Busch brothers tops in qualifying at Las Vegas

Autoracing Betting Lines

02/27/2009 - Las Vegas, NV (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Kyle Busch won the pole at his hometrack, Las Vegas Motor Speedway, for the second year in a row, while his elder brother, Kurt Busch, posted the second best lap in Friday's qualifying for the Shelby 427.

Kyle Busch set a new track qualifying record with a lap of 29.033 seconds (185.995 m.p.h.). However, the Joe Gibbs Racing driver will have to start the Sprint Cup Series race from the rear of the field after an engine change prior to qualifying.

"We're just going to buy our time and race the 427 miles," Busch said. "All the guys on this team did an awesome job changing the engine today. We look forward to hopefully being able to do it on Sunday."

The pole victory was Busch's fifth in his Sprint Cup career.

Kurt Busch will now lead the 43-car field to the green flag after recording a lap of 29.078 seconds.

The last time brothers qualified on the front row for a Cup race occurred in April 2000 when Rusty Wallace won the pole and Kenny Wallace secured the outside pole at Martinsville Speedway.

Jimmie Johnson qualified third at Las Vegas, followed by David Reutimann and Marcos Ambrose.

Ryan Newman, Kasey Kahne, Mark Martin, Kevin Harvick and Tony Stewart completed the top-10.

Other drivers of note and their starting positions include: Carl Edwards (16th), Greg Biffle (24th), Jeff Gordon (28th), Dale Earnhardt, Jr. (31st) and Matt Kenseth (40th).

Jeremy Mayfield and Scott Riggs were among the eight drivers who failed to qualify. Both drivers raced their way into the Daytona 500 earlier this month. Other drivers missing the field were: Travis Kvapil, Dave Blaney, Mike Garvey, Sterling Marlin, Tony Raines and Dexter Bean.

After winning the Daytona 500 and the Auto Club 500 at California, Kenseth will attempt to become the first driver in NASCAR history to win the first three Cup races of the season. Kenseth currently holds an 81-point lead over Gordon in the series standings. He won back-to-back races at Las Vegas from 2003-04.

"I didn't think we would have won the first two races, so I haven't really thought about the third," Kenseth said. "Hopefully we can get our car to handle good this weekend and have a shot. The pit crew has been operating at an extremely high level, and so have all the guys getting the cars to handle and run - the engine guys and everything - so I feel like we have the tools to be competitive and we'll just try to be as competitive as we can and hopefully be somewhere in position at the end."

Roush Fenway Racing has been dominant at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, with the team's six victories best compared to Hendrick Motorsports' four wins since the series started racing there in 1998.

Gordon, who is coming off a second-place finish at California, is eager to snap his winless streak, which now stretches to 43 races. He won at Las Vegas in 2001, the same year he captured his fourth Cup championship.

Edwards won last year's event at Las Vegas.

The green flag for Sunday's race is scheduled to drop around 4:30 p.m. (et).

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Big 12 Conference betting odds

Work left to do: Texas Tech, Oklahoma State, Kansas State

Texas joins Texas A&M and Kansas as locks after getting league win No. 11. Texas Tech greatly helped its own hopes and crippled OK State's with the two-point win Saturday. Is K-State the last reasonable hopeful? Could be an elimination match in Stillwater on Tuesday, at least for the Cowboys.

Work left to do:

Texas Tech [18-11 (7-7), RPI: 44, SOS: 12] A critical two-point win over OK State leaves the Red Raiders with Baylor and at Iowa State left. Get both and the Red Raiders likely are good to go. Get one and there could be some interesting comparisons with a K-State team that could finish two or three games "ahead" of them in the standings but doesn't have any of the quality wins Texas Tech has. Not a lot in nonconference play (against Arkansas in Little Rock being the best win, by far) to lean on.

