Category Archives: Auto Racing Betting

Sprint Cup Field Hits Track for Daytona Gatorade Duels

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The Budweiser Shootout has been contested and the front row for the Daytona 500 has been locked in, so next up on the NASCAR betting menu for this week are the two Gatorade Duel races on Thursday afternoon.

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Carl Edwards and Greg Biffle had the two fastest times in qualifying over the weekend, so they’ll be in the front row when the Daytona 500 gets underway on Sunday afternoon. As well, they’ll each start out in front for one of the Gatorade Duel races on Thursday.

Edwards, who had the fastest time over the weekend and will be the pole sitter for the Daytona 500, leads the way for Gatorade Duel 1 on Thursday. His Duel race will feature 25 drivers, including Dale Earnhardt Jr., Tony Stewart, Kevin Harvick, and Denny Hamlin.

Trevor Bayne, the defending Daytona 500 champion, is also a part of Gatorade Duel 1, as is Danica Patrick. Both Bayne and Patrick have guaranteed spots on the Daytona 500 grid.

Biffle will be out front for Gatorade Duel 2 on Thursday afternoon, and his field for the day contains just 24 drivers. Jeff Gordon, Jimmie Johnson, Matt Kenseth, Ryan Newman, Kasey Kahne, Kyle Busch, and Kurt Busch are all part of that second Duel race as well.

The results of Thursday’s Gatorade Duel races will determine the order of the rest of the starting grid for the Daytona 500 this weekend. As well, it’ll serve as a qualifying event for drivers who have still not clinched a spot in the 43-car field for Sunday’s big race.

Each Gatorade Duel race is 150 miles, and they get underway at 1:00pm ET on Thursday.

Find Sprint Cup Series betting odds - including all your Daytona 500 lines – today at Bovada.

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Jeff Gordon Set for Another Run at the Sprint Cup Series Title: NASCAR Odds

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After finding his way back to Victory Lane several times last season can Jeff Gordon regain his past glory this year and challenge for the 2012 Sprint Cup Series championship? Bet on NASCAR today.

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Gordon won just one race in three years from 2008 to 2010 but he broke through again and managed to take checkered flags three times in 2011, winning at Phoenix in February, Pocono in June, and Atlanta in September.

None of those victories, however, came during the Chase portion of the schedule, leaving him to finish in eighth place in the overall standings, 116 points back of both Tony Stewart and Carl Edwards in the race to claim the Sprint Cup title.

Overall Gordon managed to pick up 13 Top-5 results and 18 Top-10 finishes in 2011, numbers which were both up slightly from 2010 (11 Top-5 results, 17 Top-10 finishes).

So clearly the Hendrick Motorsports driver has something left in the tank. That’s reflected on his Bovada odds to win the Sprint Cup championship this season, as he sits in the top tier of contenders at 10/1 to claim the title; teammate Jimmie Johnson is the 5/1 leader.

Gordon is also listed at 12/1 odds to win the Daytona 500 on Sunday afternoon, after he drove to a 15th-place finish at the Budweiser Shootout last weekend. The No. 24 car had a Daytona 500 to forget last year, as he ended up way back in 28th place at that race.

Gordon hasn’t won the Cup title since 2001, but he also hasn’t finished worse than 11th place in the standings in the past 10 years.

Find Sprint Cup Series betting odds - including all your Daytona 500 lines – today at Bovada.

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NASCAR Daytona preview: Paul Menard

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The NASCAR season begins this Saturday with the non-points Budweiser Shootout ahead of next Sunday’s Super bowl of the sport, the season-opening . WagerWeb.com previews the prospects of No. 27 at Daytona.

For the first time in his relatively brief Sprint Cup career, Menard enters a season without an ugly zero in the career win column. In one of the big shockers of the 2011 season, Menard notched his first career win – and brought some magic along at the same time. Menard won the Brickyard 400 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, finally putting the Menard name – one long associated with the world’s most famous race track – in its victory lane.

