Wheldon opens IndyCar season with pole win

Autoracing Betting Lines

03/24/2007 - Homestead, FL (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Dan Wheldon captured the rain-delayed pole for Saturday's XM Satellite Radio Indy 300 race. The No.10 Target Chip Ganassi Racing driver circled the 1.5-mile oval in 24.9438 seconds (214.322 m.p.h.).

The pole speed was less than last year's winning pole speed of 218.539 set by Sam Hornish Jr. last year. The victory was the fifth of Wheldon's IndyCar career.

"It was good (his pole run)," said Wheldon. "Everybody at Target Chip Ganassi Racing has been working very hard over the winter."

Starting on the front row with Wheldon will be Sam Hornish Jr. who posted a second-best time of 24.9466 seconds.

Dario Franchitti (25.0147) and Tony Kanaan (25.1276) make up row two. Marco Andretti (25.1276) and Wheldon's teammate Scott Dixon (25.1301) will be just behind them.

Hornish Jr. won the 2006 title by the thinnest of margins - a tiebreaker over Wheldon. Both drivers finished the season with 475 points, but the Defiance, OH native took the title by virtue of his four wins to Wheldon's two.

Hornish Jr. has spent some of his off-season testing the NASCAR waters. So far this season the three-time IndyCar Series champion has run three times in the Busch Series finishing 31st at Daytona, 35th at California and a solid 15th in Atlanta.

"I think we had a top-10 car, but to be able to go a lap down, come back late in the race, get back on the lead lap and give ourselves an opportunity to move up in the top-15 was good," said Hornish Jr. after Atlanta. "It's the best finish we've had so far, so we can't be too disappointed."

He has also announced that he would like to run the Nextel Cup race at Indianapolis. But his first priority in 2007 is defending his championship.

"I'm really excited about getting going in the IndyCar Series and for the kickoff this year," said Hornish Jr. in a recent teleconference interview.

Hornish Jr. will again have to fend off teammate Helio Castroneves (finished third just two points back) along with Wheldon and his Target Chip Ganassi Racing teammate Dixon. Wheldon won the title in 2005 with Andretti Green Racing and Dixon won the championship in 2003.

All four should be right there again in 2007.

Another big question in 2007 is can AGR rebound from an off-year to compete for the championship? The team has plenty of talent in 2004 IndyCar champion Kanaan, Andretti, Danica Patrick and Franchitti.

The race will begin on Saturday at 8 p.m. (et).

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MySportsbook.com: New College Football Clock Rules Examined

Coaches and bettors alike are desperate to make sense of the new time-keeping rules on the NCAA gridiron. One of the big stories to come out of the Ohio State-Texas clash last weekend was Texas coach Mack Brown's criticism of the NCAA's new clock rules that are intended to shorten the duration of college football games, therefore affecting college football betting.

"They scored with six minutes left and the game was over before we had a chance to do anything," Brown told ESPN.com. "I really hope whoever made these changes will go back and look them over."

Sure, it might be sour grapes; the Buckeyes thoroughly trounced the defending national champion Longhorns 24-7. However, Brown isn't alone in giving the changes their due thought. Bettors are also wondering about them, albeit for a completely different reason. Most experts agree that the changes will result in games being shortened by anywhere from 10 to 20 plays. The obvious consequence is lower scores, with more time rolling off the clock during changes of possession. (The Ohio State-Texas game flew well under the total of 52.)

According to research at the online sportsbook MySportsbook.com, more than 18 plays a game disappeared last weekend into thin air. That's a 10-percent reduction. In 2005, a typical game had 168.58 plays. For 2007 already, it's down to 150.26.

As a result, teams combined to gain an average of about 100 fewer yards a game last weekend versus the 2005 openers. Scoring was also down by about 4.5 points (attention Las Vegas sports lines).

Of course, oddsmakers were able to adjust to the changes before the season started. Proof of that came as the over went a balanced 8-9 at My Sportsbook on Saturday.

Other angles to consider:A shorter game should theoretically result in shorter lines. Whereas Team A might have been a 14-point favorite in a 168-play game (last year), if there are 10 percent less snaps in 2007, the line should also be reduced by 10 percent (to 13 or 12.5). Of course, this is an over-simplification of the matter, but something to keep in mind.
Less possessions means a better chance the game will be decided by three or seven points. For example, what might have been a 20-10 final score in 2005 may end at

17-10 in 2007. Granted, a 24-17 game last year might end at 21-17 these days, but the former - a three- or seven-point advantage being preserved as opposed to created - is the most likely scenario.

*UPDATE* - Sept. 25, 2007

New Clock Rules Boon for online bookmakers

By adjusting the time-keeping rules to shorten the duration of college football games, the NCAA hoped to make its product more enjoyable for the fans. While the NCAA's success in this regard is still up for debate, bookmakers couldn't be happier with the results.

"We are seeing a massive jump in college football betting," noted the MySportsbook.com management team. "With all the early Saturday games (12 a.m. ET) ending before the second wave begins (3:30 p.m. ET) - something that didn't always happen before the changes - bettors are now able to re-invest their winnings from the morning session in the afternoon games."

While not all bettors will choose to roll over their winnings, it doesn't take much for an impact to be seen on the bottom line. "Not all of the millions of dollars in morning payouts get re-bet. In fact, it's probably only 10 to 20 percent," noted the sportsbook management team. "Still, the increased football betting lines window will create a ton of growth for us over the course of the season."

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