?
“Head coaches on the hot seat or new coaches trying to implement a winning attitude usually try harder to win in the preseason,” Merril says.
Cleveland Browns head coach Romeo Crennel fits this criteria. He’s entering his third season as the sideline boss and has yet to lead the Browns to more than six wins.
Cleveland is an enticing bet as well because of the unresolved quarterback situation. General manager Phil Savage sacrificed the Browns’ first-round pick in next year’s draft for Brady Quinn, but the former Notre Dame quarterback hasn’t signed or reported to training camp yet.
Charlie Frye and Derek Anderson split time at QB last season and it looks like either player (or even Quinn) could be the opening-day starter.
“If a team has quarterback depth and the pecking order hasn’t been decided, it’s a big advantage,” Leonard says.
Even in the third week of the preseason when starters generally play the most, the final outcome of the game is in the hands of fringe players. A team's talent, all the way down to the last man on the roster, is something to consider.
The New England Patriots have long been considered one of the deeper teams in the NFL and coach Bill Belichick has said in the past he’s unafraid of stars getting hurt in games with nothing on the line. He shocked his colleagues in 2003 by playing some of his starters on special teams in the preseason.
“We want to have the team ready to play a tough, physical game and preparation has to go into that and I imagine a certain amount of injuries go with it,” Belichick told the Providence Journal in August 2003.
Bettors can only hope to find more teams that share the Pats' business-like approach to the preseason (New England is 17-9-3 against the spread since 2000) and take advantage of teams who detest the exhibition schedule.
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