Now, Menard said, it’s time to move on to the next level.

“Our realistic goal is to make the Chase,” he said. “We have the same group of guys from last year. We didn’t see a need to make many changes on the team. Everybody’s really happy. I come to the shop once or twice a week and see smiles on people’s faces.”

Menard and the No. 27 Chevrolet team closed the 2011 season at Homestead-Miami Speedway enduring a series of rain showers and a persistent tight-handling condition to finish 16th. On the strength of one win, four top-five and eight top-10 finishes, Menard finished a career-high 17th in the NSCS driver championship point standings.

Menard rolls into his second season at Richard Childress Racing and his third with crew chief Slugger Labbe. On Saturday night, Menard will make his second Budweiser Shootout appearance. In July 2008, Menard earned the pole award at DIS, qualifying him for the 2009 Budweiser Shootout. He started from the pole position when he drew the top spot during Budweiser’s annual Shootout Draw Party and finished the two-segment event 12th.

There is definitely pressure on the 31-year-old to prove that he can keep running with the series’ elite and avoid the dreaded “one-year wonder” label. Only once in 2011 did Menard score back-to-back top 10s. If he can find a rhythm, not a roller coaster, one of the better-funded teams in NASCAR could finally earn the points to match their hefty paychecks within this crowded field of Chase contenders.

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2012 NASCAR Daytona preview: Kurt Busch

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The NASCAR season begins this Saturday with the non-points Budweiser Shootout ahead of next Sunday’s Super bowl of the sport, the season-opening . WagerWeb.com previews the prospects of No. 51 at Daytona.

After a major fall from grace, 2004 points champion Busch is starting over with a small, fledgling Cup team. Perhaps no driver in NASCAR history has fallen as quickly as Busch has.

“What did I learn from it? I was doing a lot of things wrong,” he said.

Doing things wrong like berating his team through R-rated radio transmissions and contentious media sessions; threatening to fight a reporter and ripped a transcript out of the hands of another; then, firing through a verbal tirade of an ESPN personality caught on camera, igniting 700,000 views on YouTube and fan-triggered bans of former sponsor Shell Pennzoil. lIt was that behavior that served as the catalyst for Busch and Penske Racing to part ways at the end of 2011.

“At the end of the day, is it the money you’re putting in your pocket, or the fun you’re having while doing it?” Busch said. “There’s been a lot of advice I’ve been given this offseason and it’s been a great way to digest and now I’m excited to get to the track and put it into place.”

The place is now the small-funded, one-car team of Phoenix Racing. Driving the No. 51 car a full season has given life to the ashes of the 2004 champ. Busch knows life will be much different at Phoenix Racing, where there are 18 employees to support a single-car operation, than it was during the six years he was top dog at Penske Racing, which employs closer to 300 and ran multiple cars. While most NASCAR teams are based within 10 or 20 miles of the NASCAR R&D Center in Concord, N.C., Phoenix Racing is located in Spartanburg, S.C., about 80 miles to the southwest.

“There are going to be little victories that we claim, even if it’s finishing 15th and putting the car back in hauler without a scratch on it,” Busch said. “Those are going to be big days because we have two really good bullets right now — our superspeedway car for Daytona and we have a car that came from Hendrick that’s got a ton of R&D stuff on it. So I need to protect that car when we go to Vegas [in the third week of the season] because you want that car again in a couple of weeks at California. So we need to take care of that baby right now, and then hopefully we’ll get a few more built like that.”

While Busch is having fun with his new team, he knows that racing can be a lot of fun when winning is involved. And he and Phoenix Racing should be contenders at Daytona. Phoenix Racing’s lone Sprint Cup victory came at Daytona’s sister track, Talladega (Ala.) Superspeedway, in April 2009 with Brad Keselowski driving, while Busch has 12 top-10 finishes in 22 point-paying starts at Daytona, including runner-up finishes in the Daytona 500 in 2003, 2005 and 2008. Last year, he won the Budweiser Shootout and the first of the two 150-mile Gatorade Duel qualifying races.

