Busch denies Logano second straight Nationwide win at Chicago

Autoracing Betting Lines

07/09/2010 - Joliet, IL (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Kyle Busch had the dominant car, but needed a little bit of luck at the end to win Friday's Dollar General 300 Nationwide Series race at Chicagoland Speedway.

Despite leading a race-high 110 laps, Busch had to overcome a penalty for speeding on pit road early in the 300-mile race. Busch ran eighth after his penalty, but reclaimed the lead shortly after a restart on lap 81.

Joey Logano passed his Joe Gibbs Racing teammate and took the lead for the first time just after a restart with 53 laps remaining.

Trevor Bayne's late-race accident in the closing laps setup a green-white- checkered finish. Busch held the third spot for the restart, but quickly grabbed second when points leader Brad Keselowski ran out of fuel. Busch then chased down Logano and made the winning pass with less than two laps to go.

"I knew I couldn't spin my tires, and I knew I couldn't let him force me too high, because it was real dirty, and that's how I lost the lead to Joey earlier the first time," Busch said.

Just after Busch took the white flag for the final lap, a six-car wreck occurred on the frontstretch, with Busch winning the race under caution.

"We didn't have the track position when it mattered, and the car got really tight on us," Busch said. "[The team] never gave up. They knew I had it in me. I didn't think I had it in me."

Busch captured his seventh victory of the season and the 37th of his Nationwide career, which moved him into sole possession of second on the series' all-time race winners list. He surpassed Kevin Harvick, who started on the pole and finished seventh in this race.

"To win as many as we've won and be successful as JGR has been, it's fun every week," he said. "It's always cool to come out here and put on a good show."

Busch also won at Chicagoland in 2008. He joins Harvick as the only repeat race winners here.

Logano won last year's race at Chicagoland, but came up short on his bid for a second consecutive victory at the one-and-a-half-mile track.

"Kyle did a good job," Logano said. "He did what he was supposed to do. He drove me into the turn and got me loose. They beat me. I'm embarrassed more than anything else."

Rookie Brian Scott finished a career-best third, with David Reutimann and Jason Leffler rounding out the top-five.

While Keselowski wound up 21st, Carl Edwards finished sixth and trimmed 50 points from Keselowski's lead. Keselowski now holds a 227-point advantage over Edwards.

Danica Patrick, making her fifth Nationwide start, finished two laps behind in 24th.

"I definitely learned a lot," Patrick said. "It was really nice to run a clean race with no accidents."

Patrick has competed in five IndyCar races at Chicagoland, but this was her first in a stock car event here.

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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.