Power conquered the courses, but can he survive the ovals?

Autoracing Betting Lines

08/23/2010 - Sonoma, CA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Will Power has undoubtedly established himself as the king of the road/street courses in the IZOD IndyCar Series this year, but can the Team Penske driver hang on to win the series championship with the last four races of the season contested on ovals, beginning with next Saturday night's race at Chicagoland Speedway?

Power won five of the nine road/street course events this season, widening his championship lead to 59 points over defending series titleholder Dario Franchitti after winning Sunday's race at Infineon Raceway at Sonoma in dominating fashion. Power started on the pole for the record eighth time this season, then led all but two of the 75 laps in the final road/street course race of the season.

While Power celebrated his win by toasting the fans with the customary wine goblet in Sonoma's victory circle, he also received the Mario Andretti Road Course Championship award. Two weeks ago, Power finished second at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course and clinched the series' first-ever road/street course title.

Earlier this year, the series sanctioning body, Indy Racing League, announced it would expand its championship format, with the highest-scoring oval and road/street course drivers winning separate titles, beginning this season.

The oval title will be decided in the penultimate race of the season on September 19 at Twin Ring Motegi in Japan. The October 2 season-finale at Homestead-Miami Speedway likely will determine the overall IndyCar champion.

Even though Power showed he was the best on the courses this year, he is not as dominant on the ovals. His best finish in 16 career oval starts is fifth, which came three times, most recently in the June 20 race at Iowa Speedway.

"We've just got to keep going hard, and we can't relax," Power said. "We've got a bit of a buffer now going into those last four ovals, but I'm going to race like I want to win it. I'm going to be like I have been all year -- no mistakes, just get everything right."

Power drove for KV Racing Technology during his 2008 rookie season, but emerged as a superstar in IndyCar when he came on board with Penske for a part-time schedule during the 2009 season. Power first served as substitute driver for Helio Castroneves until his federal tax evasion problems were resolved. Castroneves returned to racing for the second race of the season on the streets of Long Beach, CA, with Power moving to a third Penske entry and running a limited schedule thereafter. He notched his first IndyCar win on the Edmonton street/airport course in July '09.

His successful 2010 came soon after his career nearly came to an end one year ago at Sonoma, where he sustained multiple injuries during a practice crash. He suffered two broken vertebrae and a concussion when his car hit the stalled car of Nelson Philippe, who spun exiting the blind, downhill corner.

Power sat out the remainder of the '09 season, but after making a full recovery, he was elevated to full-time status with Penske for 2010. It's been a remarkable comeback for the 29-year-old Australian, who kicked off this season by winning the March 14 inaugural IndyCar race in Sao Paulo, Brazil. He's the only driver who has led in the championship standings so far this year.

Can Power protect his points lead at Chicagoland, Kentucky Speedway, Motegi and Homestead to capture his first series championship? That will depend on how well Franchitti and his Chip Ganassi Racing teammate, Scott Dixon, perform in the last four races. Dixon, the 2008 IndyCar champion, currently is 95 points behind Power, but remains in the title hunt.

Dixon and Franchitti have dominated the ovals lately. The duo have combined for eight oval wins since they paired at Ganassi at the conclusion of the 2008 season.

"It's a fairly large [points] deficit, but it's four tracks we've run well on," Franchitti said. "We've won at Chicago. [Dixon] won in Japan. We both won at Homestead. We won at Kentucky as a team. I haven't won at Kentucky personally. There's places we can do very well at.

"I don't underestimate the challenge at all. Will is going to be quite strong. People are writing him off because of his lack of experience on the ovals, but he'll be right up there. We have to do a better job. We'll be pushing 100 percent."

After the first four oval races this season -- Kansas Speedway, Indianapolis Motor Speedway, Texas Motor Speedway and Iowa -- Dixon holds a slim three- point advantage over Franchitti in the oval championship battle.

"Both Dario and myself have done extremely well on the one-and-a-half-mile circuits, especially the ones we have left," Dixon said. "I think I have five second-place finishes at Chicago. Hopefully, we can turn that into a win for a change, and try and just keep Will back in the pack and take some points off him."