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Friday NCAA basketball: Northern Iowa at Virginia Commonwealth

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Shaka Smart’s VCU team was the darling of last season’s NCAA Tournament with a magical run to the Final Four. But the Rams are very much on the bubble right now to return to the Big Dance – their resume would improve with a win Friday night in an ESPN BracketBuster game against a solid Northern Iowa team. Place your NASCAR bets at WagerWeb.com.

VCU had been rolling, winner of 11 in a row. But that came to an end Tuesday in a potentially crushing 62-61 loss to George Mason, which won on a 30-foot shot by Sherrod Wright at the buzzer.

“That’s a tough pill to swallow. I don’t quite know what to say about the end of the game,” Smart said. “I give a lot of credit to George Mason for sticking around and making tough shots when they needed them. They’re a good team with a lot of good players, Sherrod Wright being one of them. I give him a ton of credit for stepping up and hitting a tough, tough shot.”

The Black & Gold held the CAA’s most prolific and potent offense to just 62 points and 40.7% from the field, while forcing 16 turnovers on the night. VCU pushed their country-leading steal total to 288 on the year. But now VCU trails George Mason and Drexel in the Colonial standings. Certainly that league isn’t going to get three teams in the NCAA Tournament.

Northern Iowa (17-11, 7-9 MVC)  is not going to get back to the NCAA Tournament unless the Panthers win the Missouri Valley Conference Tournament. NIU enters off a 63-62 loss at Evansville on Wednesday. Ironically, the Panthers also lost on a last second shot as Evansville’s Denver Holmes banked in a 3-pointer with 0.6 seconds left. The Panthers got 16 points from Seth Tuttle, 13 from Anthony James and 10 from Chip Rank. Northern Iowa, which has reached 20 wins in each of the past three seasons, had rallied from a 49-39 second-half deficit with a 13-0 run to take a 52-49 lead with 8:12 left in the game.

NIU has played another CAA member this season, beating Old Dominion 63-46 on Nov. 12. VCU is 2-0 against ODU this season, winning 61-48 back in January and 68-64 last Saturday.

ESPN’s BracketBusters matches mid-major schools with teams high in Ratings Percentage Index getting the opportunity to improve their credentials for at-large bids to the NCAA Tournament.

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Harvick a Top Contender to Win 2012 Cup Title

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Kevin Harvick was second in the Sprint Cup Series with four checkered flags in 2011, but that was only good enough for him to finish third in the final driver standings. He’ll be looking to improve on that position and win the circuit’s championship in 2012. Bet on NASCARyourself with Bovada.

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Harvick tied Kyle Busch with four visits to Victory Lane in the Sprint Cup Series last season, and they were both just one win short of eventual championTony Stewart.

Harvick, though, only managed to finish in the Top 5 nine times in 2011, which was well down from his 16 Top-5 results from 2010. Harvick also had fewer Top-10 finishes in 2011, just 19 compared to the 26 he earned the previous season.

That caused the Richard Childress Racing driver to end up 58 points back of Stewart in the standings at the end of the season, and in third spot for the second year in a row.

On the current Sprint Cup Series championship futures at Bovada Harvick is listed fourth at 8/1 odds (along with Stewart) to win the 2012 title; he trails Jimmie Johnson (5/1), Carl Edwards (6/1), and Kyle Busch (7/1) on that list.

And Harvick is also in a pack of drivers at 12/1 to win the season-opening Daytona 500 in two weeks. Johnson and Dale Earnhardt Jr. are the current favorites on those Bovada NASCAR odds at 10/1 to pick up that win at Daytona International Speedway.

Harvick had a Daytona 500 to forget last season, as engine trouble had him finish in 42nd place. Harvick’s four 2011 victories came at Auto Club in March, Martinsville in April, Charlotte in May, and Richmond in September.

