Busch powers past Hornaday Jr. for truck win

Autoracing Betting Lines

10/27/2007 - Hampton, GA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Kyle Busch captured Saturday afternoon's EasyCare Vehicle Service Contracts 200 at the Atlanta Motor Speedway. The No.51 Chevrolet crossed the finish line 0.971 second ahead of Ron Hornaday Jr. but Hornaday Jr.'s finish was good enough to give him the series points lead.

The victory was Busch's first win in eight starts this season and fifth of his truck career.

Hornaday Jr. brought the field to the green flag for 130 laps of tight high- speed racing. But right beside him was the points leader and they raced into the first turn, side-by-side. Hornaday Jr. held off Skinner to lead the first lap and gain five important bonus points.

But while Hornaday Jr. had his eye on Skinner, Busch slipped underneath both drivers to grab the lead on lap three. Busch quickly moved out to a one and-a-half second lead over Skinner.

Before 20 laps were completed Hornaday Jr. got around Skinner for second place and it appeared Skinner was just cruising around waiting for later in the race.

Busch was still the leader on lap 31 when the caution flag flew for the first time. All the leaders pitted for fuel and tires. Skinner's crew decided on a two-tire stop and the decision gave him the race lead. Mark Martin also beat Busch off pit road to grab second place.

Two laps into the green-flag run Hornaday Jr. charged into the lead from fourth place. Busch was still fast after the stop and got around Skinner for second place.

A crash involving Josh Wise, Clay Rogers and Chad Chaffin on lap 46 slowed the action.

Most of the leaders stayed out, but Skinner needed to change tires because of a problem and it left him at the back in 17th place.

The race restarted on lap 54 and amazingly, the "King of Restarts" as Hornaday Jr. is known, was beaten into the first turn by Busch. Busch ran with the clean air and rebuilt his lead to almost one second. Then Hornaday Jr. fought back and on lap 67 slipped below Busch to take the lead back.

Meanwhile, by lap 60 Skinner was already up to 12th place and he cracked the top-10 on lap 68.

Another caution flag slowed the pace and all the leaders pitted. Busch was the big winner with Johnny Benson and Martin just behind. Hornaday Jr. seemed to have a slow stop and fell from first to fourth. Benson must have really found the setup, because he charged past Busch for the lead and built the lead to one second in just a few laps.

Now Hornaday Jr. got around Busch who seemed to be using up his tires quicker than the other leaders. By lap 102 Hornaday Jr caught and passed Benson for the lead.

A caution flag with 25 laps to go (Jack Sprague accident) set up the final stops and the run to the checkered flag

This time the No.33 KHI pit crew did the job and Hornaday Jr. beat everyone back onto the track. Joey Clanton was second with Benson third.

Hornaday Jr. got a good restart, but the man on the move was Busch who charged through the field like a hot knife through butter. He was fourth with 18 laps to go and second with 16 laps remaining. Benson fought back and retook second, but Busch still held the inside lane and wasn't giving up.

A dozen laps to go and four trucks were left with a chance for the win - Hornaday Jr., Benson, Busch and Martin. Then a caution flag on lap 118 when Chad McCumbee's truck left some fluid on the track to slow the race to a crawl.

They restarted on lap 122 and Busch charged to the lead building the margin to four lengths with six laps to go. He kept it going and flew to the checkered flag unchallenged the rest of the way.

Benson, Martin and Skinner completed the top-five.

Despite finishing a solid fifth, Skinner lost his championship lead to Hornaday Jr. He will go to the next race, at the Texas Motor Speedway, four points back (3,547 - 3,543).

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Albert Pujols to be This Year's Home Run Champ Says Online Sportsbook

Barry Bonds is a 50-1 long shot to be this year's home run champ odds.  The favorite to be this year's home run champ is none other than Albert Pujols, however.

Now that Barry Bonds is signed and in Giants camp, it is on to his pursuit of all of sports most prestigious records: the all-time home run mark. Bonds sits just 21 homers shy of tying Hank Aaron for the career mark at 755. Word out of Giants’ camp is that Bonds is the healthiest he has been in a few years. Bonds is just two seasons removed from his injury riddled 2005 campaign where he played in only 14 games and hit only 5 home runs. He did come back last year and had a solid season hitting .270 with 26 bombs. All eyes will be on Bonds this spring and summer not only because of his home run chase but his highly publicized steroid abuse allegations. If and when Bonds breaks the record, he surely will not get the positive attention one should for breaking a record that was once thought of as “unbreakable”. Despite Bonds decent season last year, he is just 50-1 at MySportsbook.com to lead the MLB in long balls this season.

