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07/13/2010 - Madison, IL (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Series: NASCAR Nationwide. Date: Saturday, July 17. Race: Missouri-Illinois Dodge Dealers 250. Site: Gateway International Raceway. Track: 1.25-mile oval. Start time: 8:00 p.m. (et). Laps: 200. Miles: 250. 2009 winner: Kyle Busch. Television: ESPN 2. Radio: Motor Racing Network (MRN)/SIRIUS NASCAR Radio.
The Nationwide Series rolls into the "Gateway to the West" for the start of the second half of the 2010 season. With 18 of 35 races completed, Brad Keselowski heads to Gateway International Raceway, located just outside of St. Louis, with a commanding 227-point lead over Carl Edwards.
Keselowski's 21st-place finish coupled with a seventh-place run for Edwards in last Friday race at Chicagoland allowed Edwards to trim 50 points off of Keselowski's lead.
Edwards and Keselowski, along with Clint Bowyer, Kevin Harvick, Paul Menard, Michael McDowell, Joe Nemechek and Reed Sorenson, are those Sprint Cup Series regulars spending their off-weekend at Gateway.
One year ago, Kyle Busch added Gateway to his list of different tracks where he has won a Nationwide race. Busch benefited from Harvick's late-race misfortune, as Harvick ran out of fuel and handed the lead over to Busch with 29 laps remaining. He then held off Sorenson and Edwards in the closing laps for his sixth win of the season.
Busch will not defend his race title at Gateway. Brad Coleman will take over driving duties in the No.18 Toyota for Joe Gibbs Racing this weekend.
Keselowski's best finish in three Nationwide starts at Gateway is fifth, which came in 2008. When Keselowski competed here for the first time three years ago, he finished 26th in his just his second start for Dale Earnhardt Jr.'s Nationwide team JR Motorsports.
This is Keselowski's first year with Penske Racing.
Edwards, Harvick and Sorenson have two victories each at Gateway. Earnhardt Jr. is the only other repeat winner here.
"I am looking forward to going to Gateway," Edwards said. "Those wins there to me are it. There are no wins that are bigger. Those wins there are as big as any of my Cup wins. I have a lot of folks that are going to come out to the race there, folks that don't get to go to the races a lot, but are good friends of mine."
For the fifth year in a row, Edwards will make his annual trek on bike from his hometown of Columbia, MO to the 1.25-mile Gateway track, which is located five miles northeast of downtown St. Louis.
"We are going to ride our bikes," he said "It is about 200 miles, and we have a pretty crazy crew coming. The first part is going to be a charity event. We are going to leave from Walt's Bicycle Shop in Columbia, and we are going to ride a really neat ride down to the Missouri River, where we will have a bunch of folks help raise some money for a friend of mine that needs help with some hospital bills."
Harvick has competed in four Nationwide races at Gateway, with two victories and three-top-10 finishes. He finished 17th in last year's race here.
"Gateway has been a great track to me over the years," Harvick said. "I have two wins in four Nationwide Series starts, and look forward to continuing that success this time around with the No.33 Jimmy Johns Chevrolet. Gateway is a very unique track with two completely different sets of corners, which makes for some great racing that the fans will enjoy."
Ryan Truex, who is a development driver for Michael Waltrip Racing and the younger brother of Sprint Cup regular and two-time Nationwide champion Martin Truex Jr., will make his series debut at Gateway. The 18-year-old Truex won the 2009 NASCAR K&N Pro Series East champion. He currently holds the points lead in that series.
"It is a really big opportunity, and I'm just excited to get started," Truex said. "I just can't thank everyone enough at MWR (Michael Waltrip Racing) for giving me this opportunity.
"Three years ago, I remember racing a Legend car at Wall Stadium in New Jersey, and now I'm here. It's hard to believe how fast it's come, but I'm excited, ready to get started and make the most of my opportunity."
Forty-nine teams are on the preliminary entry list for the Missouri-Illinois Dodge Dealers 250.
The series will race again at Gateway on October 23. It's the first year this track hosts two Nationwide events in the same season.
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In any football or basketball game (the main sports that use point spreads) there are two teams playing against each other.