Find Sprint Cup Series odds - including all your Daytona 500 lines – today at Bovada.

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Nascar Betting: Edwards Seeks Cup Title After Falling Short in 2011

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After suffering a heartbreaking finish in the driver standings in 2011 Carl Edwards will be looking to be just a tiny bit better in 2012 as the start of the Sprint Cup Series season rapidly approaches.

Find NASCAR betting odds - including Daytona 500 lines – today at Bovada.

Edwards ended up tied with Tony Stewart atop the Sprint Cup Series driver standings in 2011, but Stewart got the Cup championship on a tiebreaker after winning five races during the season; Edwards only visited Victory Lane once.

And Edwards also finished second to Stewart in last year’s season-ending Ford 400 at Homestead-Miami Speedway, which sealed his fate in the driver standings.

So what will Edwards’ approach be for 2012? Probably more of the same, and hope for a little more luck – and a couple extra checkered flags – along the way. No driver on the Sprint Cup Series circuit was more consistent than Edwards in 2011, as he led the way with both 19 Top-5 finishes and 26 Top-10 results.

Edwards also collected the most prize money last season, winning over $8.4 million in his 36 starts. His lone victory came at the Kobalt Tools 400 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway in March, although he also managed to win the annual All-Star Race.

The oddsmakers at Bovada also see value in the consistent Edwards for 2012 as he’s listed second at 6/1 odds to win the Sprint Cup Series championship this season – only Jimmie Johnson at 5/1 odds is ahead of him, with Stewart set back at 8/1 odds.

Edwards is also second on the Daytona 500 odds right now, with a line of 12/1 to win the season-opening race on February 26. Johnson leads the way on that list at 10/1, with Stewart and Dale Earnhardt Jr. two of the drivers sitting with Edwards at 12/1.

Get all of your Sprint Cup Series betting odds for the upcoming season at Bovada.

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Danica Patrick will race Coca-Cola 600, not Indy 500

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The Indianapolis 500 has already lost its most recognizable driver as announced on Monday that she wouldn’t compete in that race in 2012 and instead drive in NASCAR’s Coca-Cola 600.

The races both are on May 27, the Sunday before Memorial Day, with the starting several hours earlier than the 600. Patrick didn’t rule out racing again in an IndyCar at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, though, and hinted she would attempt an -Coke 600 doubleheader as her Sprint Cup team owner, Tony Stewart, had done three times.

Patrick, who is running a full Nationwide Series schedule at JR Motorsports and part-time Cup schedule for Stewart Haas Racing as she makes the transition from open wheel racing to stock cars, said it was a business decision to run NASCAR’s longest race.

Patrick competed in her first Indianapolis 500 in 2005 and finished fourth, the highest finish in that race for a female driver. It remains her goal to win the 500.

“It was just something that didn’t work out, the business side of things didn’t work out,” Patrick said. “Again, I’m hopeful to do it in the future, but this year it didn’t happen.”

Patrick will make her Sprint Cup debut in the Feb. 26 Daytona 500. She announced eight of her 10 races late last season. The 600 leaves her with one open slot. Patrick didn’t rule out making the Brickyard 400 at Indianapolis her 10th Cup race.

When she announced her move to NASCAR last August, Patrick said that a return to Indy would have to be with Andretti Autosport, her Izod IndyCar Series team the past five seasons. Stewart said the team left the decision to Patrick.

“We didn’t tell her she couldn’t run the 500,” Stewart said. “Obviously, she’s running the Nationwide car full time, and it’s a good weekend to get a lot of laps in the car. I don’t think about (Indy) anymore. It’s been so long since I’ve done it. You just focus. It shows how dedicated she is to making this transition.”

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Carl Edwards won’t run in Nationwide Series in 2012

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After competing the past seven years for Roush Fenway Racing in the NASCAR Nationwide Series, all while running a full Sprint Cup Series schedule, has decided not to run any Nationwide races in 2012.

