Gordon reigns supreme at Pocono

Autoracing Betting Lines

06/11/2007 - Long Pond, PA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Steve Letarte made the right calls and got Jeff Gordon out front when the rains came to capture Sunday's rain-delayed Pocono 500 at the Pocono Raceway. The No.24 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet crossed the finish line ahead of Ryan Newman.

The victory was Gordon's fourth of the season and 79th of his Nextel Cup career.

"You need to be talking to Steve Letarte, he won this race," said Gordon. "We had a great race car, but without track position and without a great call like that...I can't believe we won this race."

Newman brought the field to the green flag after more than a three-hour rain delay, but it was Denny Hamlin that led the first lap. The winner of both races at Pocono in 2006, took up right where he left off.

Hamlin opened up a half-a-second lead over Kyle Busch as Newman faded to fourth. Then Stewart took up chase, passing Busch for second. Busch couldn't keep pace and fell more than two seconds behind the two leaders through the first dozen laps.

Martin Truex Jr., last week's winner at Dover, displayed his new-found confidence by slipping past Busch for third place, but he was more than four seconds behind Hamlin's torrid pace.

Hamlin maintained his one-second lead on Stewart through the first 25 laps. Truex Jr. was four seconds and the remainder of the field was six or more seconds back.

Hamlin brought the FedEx Chevrolet down pit lane on lap 27 for his scheduled first stop. When he came out, he wasn't as dominant. He and Stewart exchanged the lead a couple of times. And Truex Jr. was the fastest of the three, chopping a couple of seconds of the lead.

Robby Gordon blew a left-front tire on lap 49 to bring out the first caution of the afternoon. Hamlin didn't want, or need, any changes and the team got him off pit lane first.

After the pit stops, Newman's No.12 Penske Dodge seemed to awaken. On lap 55 he got around Hamlin for the lead. He was still in the lead when Dave Blaney slammed the outside wall.

There was a report of rain in the area and during the next round of stops there were a multitude of strategies. Jeff Gordon found himself out front by not pitting. But the faster cars weren't that far away. Newman was fifth, Stewart started eighth and Truex 11th. Hamlin had a slower stop, after taking four tires and restarted in 21st.

Hamlin was flying and in the first four laps he passed nine cars. With the rain in the distance, did he have enough time to get back into the lead?

The No.11 Joe Gibbs Racing Chevy cracked the top-10 on lap 78. Gordon was still leading, but Newman was chopping into the lead and Stewart was fourth. Truex Jr. was right there too, in fifth.

At the 80-lap mark, Gordon's lead over teammate Casey Mears was 1.238 seconds. On the next lap Newman got underneath Mears for second and took off after Gordon.

Gordon pitted on lap 83 and Newman inherited the lead. Stewart was in second and Truex Jr. was right on his rear bumper. Hamlin, the fastest car on the track, was up to eighth. He moved into the top-five on lap 85.

Newman held more than one second on Truex Jr. and Stewart was about two seconds back. Hamlin got around Matt Kenseth on lap 87 for fourth, but he was 7.941 seconds behind Newman.

Jimmie Johnson blew a left-front tire on lap 91 and a lot of cars ducked down pit lane. Newman, Dale Earnhardt Jr., Stewart and Truex Jr stopped.

Hamlin stayed out and took over the top spot. Then he too pitted on lap 93 and returned in 12th.

When would the rains come?

Now Edwards was in the lead...and yelling that he saw rain drops. Gordon was in second and Mears in third. Edwards held a 12-second lead over Gordon, but he pitted for fuel two laps from the halfway point.

Gordon had the lead and he could stay out until lap 114. Newman was faster than Mears and got around him for second place. He was two seconds behind Gordon. Truex was third and Hamlin was still flying and up to sixth.

Then the rains came and the caution flag flew on lap 105. They made one more lap under yellow and then the red flag ended the day.

Truex Jr., Mears and Stewart completed the top-five.

Gordon will leave the track with a 242-point lead over Matt Kenseth. Hamlin is third, 247 points back.

Next week the series travels to Brooklyn, MI for a race at the two-mile Michigan International Speedway on Sunday, June 24th.

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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.

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