Those teams, though, are rarely exactly evenly matched – meaning that typically one team has a better chance than the other to win the game. If bettors were allowed to bet on who was simply going to win the game, smart ones would obviously bet on the better team (likely winning more than 50% of the time in the process).
If winning were that easy the Las Vegas and online sportsbooks would stop taking any bets! This is where the point spread comes in: the basic function of the point spread is to balance the likelihood of each team “winning” by adjusting the final score by the point spread. After this adjustment is made you get the Against The Spread result (ATS result for short).
Let’s look at Super Bowl XXXIX, New England Patriots vs. Philadelphia Eagles. Most people believed the defending champ Patriots to be the better team – so if betting were simply based upon which team would win the game, an uneven majority of people would have wagered on New England. But, by using the point spread, the bookmakers adjusted the terms of the bet, evening the proposition so about half the people believed the Pats to be the smart bet, while the other half considered Philly to be the smart bet.
New England Patriots -7 vs. Philadelphia Eagles
The better team, called the Favorite, is expected to win the game and must “give” or “lay” points to the weaker team. The favorite is listed with a minus sign and the number of points they are favored by (e.g., New England -7)
In the case of our example, New England must not only win the game, but they must win by more than 7 points for Pats bettors to have a winning ATS result. An Eagles bettor wins his bet either if:
There was also the possibility that the final score could land exactly on the spread number (for example, the Pats winning 28-21 when -7), which is called a “push” or “no action” and a refund is then issued to bettors of both teams.
The same game with the same point spread can be considered from the weaker team’s perspective: The Underdog (Philly in the case of our example) is not expected to win the game and online football betting thus receives or “gets” points given by the stronger team. When a game is stated from the underdog’s perspective the team is listed with a plus sign and the number of points they are underdogs by:
Philadelphia Eagles +7 vs. New England Patriots
Keep in mind that Philadelphia +7 and New England -7 is the same point spread on the same game, simply stated differently. The first is from the underdog’s perspective; the later is from the favorite’s.
Not a must, but for some a mathematical approach is insightful. You can determine the ATS winner by either:
Let’s look at the actual result of Super Bowl XXXIX: New England 24 Philadelphia 21
The favorite, New England, won the game but not by more than the point spread they were favored by (7), so the ATS result was a LOSS for Pats bettors.
Looking at it from the underdog’s perspective, Philly did not win the game, but they lost by less than the point spread (7), so the ATS result was a WIN for Eagle bettors.
Mathematically considered, 24 for the favorite Pats minus 7 equals 17, which is less than the 20 the Eagles scored, so the underdog Eagles win the ATS result (or you could figure 20 plus 7 equals 27 for the Eagles, which is more than 24 for the Pats).
Emily’s boyfriend understood the point spread and wagered $100 on the Eagles at +7. The Eagles may not have gotten a Super Bowl ring, but since they won the ATS result Emily’s boyfriend cashed his bet – giving him money to take her out to a nice dinner.
And now hopefully you understand how to read point spreads, putting you one step closer to joining the fun of sports betting.
To visit this internet sportsbook go to MySportsbook.com for all your football betting and World Series odds.
Huskers' Lucky hospitalized for undisclosed reason
LINCOLN, Neb. -- Nebraska running back Marlon Lucky was hospitalized Monday for undisclosed reasons after Lincoln police responded to a call at his residence.
The Nebraska athletic department said in a release Monday that Lucky was admitted Sunday night.
MySportsbook.com has the Cornhuskers listed at +2500 to win the BCS National Championship odds.
A nursing supervisor at the hospital said all questions about Lucky were being referred to the athletic department. The athletic department said there would be no further comment from the department or Lucky's family.
A Lincoln Police spokesman said officers responded to a call at Lucky's residence 11:30 p.m. Sunday. The spokesman said he didn't know Lucky's condition at the time he was taken to the hospital.
Lucky, from North Hollywood, Calif., started six games last season as a sophomore and was the team's second-leading rusher, with 728 yards and six touchdowns. He also caught 32 passes for 383 yards. He averaged 19.1 yards on eight kickoff returns.
To visit this online sportsbook got to MySportsbook.com - this sportsbook accepts credit cards.
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