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03/05/2010 - Hampton, GA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Dale Earnhardt Jr. won the pole for the Kobalt Tools 500 with a blazing lap in Friday's qualifying at Atlanta Motor Speedway.
Earnhardt Jr.'s lap of 192.761 m.p.h. set a record for the fastest qualifying speed in the new Sprint Cup Series car -- the Car of Tomorrow. His Hendrick Motorsports teammate, Jimmie Johnson, held the record with a lap of 192.376 m.p.h. last October at Charlotte.
"It's really fast," Earnhardt Jr. said of his qualifying lap around the 1.54- mile track. "You just got to hang on. I think there's a lot of cars that can run that fast, but you just got to hang on to it."
Earnhardt Jr. recorded his ninth career Cup pole, but his first since April 2008 at Texas. He also won the pole at Atlanta in November 2001.
Since his disappointing 25th-place finish in points last year, team owner Rick Hendrick has made his priority to turn around Earnhardt Jr.'s team. NASCAR's most popular driver has begun this season with two front starting row positions in the first four races. He started on the outside pole at Daytona.
"I feel pretty confident with this group," Earnhardt Jr. said. "They're a lot of fun, and we're building some pretty good relationships. The changes we have made have given us a lot of confidence, and we can go out on the racetrack and do some good things to help build it."
Kyle Busch will start on the outside pole after posting a lap of 192.280 m.p.h.
Juan Pablo Montoya qualified third, followed by Hendrick drivers Mark Martin and Jeff Gordon. Martin won the pole here one year ago.
Kasey Kahne, Ryan Newman, Elliott Sadler, David Reutimann and Carl Edwards completed the top-10.
Kurt Busch, the defending race winner, will start 11th.
Johnson was the slowest among the Hendrick cars, as he qualified 16th. The four-time defending series champion has won the last two races -- Las Vegas and California.
"I don't know why I was slow," Johnson said. "It was a decent lap. We were concerned about overdriving in [turn] three, so I might have been a little bit conservative there."
Aric Almirola, Casey Mears and Terry Cook failed to qualify.
Sunday's 500-mile race at Atlanta is scheduled to start around 1:00 p.m. (et).
<< Redskins re-sign DE Daniels, OL Williams
Ashburn, VA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Washington Redskins on Friday re-signed
defensive end Phillip Daniels and offensive lineman Mike Williams.
Daniels started all 16 games for the Redskins last year, recording 46 tackles,
one sack, and
<< Broncos sign RB Arrington
Englewood, CO (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Denver Broncos have brought back
running back J.J. Arrington.
Arrington originally signed a four-year deal worth a reported $10 million
with Denver last offseason, but was subsequently
<< Duke holds on down the stretch to edge Maryland
Greensboro, NC (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Jasmine Thomas scored a game-high 21 points,
and ninth-ranked Duke survived down the stretch to beat Maryland, 66-64, and
advance to the semifinals of the ACC Tournament.
Joy Cheek added 14 points, five r
<< Jets release Thomas Jones, Strickland
Florham Park, NJ (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The New York Jets announced the
release of veteran running back Thomas Jones on Friday. The team also
released cornerback Donald Strickland.
Jones, 31, ran for a career-high 1,402 ya
Boston College upsets No. 8 FSU in ACC tourney >>
Greensboro, NC (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Stefanie Murphy posted 14 points to lead all
scorers, and Boston College moved on to the semis of the ACC Tournament with a
67-60 upset over No. 8 Florida State.
Jasmine Gill added 13 points, while Carolyn
Ohio State fends off Illinois in Big Ten quarters >>
Indianapolis, IN (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Jantel Lavender poured in 19 points and
pulled down six rebounds, as 10th-ranked Ohio State held off Illinois, 66-55,
in the quarterfinals of the Big Ten Tournament.
Samantha Prahalis added 13 points
Pistons' Stuckey taken off on stretcher >>
Cleveland, OH (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Detroit Pistons guard Rodney Stuckey was
taken from the court at Quicken Loans Arena on a stretcher after possibly
suffering a seizure during Friday night's game against the Cavaliers.
The incident
Horizon League Tournament Recaps >>
Indianapolis, IN (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Eli Holman scored 16 points and grabbed 11
rebounds as the seventh-seeded Detroit Titans beat the third-seeded Green
Bay Phoenix, 62-53, in the second round of the Horizon League Tournament.
Xavier K
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 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.
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