Busch outruns Edwards for ORP win

Autoracing Betting Lines

07/24/2010 - Clermont, IN (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Kyle Busch put on a dominating performance, but had to hold off a furious challenge from Carl Edwards during a green- white-checkered finish to win Saturday's Kroger 200 Nationwide Series race at O'Reilly Raceway Park at Indianapolis.

An incident involving Joe Nemechek in the closing laps set up the two-lap overtime finish. Edwards made several attempts to pass Busch for the lead, but came up 0.2 seconds short of winning at ORP for the second year in a row.

Last weekend at St. Louis, Edwards and rival Brad Keselowski battled for the lead during a two-lap sprint to the finish. Edwards picked up the win after he nudged Keselowski from behind and spun him into the wall coming out of the final turn of the last lap.

Earlier this week, NASCAR penalized Edwards with a 60-point loss, fined him $25,000 and placed him on probation until December 31 for aggressive driving.

Edwards made it a clean finish this time.

"That was a good race to get out of the way," Edwards said. "That was a lot of fun. I'm glad it ended up the way it did."

Busch, who led 144 of 201 laps, claimed his eighth victory of the season and the 38th of his Nationwide career. He also won at ORP for the third time, which placed him in a tie with Morgan Shepherd for most wins here in NASCAR's second-tier series.

"It was a good, clean, hard-fought battle, and when you treat people with respect, that's what you get -- you get respect back," Busch said.

Aric Almirola finished an impressive third in his first start in the No.88 car for JR Motorsports. Trevor Bayne, the pole sitter, and Reed Sorenson rounded out the top-five. Bayne also started on the pole and finished third at St. Louis.

With his second-place finish, Edwards slightly trimmed Keselowski's points lead. Keselowski now holds a 205-point advantage after finishing eighth.

Edwards and Keselowski raced side-by-side for position in the opening laps and then again shortly after the half-way point.

"It was good, hard short-track racing, and this is what it's all about," Keselowski said.

NASCAR also placed Keselowski on probation for the remainder of the year for his actions on the track at St. Louis.

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Betting the NFL preseason

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.

To visit this online sportsbook got to MySportsbook.com for all your bet on football needs. Mysportsbook.com online sportsbook accepts Visa and Mastercard credit cards.