Dillon claims first truck win at Iowa

Autoracing Betting Lines

07/11/2010 - Newton, IA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Rookie Austin Dillon became a first time winner in the Camping World Truck Series by taking Sunday's Lucas Oil 200 at Iowa Speedway.

Dillon, the grandson of NASCAR multi-team owner Richard Childress, put on a dominating performance by leading 187 of 205 laps. However, he had to hold off Johnny Sauter in a green-white-checkered finish to capture his first truck win in just 12 starts. Jason White blew a right-front tire in the closing laps, which setup the two-lap overtime finish.

"This truck was awesome," Dillon said. "By that last restart, I knew it wasn't going to be that easy. My grandpa [Richard Childress] kept telling me what line to choose, and I was saying, 'that's alright; we're going to win the race.' You got to have confidence, and that's what we had."

Dillon made his series debut last September in the inaugural race at Iowa.

Childress, the owner of Dillon's No.3 Chevrolet, arrived at the 0.875-mile track earlier in the day after Saturday night's Sprint Cup Series race at Chicagoland Speedway, which was won by David Reutimann. Dillon drives the same number made famous by Dale Earnhardt, who won six of his seven Cup titles with Childress.

"It really is special," Childress said. "Dale would be proud. I got pictures of Dale holding him in winners' circle, and he would be proud to see Austin do this."

At the age of 20 years, two months and 37 days, Dillon became the second youngest race winner in series history. Kyle Busch holds the record as the youngest driver to win a truck race at 20 years and 18 days.

"I just wanted to do it for the fans of this 3," Dillon said. "This 3 is a good number to run, and I'm glad I'm running it. I feel very fortunate. I want to win a lot, and hopefully this is the first one of many."

Dillon set a series record on Saturday when he became the first rookie to win three consecutive poles. He also started on the pole at Texas and Michigan prior to Iowa.

Sauter finished second, while Matt Crafton, Ken Schrader and James Buescher completed the top-five.

"When you get that close like we did a couple of weeks ago when we finished second at Texas, you just want to win them; nonetheless, it wasn't meant to be," Sauter said.

While Dillon took the checkered flag at Iowa, the top-four drivers in points -- Todd Bodine, Aric Almirola, Ron Hornaday Jr. and Timothy Peters -- had their share of problems on the track.

Despite finishing 17th, Bodine widened his lead to 88 points over Almirola, who won the last truck race in June at Michigan. Bodine was caught up in a multi-car incident which occurred just after a restart on lap 113. Donny Lia made contact with the wall and bumped into Brian Ickler, who then put newcomer Greg Pursley into a spin. During the incident, Hornaday Jr. got hit from behind and then rammed into Bodine. Hornaday, the four-time and defending series champion, suffered heavy damage to his truck and wound up finishing 24th.

"Somebody checked up there," Hornaday said. "I got to the outside, and somebody shot low, and they socked me in the front."

Almirola was running in fourth when he blew a tire and slammed into the wall on lap 75. Almirola's Billy Ballew Motorsports teammate Steve Wallace also cut a tire and hit the wall earlier in the race.

"These are the kind of days we're trying to avoid," said Almirola, who finished 28th. "We felt like we had a really good truck."

Peters suffered engine failure just past the half-way point and ended up finishing 27th.

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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.