New car, Danica return to Nationwide in Michigan

Autoracing Betting Lines

08/11/2010 - Brooklyn, MI (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Series: NASCAR Nationwide. Date: Saturday, August 14. Race: CARFAX 250. Site: Michigan International Speedway. Track: two-mile oval. Start time: 2:00 p.m. (et). Laps: 125. Miles: 250. 2009 winner: Brad Keselowski. Television: ESPN. Radio: Motor Racing Network (MRN)/SIRIUS NASCAR Radio.

Nationwide Series teams will run the new car for the second time this weekend at Michigan. The car made its debut last month at Daytona, with Dale Earnhardt Jr. taking the victory in the No.3 Wrangler Chevrolet, a car number and paint scheme made famous by his late-father, Dale Earnhardt. Richmond (September 12) and Charlotte (October 15) are the other tracks scheduled for this car before it's introduced full-time in 2011.

At Daytona, Ford showcased its popular Mustang, while Dodge introduced the Challenger, Chevrolet brought a new model of its Impala, and Toyota kept its standard version of the Camry.

NASCAR is allowing teams to test the car on the two-mile Michigan track in a full-day of practice on Thursday. Teams will practice again the following day for Saturday afternoon's 250-mile race.

Brad Keselowski, the current points leader, returns to his home track with hopes of defending his race title here and giving the new Challenger its first win.

"I think a lot of folks in this series that are competing with this new car are very lost," Keselowski said. "Even at Penske Racing with the resources that we have, it's kind of a free-for-all. So you've got to start somewhere. Fortunately, I have a good place to start with our success at Daytona having two strong cars that qualified on the front row. Hopefully, some of that will carry over."

Keselowski enters Michigan with a very comfortable 327-point lead over Carl Edwards, who the Nationwide race at Michigan in 2008.

After a month hiatus in the series, Danica Patrick returns at Michigan. Patrick last competed in the July 9 race at Chicagoland, where she finished a season-best 24th. The IndyCar star has run in five Nationwide races so far this year. After Michigan, she is scheduled to race at Dover, California, Charlotte, St. Louis, Texas, Phoenix and Homestead.

"I'm thankful for the extended practice sessions NASCAR has given us in Michigan on Thursday," Patrick said. "It's going to be nice to get out there and run these new cars. We've been talking about the new cars so much this year, and now I'll get a chance to shake one down. JR Motorsports has put a lot of effort into its new car program, so I'm hoping we can get the most out of it in Michigan."

Forty-four teams are on the preliminary entry list for the CARFAX 250.

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SPORTS BETTING - Tennis is an underrated and under-utilized bettors' sport.

Ten years ago, at just about this time, I called Alan Boston in Vegas and left him a voicemail that went something like this (abridged version): "Hey Alan, Chad Millman from ESPN The Magazine calling. I want to do a book about wise guys, you in?"

A couple weeks later I got a message back (abridged version): "I don't know, maybe," Boston said. "Call me and we'll talk about it. But not later today. I got $1,000 on Andre Agassi to win the French Open at 40-1, and he's in the finals."

Here's what happened next (abridged version): Agassi won his tourney. Boston won his $40,000. I wrote sportsbook.

In the ten years since, how much has been wagered on the big-time tennis events? Put it this way: The Nevada Gaming Commission doesn't even track the number year by year because it's so small.

"Tennis makes up about one-tenth of one percent of our take," says Lucky's bookmaking boss Jimmy Vaccaro. "The last big golf major we probably had $100,000 worth of bets. In tennis, we might have written two big tickets."

Tennis' lack of popularity amongst the American bettoratti is no surprise, really. For starters, the biggest sports betting holidays -- the Super Bowl, the NCAA tourney -- are must see TV. People, at least the degenerates I know, plan vacations around watching those events in Vegas sports books.

But Wimbledon? Doesn't exactly reel in the whales. "Seriously, it's the nuts as an event," says Boston. "But who even knows when it's on?"

Here's another reason that helps explain why golf gets traction, something I call "The Bubbe Theory." My Bubbe is pushing 95 and has cataracts so bad that, to her, even the most crystalline Chicago day is mostly cloudy. But she still listens to the Cubs games, and she still calls me in a fit if she disagrees with something Rick Telander writes in the Chicago Sun Times. She's a sports fan. If she doesn't know you, you're just filling a niche. And niche players, even historically good ones like Roger and Raf, don't drive betting volume. Only the highest profile names attract square money, which inflates wagering totals like a shot of saline to the lips. Bubbe, and the public, loved Agassi, tennis' last cross-the-rubicon, mainstream draw. She also has a crush on Tiger. She's given me standing orders to put a sawbuck on the big cat whenever I walk through a sports book (or mistakenly tap into one via my Internet machine.) That explains why the Masters is getting $100K in action at some books while the four tennis majors might not get that combined this year.

This isn't a case of tennis being a difficult sport to bet. In fact, in Europe, it's probably the second most popular sport for gambling after soccer. Granted, as the WSJ football betting last week and The Mag's Shaun Assael examined in even greater depth last year, that might be because gamblers across the pond see it as an easy game to fix. But it could also be because, over there it holds the kind of sway the big two do over here.

Street corners in Spain are peppered with public courts and kids doing their best Raffy impressions. In some war torn parts of Eastern Europe poverty-stricken kids view tennis as an escape route, like football or basketball here. A couple years ago The Mag's Lindsay Berra wrote a great piece about Belgrade's Jelena Jankovic, Ana Ivanovic and Novak Djokovic. They learned the game as kids while bombs were raining down on their homeland. They practiced in drained swimming pools. Not exactly Nick Bolletierri conditions.

In the United States, casual fans think tennis is played four times a year. But on the tightly packed European continent, national interest in homegrown talent runs deep every weekend. Of the ATP's current top 20 players, only two, tennis betting and James Blake, are American. Fourteen are from Europe, representing six different countries.

No wonder fans from Lisbon to Bhudapest get jacked up for the net game, whether it's Wimbledon or a low-level tourney like the Estoril Open in Portugal (congrats to Spain's Albert Montanes for winning that one, btw). Chances are good that someone representing their flag will not only be playing, but have a shot at winning.

And that's all any bettor can ask for.

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