Not surprisingly, the favorites to go deep the most times this season are Albert Pujols 5-1, Ryan Howard 6-1, David Ortiz 8-1 and Alex Rodriguez 12-1. With 49 homers, Pujols finished second in the National League behind Howard (58). Pujols is considered the favorite due to the consistent power numbers that he has posted since breaking into the league in 2001. Also one must consider the fact that he played in 16 fewer games then Howard did due to an injury. Howard smashed 58 homers in his first complete season of big league play en route to the National League MVP odds award. He silenced his critics by successfully hitting left-handed pitching. Howard also displayed the ability to use his power to the opposite field. Two attributes which should keep Howard amongst the league leaders in long balls for years to come. From the American League representatives, David Ortiz leads the field. Ortiz was second in the majors last year with 54 home runs. Except for 1999 when he only played in 10 games, Ortiz has improved on his home run numbers each year he has been in the majors (1997).

Be sure to log onto online sports betting site MySportsbook.com to check out the odds for who will lead the MLB in home runs this season. Below is just a sample of the players listed. With the highest credit card rates in the industry, MySportsbook.com is the place to bet on baseball this summer.

World Series odds

Adam Dunn 15-1

Albert Pujols 5-1

Alex Rodriguez 12-1

Alfonso Soriano 15-1

Andruw Jones 25-1

Barry Bonds 50-1

Carlos Delgado 40-1

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Jermaine Dye 40-1

Ken Griffey Jr. 100-1

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To visit this online sportsbook got to MySportsbook.com - this sportsbook accepts credit cards.

FOOTBALL BETTING : Crabtree's base deal: six years, $32 million

Football Betting

In the wake of the news that the 49ers have signed receiver Michael Crabtree after an extended holdout, there has been not a hint of the dollars to be paid to Crabtree.

And since this means that his agent hasn't leaked the numbers, it means that his agent feels no specific motivation to do so.

Possibly because his agent isn't all that thrilled to have his name on the deal.

So the numbers will come from sources other than Crabtree's agent. And we've gotten our mitts into them.

Per a league source, Crabtree has signed a six-year, $32 million contract. (The total includes guaranteed money, base salaries, and the one-time incentive based on achieving minimum playing time.)

The deal also includes $17 million in guaranteed money.

As reported elsewhere, the deal can void to five years based on performance triggers, wiping out a final year base salary of $4 million. But they won't be easily reached.

The source tells us that, in his first four seasons (including 2009), Crabtree must either qualify for two Pro Bowls, or he must qualify for one Pro Bowl in one year and he must participate in 80 percent of the offensive snaps in a separate year in which the team makes the playoffs.

In other words, if in 2010 he qualifies for the Pro Bowl and the team makes the playoffs and he participates in 80 percent of the snaps, he'll still need to make it to the Pro Bowl or achieve the 80-percent/playoffs in another season.

Since the chances of Crabtree making the Pro Bowl or participating in 80 percent of the offensive snaps this year is roughly zero percent, he'll have three years to get it done.

And it won't be easy. Frankly, he'll be hard pressed to make it to one Pro Bowl in three years with the likes of Larry Fitzgerald, Calvin Johnson, Anquan Boldin, Steve Smith, the other Steve Smith, Hakeem Nicks, DeSean Jackson, Johnny Knox, Percy Harvin, Greg Jennings, Roddy White, T.J. Houshmandzadeh in the same conference for sportsbook betting.

So, by all appearances, it's a six-year deal. And at $17 million in guaranteed money, the per-year guarantee is a tepid $2.83 million per year.

There's another problem with the deal -- it has no mid-tier incentive package. Instead, the additional $8 million that Crabtree can earn (pushing the max value to six years, $40 million) requires the kind of unrealistic, mega-star performances that no rookie is likely to ever achieve.

So while the contract paid to Packers defensive tackle B.J. Raji covers five years and pays $22.5 million, he has the ability (if he's a solid player) to make up the difference between his base deal and Crabtree's five-year, $28 million haul via the mid-tier incentive package in Raji's deal.

And unless Crabtree meets the performance thresholds necessary to void the sixth year, he'll be stuck under contract for another year at a base salary of only $4 million.

There's one other area of concern with the deal. Crabtree, per the source, received no option bonus. Instead, he has significant money tied to a fairly new device known as a "discretionary salary advance," which unlike an opition bonus is subject to forfeiture if Crabtree decides in a year or two that he wants to hold out for a better deal. (We're also told that the 49ers have included language that would make certain escalators subject to forfeiture, too.)

Meanwhile, the deal falls well short of the mark for which Crabtree and agent Eugene Parker were aiming -- the five-year, $38.25 million contract paid by the Raiders to receiver Darrius Heyward-Bey, the seventh overall pick in the draft.

Even if Crabtree successfully voids the final year, he'll make more than $2 million per year less on average than Heyward-Bey.

Thus, as we explained earlier in the day, this is a deal that Crabtree could have done in July, which would have given him a much better chance of making a contribution to the 49ers during his rookie year.

So while the final outcome can be described as win-win, the broader view suggests that it's really a lose-lose situation.

NFL Betting Lines

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