Dixon and Franchitti have won the IndyCar championship for Ganassi the past two seasons, but is this the year that Penske has the "power" to take the title? The quest to answer that question will sure make things interesting for remainder of the season.

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College Football Betting Tips From a Pro

While the NFL is the sport wagered on the heaviest, college football betting lines has become more and more popular as people realize it’s a game that can be beat. The NCAA football season gets longer each year with the addition of numerous bowl games and with that comes more opportunities for more money in your pocket, if handled correctly.

Betting on college football is not the same as with the NFL, so make sure you separate the two. Because of the vast number of teams, the parity between college football programs is slight and thus, you are going to see some high numbers in the NCAA. Teams favored by more than 40 points are not uncommon especially early in the season when teams playing their non-conference schedules.

The best advice when trying to tackle these enormous spreads and is to just stay away. A team that is favored by 40 points is favored by that many for a reason while teams getting 40 points are bad enough that they shouldn’t be touched. Set yourself a spread limit. Getting rid of these games will cut down on the number of contests that you need to handicap while staying away from backdoor or front-door covers.

What is a backdoor and front-door cover you ask? A backdoor cover is a team that is getting beat by more than the spread, but scores late to get within that number thus covering the spread. A front-door cover is just the opposite where the favorite scores late and covers the number they are favored by.

These front-door and backdoor covers are common when second and third string players enter games in college football and it can be the worst nightmare for some bettors. These players can also be your best friend, but ask any bettor and he will give you more instances on losing in this situation than winning. It just seems to work out that way even though everything evens out in the end.

College football betting has some of the softest lines of any sport and it’s being able to find these lines that will make you a successful college football handicapper. The NFL and NBA have the tightest lines around and while those sports can be beat by looking at situations and systems, college football doesn’t quite work that way. It’s much more manual, but when done correctly, it’s much more gratifying as well.

Getting into the nuts and bolts of college football means looking at the many stats in order to beat the number. As opposed to pro football, college football is less dependent on situations and angles and more on certain statistics. Rushing offense and defense, pass efficiency offense and defense and turnover margins are huge. These are vital in the NFL, but even more so when it comes to college football.

Being able to run the ball in college football has always been a key factor in the overall success of a team. The same adage also goes for teams who have the ability to stop the run. Putting these two factors together can produce some positive results in a team’s record both straight up and against the spread. These numbers show huge differences in teams and the spread may not take those into effect, which is where the value comes into play.

Passing yardage numbers both for and against can be a misinterpreted statistic. However, pass efficiency has always been one of the best ways to look at a teams’ passing game ability both offensively and defensively. But is it really a true indication of how they perform? I wouldn’t say so since they are raw passing numbers with nothing else taken into consideration.

I use pass efficiency ratings when doing my handicapping but I adjust my numbers based on a number of factors including power ratings, strength of schedules, personnel and injuries. This gives a much better picture of a team’s ability to pass effectively and also being able to defend the pass. Tweaking pass efficiency stats instead of raw passing yards is the key.

Turnovers are the single most frustrating, and at times the most gratifying, aspect of a college football lines, mostly because they are so unpredictable. They are part of the game and most of the time nothing can be done to control them. However, turnovers are contagious and they can carry over from game to game and season to season.

It’s important to know how to forecast these unforeseen events and how to use them to your advantage. You can find ways to give yourself an edge by looking at past histories of teams and coaches and how they have fared in turnover wars in the past. Instead of turnovers hurting you at the wrong times, find ways to use them to your advantage.

As you can see, college football handicapping is very labor intensive and isn’t just based on where teams are ranked in the AP and coaches polls. Experience, coaching and match-ups are all important since unlike the NFL, college teams turn over much more often with new personnel at most positions every single year. Keeping current on this information is vital.

Betting NCAA football can be lucrative if done correctly, but more importantly, it’s just plain enjoyable because it can be beat. College football is one of the best sports to watch with some of the best rivalries taking place in all of sports. The only downfall is that a championship isn’t decided on the field but on a computer-based system that is the Bowl Championship Series. That will change someday and we will all be better off for it.

To visit this online sportsbook got to MySportsbook.com for all your NCAA college football betting needs. Mysportsbook.com online sportsbook accepts Visa and Mastercard credit cards.