Hamlin captures first Truck Series win at Martinsville

Autoracing Betting Lines

10/29/2011 - Martinsville, VA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Virginia-native Denny Hamlin became a first-time race winner in the Camping World Truck Series by taking Saturday's Kroger 200 at Martinsville Speedway.

Hamlin, a Sprint Cup Series regular, dove underneath points leader Austin Dillon and Ron Hornaday Jr. during a three-wide pass for the lead just after a restart with 14 laps remaining. His first win came in his 12th truck start.

He drove the No.18 Toyota for Kyle Busch Motorsports. Hamlin and Busch are teammates at Joe Gibbs Racing.

"I can't say enough for everyone here at KBM and for Kyle letting me drive this truck," Hamlin said. "It really means a lot to me to get my first truck victory."

Hamlin became the 23rd different driver to win a race in each of NASCAR's three national touring series. He has four Sprint Cup victories at this 0.526- mile track.

"I just gave it everything I had during the last 50 laps; it was the hardest 50 laps I've ever driven at Martinsville," he said.

Hornaday finished second, while Dillon took the third spot. Johnny Sauter and rookie Joey Coulter rounded out the top-five.

Kevin Harvick, Cale Gale, Timothy Peters, Brendan Gaughan and James Buescher finished sixth through 10th, respectively.

With two races remaining, Dillon holds an 11-point lead over Buescher. Hornaday and Sauter are both 15 points behind.

"It was wild," Dillon said. "There were a lot of wrecks, and there weren't that many cautions thrown...I really had fun today. We finished third, and it was good for us in points."

Hornaday has finished either first or second in the last four races, as he continues his surge towards a record-extending fifth championship in the series.

"It was a great day," he said. "Stupid me, I started the race and forgot to turn the blowers on for about 30 laps, and I lost my pedal. Luckily, the yellow came out, and it came back a little bit."

The 200-lap race at Martinsville featured nine cautions for 50 laps. One of the cautions involved Germain Racing teammates Todd Bodine and Max Papis. Bodine got into the back of Papis and turned him around. Both drivers tangled again on pit road shortly after their incident.

"I can deal with things on the racetrack, but when you put a pit crew in danger on pit road for absolutely no reason, especially with a teammate, I just can't stand that," Bodine said. "I used to be that guy out there changing the tires. I did that for many years. That's a dangerous place enough without having a driver doing dumb things like that."

Bodine finished 11th, while Papis settled for 18th. There was no altercation between the two after the race had concluded.

The series will run at Texas on Friday and then conclude its season on November 19 at Homestead.

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Betting the NFL preseason

Rule No. 1 in the gamblers' handbook states, "Avoid sports betting on meaningless games."

When you're drowning in a sea of baseball monotony, however, things change. Even a hint of pro football betting can persuade the most disciplined bettor to break a few rules. 

The NFL preseason is around the corner, with a tempting Hall of Fame match kicking off on Sunday. But bettors must stay vigilant. Wagering on NFL exhibition games is an entirely different beast than the regular season. Most fans don't recognize the players on the field because starters get as much action in August as Warcraft fans get on Prom night.

The only certainty about the NFL this time of year is uncertainty – and yet there are some who say betting in August can be a gold mine.

“I actually feel the NFL preseason presents solid profit opportunities for sharp bettors and handicappers,” Sports Expert Steve Merril explains. “My experience has been that the sportsbooks fear the preseason, which is evident by lower limits and massive moves.”

The line moves are attributed to the limited knowledge available regarding playing-time distribution. One team’s top unit out on the field for one more series has an impact on the pointspread. Setting lines in the preseason often is a shot in the dark.

“We base the betting lines mostly on public perception,” Pete Korner, founder of the Sports Club in Las Vegas, says. “It’s very tough to predict, almost a guessing game.”

The preseason is all about figuring out who’s in and for how long.

“It becomes a race between bettors and oddsmakers to find out how long the quarterbacks are going to stay in,” Korner admits. “If a sharp gets the information first, he could exploit an early line. I’m a full believer in moving the line in the preseason if the books find out something late in the week.”

Determining what each team’s motive is can help bettors handicap. To do this you must pay close attention to the philosophies head coaches employ in exhibition play.

“You need to know what a coach is trying to accomplish,” says Covers Expert Bryan Leonard. “Sometimes a new coach will want to instill a winning attitude. Others just want to make sure their starters don’t get hurt."

So how do you distinguish who’s playing scared and who’s playing for keeps?

“Head coaches on the hot seat or new coaches trying to implement a winning attitude usually try harder to win in the preseason,” Merril says.

Cleveland Browns head coach Romeo Crennel fits this criteria. He’s entering his third season as the sideline boss and has yet to lead the Browns to more than six wins.

Cleveland is an enticing bet as well because of the unresolved quarterback situation. General manager Phil Savage sacrificed the Browns’ first-round pick in next year’s draft for Brady Quinn, but the former Notre Dame quarterback hasn’t signed or reported to training camp yet.

Charlie Frye and Derek Anderson split time at QB last season and it looks like either player (or even Quinn) could be the opening-day starter.

“If a team has quarterback depth and the pecking order hasn’t been decided, it’s a big advantage,” Leonard says.

Even in the third week of the preseason when starters generally play the most, the final outcome of the game is in the hands of fringe players. A team's talent, all the way down to the last man on the roster, is something to consider.

The New England Patriots have long been considered one of the deeper teams in the NFL and coach Bill Belichick has said in the past he’s unafraid of stars getting hurt in games with nothing on the line. He shocked his colleagues in 2003 by playing some of his starters on special teams in the preseason.

“We want to have the team ready to play a tough, physical game and preparation has to go into that and I imagine a certain amount of injuries go with it,” Belichick told the Providence Journal in August 2003.

Bettors can only hope to find more teams that share the Pats' business-like approach to the preseason (New England is 17-9-3 against the spread since 2000) and take advantage of teams who detest the exhibition schedule.

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