Biffle leads 1-2-3 sweep in Texas qualifying

Autoracing Betting Lines

11/04/2011 - Fort Worth, TX (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Greg Biffle claimed the pole for the AAA Texas 500 after beating his Roush Fenway Racing teammate, David Ragan, by the slimmest of margins in Friday's qualifying at Texas Motor Speedway.

Biffle, who was quickest in practice earlier in the day, turned a lap at 193.736 mph around the fast 1.5-mile track for his third pole of the season and the ninth of his Sprint Cup Series career. He won the spring 2005 race at Texas.

"Being a former winner here and running good at this racetrack, that gives me a lot of confidence going into this weekend," Biffle said. "The car was really fast right off the track."

Biffle's lap, the fastest in all of the Sprint Cup qualifying sessions so far this year, was only 0.001 seconds quicker than Ragan's lap.

"I didn't really think we would have a shot at the pole going into qualifying," Ragan said. "That was close. I told Greg that he just barely beat me. That's cool to be that fast in qualifying."

Biffle and Ragan are not in this year's Chase for the Sprint Cup championship field.

Matt Kenseth, also from Roush Fenway, was the highest finishing Chase driver in qualifying with a third-place showing. Kenseth won here in April.

Paul Menard took the fourth spot, while Tony Stewart, who won last Sunday at Martinsville, qualified fifth.

David Reutimann, Carl Edwards, the current points leader, Brad Keselowski, Kasey Kahne and Regan Smith completed the top-10.

With three races to go, Edwards holds just an eight-point advantage over Stewart. Edwards has the most victories at Texas with three.

"We wanted to be a little bit better than that," Edwards said after his seventh-place finish in qualifying. "It is a good starting spot. We focused hard on qualifying here. We had an opportunity to go out there and sit on the pole. And now we just work on the race trim."

Kevin Harvick, who is 21 points behind Edwards, qualified 21st. Keselowski is 27 points out of the lead, while Kenseth trails his teammate by 36 markers.

David Stremme, David Starr and Reed Sorenson failed to qualify.

Sunday's 500-mile race at Texas is scheduled to start just after 3:00 p.m. (et).

Wwwtom Autoracing Betting News

<< Mainz tops Stuttgart to end eight-game skid
Mainz, Germany (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Anthony Ujah scored two goals in the second half and Mainz ended an eight-match winless skid with a 3-1 win over Stuttgart on Friday at Coface Arena in the Bundesliga. Germany international Cacau handed Stu

<< My Miss Aurelia takes Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies
Louisville, KY (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - My Miss Aurelia, ridden by Corey Nakatani, won going away in Friday's $2 million Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies at Churchill Downs. The two-year-old filly, trained by Steve Asmussen, ran the 1 1/16-

<< Set pieces key in Sporting clash with Houston
Kansas City, KS (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Sporting Kansas City is set to host the Houston Dynamo in the Eastern Conference Final on Sunday with both teams hitting stride at just the right time. Including its final regular season matche

<< Levante, Valencia ready for derby
Valencia, Spain (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Levante lost its grip on first place in La Liga last weekend, and hosts Valencia on Saturday in the Valencia derby with a lot on the line for the European hopefuls. Levante finally slipped behind Real Madr

<< Musical Romance upsets in Filly and Mare Sprint
Louisville, KY (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Longshot Musical Romance drove along the inside to capture the $1 million Breeders' Cup Filly and Mare Sprint at Churchill Downs. Ridden by Juan Leyva, the four-year-old filly covered the seven-f

Perfect Shirl surprises to win Filly and Mare Turf >>
Louisville, KY (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Perfect Shirl came down from Canada to win the $2 million Breeders' Cup Filly and Mare Turf at Churchill Downs. Ridden by John Velazquez, the four-year-old filly covered the 1 3/8-miles in 2:18.62. Trained

Angels name Servais assistant GM >>
Anaheim, CA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Angels have agreed to terms with former major league catcher Scott Servais on a multi-year contract to become assistant general manager of scouting and player development. The deal was announc

Report: Thome to return to Phillies >>
Philadelphia, PA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Jim Thome is reportedly returning to Philadelphia on a one-year contract. Phillies beat writer Todd Zolecki broke the news Friday night. The deal is pending Thome passing a physical exam. Thom

Report: Williams makes racial comment about Woods >>
Shanghai, China (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Steve Williams, the disgruntled former caddie of Tiger Woods, took another shot at the former No. 1 player in the world, although this time he used racial language. According to The Telegraph, Wi

Couples maintains share of lead at Schwab Cup >>
San Francisco, CA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Fred Couples recovered from an opening double-bogey on Friday to shoot a one-under 70, which helped him maintain a share of the lead after two rounds of the Charles Schwab Cup Championship. Couples

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.