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08/20/2010 - Bristol, TN (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Jimmie Johnson picked up his first pole of the season by winning Friday's qualifying for the IRWIN Tools Night Race at Bristol Motor Speedway.
Johnson, who won at Bristol for the first time in March, posted a lap of 123.475 m.p.h. around the 0.533-mile, high-banked oval for his 24th career Sprint Cup Series pole, but his first since last year's season-ending race at Homestead.
"We have a lot of things going in the right direction for us here," Johnson said after claiming his first pole at Bristol. "We all know how important track position is, and your pit stall pick, so we have the best of both worlds starting on the front row. But we'll have to be smart, because there's no safe place on this racetrack."
Johnson, the four-time defending series champion, knocked Carl Edwards off of the pole position shortly after Edwards' qualifying lap of 122.937 m.p.h., which put him on the outside pole.
"I felt like the line I ran around the top was the line that was going to get the pole, but I watched Jimmie use the bottom, and I thought, 'there's no way, he's going to be slow,' but somehow he made it work, so those guys did a good job."
Joey Logano qualified third, while Tony Stewart and David Reutimann rounded out the top-five. Reutimann suffered from food poisoning and had Aric Almirola drive his car during the first of two practices earlier in the day. Reutimann recuperated from his stomach ailment in time to participate in the final practice.
Ryan Newman took the sixth spot, followed by Jamie McMurray, Juan Pablo Montoya, Martin Truex Jr. and A.J. Allmendinger.
Kevin Harvick, the current points leader, will start 28th. Harvick holds a 293-point advantage over second-place Jeff Gordon, who will start 26th, one position ahead of his Hendrick Motorsports teammate Dale Earnhardt Jr.
Dave Blaney, Joe Nemechek, Kevin Lepage, J.J. Yeley, Brian Keselowski and Mike Bliss failed to qualify.
Saturday's 500-lap race at Bristol is scheduled to start shortly after 7:30 p.m. (et).
<< Favre to play Sunday vs. 49ers
Eden Prairie, MN (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Though he has officially been back for
several days, Minnesota quarterback Brett Favre will play in the Vikings'
preseason game Sunday at San Francisco.
Vikings head coach Brad Childress said Frid
<< Penguins sign Asham away from divisional rival Flyers
Pittsburgh, PA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Pittsburgh Penguins have signed
forward Arron Asham to a one-year, $700,000 contract.
The 32-year-old posted 10 goals and 14 assists in 72 regular-season games for
Philadelphia last season an
<< Federer lands in Cincy SFs
Mason, OH (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Roger Federer was a straight-set quarterfinal
winner Friday at the $3 million Western & Southern Financial Group Masters, a
U.S. Open Series event.
The third-seeded Federer got past sixth-seeded Russian Nikol
<< Snedeker ties Atwal for Wyndham lead
Greensboro, NC (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Former champion Brandt Snedeker carded a
five-under 65 on Friday to tie Arjun Atwal for the 36-hole lead at the Wyndham
Championship.
Atwal, the first-round leader, had a 67 to match Snedeker at 12-under
Manuel: Bay likely to be sidelined the rest of the year >>
Pittsburgh, PA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - New York Mets manager Jerry Manuel indicated
on Friday he does not expect Jason Bay to return to the team this season due
to the concussion he suffered in late July.
Bay has not resumed baseball activit
Clemens gives interview a day following indictment >>
Boston, MA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Speaking publicly for the first time since being
indicted by a federal grand jury for making false statements to Congress
about using performance-enhancing drugs, Roger Clemens said several times he
is look
A-Rod pulled from game after one at-bat >>
Bronx, NY (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Alex Rodriguez returned to the New York Yankees'
lineup on Friday against Seattle, but was pulled for a pinch-hitter after just
one at-bat.
Rodriguez hadn't played in the last three games because of a strained le
UIC tabs Howard Moore as new head coach >>
Chicago, IL (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The University of Illinois at Chicago has named
Howard Moore, a University of Wisconsin assistant coach, as the school's new
head basketball coach.
The 37-year-old Moore, a native of Chicago, grew up a few b
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.
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