Oklahoma State [18-9 (5-8), RPI: 50, SOS: 35] Still without a road win, the Cowboys now need to win two on the road just to get to .500 in conference play. It's hard to recall a team (OK, other than Clemson) falling so precipitously from lock status to almost certainly out of the NCAAs at this point. There are wins to be had in the last three, including a very big home game against K-State on Tuesday, but this team is reeling. Can you tell the pressure to win is getting to them with the way the final possession played out at Texas Tech? There are some good nonconference performances to lean on, specifically beating Missouri State and Syracuse on neutral floors and Pitt in OK City, but if the Pokes don't right this very, very soon, that won't be enough.

Kansas State [20-9 (9-5), RPI: 56, SOS: 96] It pays to be in the Big 12 North. The nine league wins are Colorado (twice), Missouri (twice), Iowa State (twice), Baylor, Nebraska and (a good one against) Texas. That helps explain the middling computer profile. The win over USC is nice, but the nonconference leaves a lot to be desired. The game at OK State in Stillwater on Tuesday is huge, as it could KO the Cowboys and leave K-State with a home date against Oklahoma with which to work.


American Idol Betting Season 6 Strategies  

It's that time of year folks.  Betting on American Idol Season 9.  And we have plenty of American Idol Season 6 strategies appearing below.  With the Top 24 finalists revealed, online gambling sites will be offering betting odds on each of them, including MySportsbook.com.

No other “event” has been growing as fast as wagering on American Idol. It has turned into a huge betting event with reasonably high limits and all sorts of profit-making potential for sharp bettors. Last year, MySportsbook.com experienced unprecedented traffic as a result of the American Idol betting craze.

Every week there will be odds to win American Idol, various elimination props and contestant versus contestant match-ups at the MySportsbook.com website.

Whether a fan of America’s top-rated show or watching only because of a wife or girlfriend, here are some of basic strategies to use when betting American Idol.

Odds to Win

There are a few things to consider when looking for the right win bet. First off, remember that this bet is for the long haul. Many people make the mistake of picking the performer who sang the best the previous week. This strategy leads to an underlay situation – betting a price, which is less than what it should be.

All Idol contestants struggle at some point in the competition, so you should always look for value. In last year’s competition alone, two performers who had some of the best performances early in the series were subsequently bet down to low prices - Lisa Tucker and Ace Young. After just a few weeks, Tucker had already been eliminated, while Young quickly became a huge long shot to win America’s largest talent search.

A better strategy is to look for performers who don’t necessarily get the praise from the judges, but show flashes of the talent necessary to go the distance.

Another important thing to remember when betting any contestant to win is the demographic breakdown of the voters, the viewing public and potential future CD purchasers. Unlike sporting events, American Idol is not decided on the field of play – it’s decided by the American public under the guiding influence of the shows producers.

Understand that the great state of Alabama has a mighty edge when it comes to American Idol. 

Therefore, to be successful betting on American Idol, put any personal opinions or prejudices aside and think like the majority of the voting public. Remember that the typical voter is young, female and quite often, Southern.

If a contestant cannot appeal to this demographic, no matter how much talent he or she possesses, they’ll struggle for votes. Looks, demeanor and charisma are extremely important. And it’s no coincidence that every Idol winner so far has hailed from a Southern state.

Elimination Props

Every week MySportsbook.com anticipates offering a prop on who’ll be eliminated from the show each Wednesday night. A suggestion to handicap this is to gauge an overall feel for who’s the least popular contestant left in the competition. Generally the least popular performers have recently appeared in the bottom three and will have been the target of repeated criticism from the judges.

Last year, resources included dialidol.com and votefortheworst.com. Dialidol.com measures the volume of each contestant’s voting line. While by no means a perfect science, it does give a good indication of who is generating votes and who isn’t. Meanwhile, votefortheworst.com is a site that attempts to build support for the worst competitor to keep them in the competition for ‘entertainment’ value. The site has a proven track record of keeping performers around who most feel should have been voted off a long time ago.

Contestant vs. Contestant Match-ups

The best strategy for doing well on match-ups is to assess how close either of the contestants is to being eliminated. If neither is expected to be voted off of the show in the coming weeks, the value is almost always on the underdog. If both are expecting an imminent exit in the near future, the favorite in the match-up might offer value.

Watch for American Idol betting odds on each of the contestants shortly and good luck with these American Idol betting strategies.

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