“The way we’re approaching this season is, I’m not committing to any races right now,” Edwards said. “And as the season goes, if I decide I’m just a nervous ball of energy on Saturdays and I can’t function without going and racing — because that might be the case — then we’ll work to try to go [Nationwide] racing.”

Carl Edwards, the 2007 champion of the Nationwide Series, had finished in the series’ top 3 in every season he’d raced and the top 2 in each season but 2005 before last season, when he was ineligible for the season championship after NASCAR ruled drivers wouldn’t be able to compete for two series titles in the same year.

Edwards drove to a career-best eight Nationwide wins in 2011 despite his status, posting 1,887 laps-led — more than double his previous best of 918 in 2009. He won the Nationwide owners’ championship for Roush Fenway. But Edwards also contented for the Sprint Cup title, losing the championship to Tony Stewart in the last race of the Chase.

“I’m hoping this lets me focus more on the Cup car,” Edwards said, “lets me be a better Cup racer by maybe having more time during the race weekend to maybe hone the setups in.

Three straight days of qualifying and racing can run you ragged, but you can learn tricks on Saturday in the Nationwide Series that can help you on Sunday in Sprint Cup. Edwards, Brad Keselowski and Kyle Busch have all testified to that.

The NASCAR Sprint Cup season opens with the annual shootout in Daytona on Feb. 18, and the first race on the 2012 schedule is the Daytona 500 which will be held on Feb. 26.

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Kurt Busch fired by Penske Racing

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Yes, NASCAR also has its version of a Hot Stove League, and the big offseason news thus far came Monday when hot-headed was fired by Penske Racing, although the sides are calling it mutual split.

The 2004 Sprint Cup champion lost favor with Penske Racing and primary sponsor Shell Pennzoil during a season in which he had multiple behavioral run-ins on and off the track. Busch’s future came to a head in the season finale at Homestead-Miami Speedway. Busch first made an obscene gesture that happened to be in the direction of First Lady Michelle Obama’s motorcade as he came to the garage after his transmission failed early. He then had a profanity-laced tirade directed at ESPN reporter Dr. Jerry Punch and his camera crew that went viral on YouTube. NASCAR penalized Busch $50,000. Penske officials and Shell Pennzoil publicly reprimanded him.

Those transgressions continued a pattern for Busch, who frequently feuded with his crew chief, Steve Addington, as well as his pit crew and even team owner Roger Penske off and on over the past two seasons. Busch also directed insults toward the Penske and Dodge engineering staffs in the garage area following the transmission problem that took him out of the race at Homestead. Addington quit as Busch’s crew chief shortly after the season ended, and was quickly hired by Stewart-Haas Racing to serve as defending Sprint Cup champion Tony Stewart’s crew chief beginning next season.

“While I am disappointed that Kurt will not be racing for our team in the future, both Kurt and I felt that separating at this time was best for all parties, including our team and sponsors,” Roger Penske said in the news release. “I wish Kurt the best in his future racing endeavors.”

Busch began driving for Penske in 2006 and has won at least one race in each of his six seasons with the organization — and in each of the past 10 Cup seasons overall. He has 24 career victories, including two last season — one of which came early in the just-concluded 2011 Chase for the Sprint Cup.

But Busch faded down the stretch in the Chase and finished 11th in points after he and team officials had hoped he would contend for the championship.

Busch was fired by Roush Fenway Racing in November 2005 after being cited in an alcohol-related incident in Avondale, Ariz., for criminal recklessness. After sitting out the rest of the 2005 season, he began driving for Penske in 2006. Busch indicated last week that he has been seeing a sports psychologist for two months.

There are no quality rides currently available for next season for Busch to pursue, and no drivers with a resume on the track similar to Busch’s available for Penske to hire. Several drivers who competed in the Cup series this season remain without rides, including David Ragan, Brian Vickers and David Reutimann.

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