Bowyer conquers Dover in Nationwide race

Autoracing Betting Lines

09/26/2009 - Dover, DE (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Clint Bowyer grabbed the lead from Kyle Busch with 83 laps remaining and then held off Mike Bliss and Brad Keselowski in a seven-lap shootout to the finish to win Saturday's Dover 200 Nationwide Series race at Dover International Speedway.

Busch, who won at Dover one year ago, had the dominant car for the first half of the 200-lap race but Bowyer came on strong shortly after the midway point and took over from there.

Bowyer, the 2008 Nationwide champion, recorded his second win in his ninth start this season. The Richard Childress Racing driver also posted his eighth career victory, including a win here in September 2006.

"This hasn't been the best year for our Nationwide team," Bowyer said. "[Crew chief] Doug Randolph and the guys on this No.29 team dug deep. This is a new race car."

Bliss, driving the No.11 Toyota CJM Racing Toyota for the first time this season, finished second, while Keselowski came in third. Keselowski bumped Denny Hamlin from behind, sending Hamlin into the inside wall after he was running in the fourth spot. The incident set up the seven-lap sprint to the finish.

"[Denny] left a hole to pass him, and at this level, it's different than other levels because we have spotters, and I know for sure, my guys told me, that his spotter told him I was down there, and he just tried to take advantage of me," Keselowski said. "I'm not going to be pushed around."

At the conclusion of the race, which was threatened by incoming rain, Hamlin waited for Keselowski on pit road, but both teams prevented any post-race altercations that might have occurred.

"[Brad] has no idea how to race," said Hamlin, who finished 27th. "He'll get a ride and hang around for a couple of years. Then people will realize that he's not really that good."

Keselowski will move over to the Sprint Cup Series next year, driving the No.12 Penske Racing Dodge, which is currently occupied by David Stremme.

Busch encountered radio issues and had difficulty communicating to his team throughout the race. He also dealt with a loose car in the late stages before he wound up with a fourth-place finish.

"We had a great car in the beginning," said Busch, who started on the pole and led a race-high 109 laps. "We might have started off a little bit tighter than everybody else, but the more the race went on the looser we got for some reason."

Busch became the second driver in NASCAR's second-tier series to lead more than 2,000 laps for the season. Sam Ard led a total of 2,099 laps during his 28-race championship season in 1984. Busch also padded his lead to 211 points over Carl Edwards, who finished fifth.

Jason Leffler, Reed Sorenson, Scott Speed, David Reutimann and Jason Keller completed the top-10.

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MySportsbook.com favors Bears, Bengals, Chargers and Colts to remain perfect

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To visit this online sportsbook got to MySportsbook.com for all your NFL football betting needs.

Horse Betting

(This is an update of a sportsbook for the May 4th issue of ESPN The Magazine).

The Kentucky Derby's post-position draw happened on Wednesday. And, as is always the case, shortly afterwards, a buzz raced around Churchill Downs. It was a low rumble at first, nothing that the squares in the mint julep crowd pick up right away. But by the time the sun set over the twin spires, the chatter was impossible to ignore. Everyone -- sharps, trainers, owners -- was talking about one thing: the wise guy horse, the pre-draw long shot us mopes didn't have on our radar until it was too late.

"You think you're hearing the scoop," says handicapper Lane Gold. "Then you get to the window, the odds are short, and you missed it."

Recognizing a wise-guy horse early is as hard as picking a Derby bonnet. That's because handicappers don't like hype (see ya, I Want Revenge). They want Thoroughbreds who look good losing prep races like the Santa Anita Derby. They eye horses who ate up the field after starting wide or made an easy transition from synthetic tracks to dirt. They look for ponies who showed muscle gain race to race and those who ran hard after several weeks' rest.

"A wise guy," says John Avello, a bookmaker at Wynn Las Vegas, "looks for a horse who can improve."

When I first wrote Horse Betting for The Mag, which I turned in a three weeks before Wednesday's draw, I predicted these three horses had wise guy potential:

CHOCOLATE CANDY (15-1 in mid-April, currently 20-1 according to Avello): His second-place finish at Santa Anita, following a seven-week layoff, proved two things: He can run after resting, and -- by losing a high-profile prep race -- he wouldn't be overhyped.

DESERT PARTY (15-1; 15-1): He was upset in the UAE Derby by a horse he had beaten twice. The public remembers his loss, but the wise guys his wins.

PIONEEROF THE NILE (8-1; 4-1): The big favorite at Santa Anita struggled to win, so he initially got less hype than Quality Road and I Want Revenge.

You may have noticed that the odds on Pioneerof the Nile have been cut in half, from 8-1 to 4-1. Which means the wise guys took a shine to him long before the post-position draw. But, to be honest, this is one of those years with four elite horses getting everyone's attention, squares and sharps alike.

"You're not gonna get a lot of chatter about a horse that isn't in that group, which includes Pioneer, I Want Revenge, Dunkirk and Friesan Fire," Avello told me Wednesday. "We don't have a group of horses behind those top four who look like real legit contenders."

Come Derby week, the final two elements in picking a wise guy horse are how he's working out and what gate he's coming out of.

(By the way, picking a Preakness favorite is a whole different bale of hay, partially based on how horses finish in the Derby. You can see my analysis of who has the best shot at Pimlico on Insider Sunday morning.)

Well, early in the week I Want Revenge, Pioneerof the Nile and Friesan Fire were working out better than anyone. Some thought Friesan Fire, currently 6-1, might have run too fast, burning a five-furlong run in :57 4/5. "When you are running that fast you have the sense that it took something out of him," says Gold. "The Derby is longer than any horse has run, and if they need that extra surge you worry they won't have it because they burned it in the workout."

But, Gold points out, Friesan Fire's trainer is Larry Jones, Two years ago his horse Hard Spun did a five-eighths workout in :57 3/5 and then went on to finish second, behind Street Sense, in the Derby. "Every trainer has different methods," says Gold. "And clearly he knows what he's doing."

Now, as for starting position, Gold says to remember this: Churchill Downs traditionally has 14 starting gates. For the Derby, it brings out auxiliary gates and between the original 14th gate and the new 15th gate, there is a little more space than there is between gates 1-14. "That 15 position will give you a precious second or two to sort out what's happening to your inside," says Gold. "Sixteen is also okay because you can follow the horse in front of you."

Dunkirk, one of the race favorites, is coming out of gate 15. In 16 is Baffert's Pioneerof the Nile. I Want Revenge drew 13, where Smarty Jones won from in 2004, and Friesan Fire picked the sixth position. "He doesn't have a lot of speed to the inside of him," says Gold. "So he will get a clear shot to be near the front."

All the jibber-jabber means this: Pioneerof the Nile has leapfrogged from 8-1 to being the second favorite, along with Dunkirk, behind I Want Revenge. Meanwhile, Friesan Fire, with a good trainer, a strong week of training and a decent post position, is still at 6-1. "By Saturday, it's possible he could go from fourth to the favorite," says Gold.

In other words, meet Friesan Fire, your 2009 wise guy horse.

"Now," says Avello, "it's time for action."

To visit this horse betting site go to MySportsbook.com for all your horse racing betting needs.