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08/12/2007 - Lebanon, TN (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Mike Skinner led the first 102 laps, but Travis Kvapil finished with a rush to capture Saturday night's Toyota Tundra 200 Craftsman Truck Series race at the Nashville Superspeedway. The No.6 Roush Racing driver crossed the finish line more than one second ahead of Ron Hornaday Jr.
The victory was Kvapil's third of the season and eighth of his truck career.
Skinner brought the field to the green flag for 150 laps of truck racing. Skinner set a fast early pace and only Todd Bodine and Jack Sprague were within five seconds of the leader after just 20 laps.
Skinner had still been the race's only leader as the field crossed the 40-lap mark. He had lapped up to the 26th truck and held a five-second lead. But a caution flag quickly erased the lead on lap 42.
Everyone pitted and Skinner, who made no chassis changes, was first off pit road and ready to rebuild his lead.
The green flag dropped and off went Skinner. Meanwhile, Erik Darnell, who restarted in sixth, immediately dropped out of the top-20 with a severe handling problem, likely a tire going flat. Another caution flag slowed the field, but helped Darnell, who quickly came to pit lane for a new set of tires.
The race got back underway and again Skinner took off. One driver that was making progress in the chase of Skinner was Ron Hornaday Jr. who started 14th, but cracked the top-five by lap 60. And it was Hornaday Jr. who was second in the championship to Skinner and couldn't afford to let him runaway and hide from the field.
Skinner was still putting up a fast numbers, but Musgrave was staying with him this time, as the field passed the halfway point of the race. Musgrave was trying different lines and found one that he could keep up with Skinner, though passing didn't seem in the cards.
It was still a "two-horse race" after 100 laps as both Skinner and Musgrave built a one-second lead on Kvapil and Johnny Benson. Bodine and Hornaday Jr. were stuck in fifth and sixth, respectively but were not making any moves towards the leaders.
A caution flag just after halfway sent everyone down pit lane. Suddenly, Kvapil's truck came to life and within a couple of laps he not only caught Skinner, but made the pass for the lead.
"We made the right adjustments...and we saved our best tires for last," said Kvapil.
On lap 110 Benson blew a right-front tire and he slapped the outside wall to bring out a caution flag. Kvapil was first off pit lane with Hornaday Jr. in second and Skinner in third.
Kvapil stretched the lead to more than one second as the field hit the 115-lap mark, 35 laps to go. They were still one-two-three with 20 laps to go. Kvapil held 1.528 seconds on Hornaday Jr. and more than two seconds on Skinner as the laps dwindled to just 15.
Kvapil was still pounding out the quick laps and the gap between first and second was two seconds with 10 laps to go. Kvapil cruised to the checkered flag.
Skinner finished third and will bring an 82-point lead to the next event.
The next race in the series is set for Wednesday, August 22nd at the Bristol Motor Speedway.
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The
In any football or basketball game (the main sports that use point spreads) there are two teams playing against each other.
Those teams, though, are rarely exactly evenly matched – meaning that typically one team has a better chance than the other to win the game. If bettors were allowed to bet on who was simply going to win the game, smart ones would obviously bet on the better team (likely winning more than 50% of the time in the process).
If winning were that easy the Las Vegas and online sportsbooks would stop taking any bets! This is where the point spread comes in: the basic function of the point spread is to balance the likelihood of each team “winning” by adjusting the final score by the point spread. After this adjustment is made you get the Against The Spread result (ATS result for short).
Let’s look at Super Bowl XXXIX, New England Patriots vs. Philadelphia Eagles. Most people believed the defending champ Patriots to be the better team – so if betting were simply based upon which team would win the game, an uneven majority of people would have wagered on New England. But, by using the point spread, the bookmakers adjusted the terms of the bet, evening the proposition so about half the people believed the Pats to be the smart bet, while the other half considered Philly to be the smart bet.
New England Patriots -7 vs. Philadelphia Eagles
The better team, called the Favorite, is expected to win the game and must “give” or “lay” points to the weaker team. The favorite is listed with a minus sign and the number of points they are favored by (e.g., New England -7)
In the case of our example, New England must not only win the game, but they must win by more than 7 points for Pats bettors to have a winning ATS result. An Eagles bettor wins his bet either if:
There was also the possibility that the final score could land exactly on the spread number (for example, the Pats winning 28-21 when -7), which is called a “push” or “no action” and a refund is then issued to bettors of both teams.
The same game with the same point spread can be considered from the weaker team’s perspective: The Underdog (Philly in the case of our example) is not expected to win the game and online football betting thus receives or “gets” points given by the stronger team. When a game is stated from the underdog’s perspective the team is listed with a plus sign and the number of points they are underdogs by:
Philadelphia Eagles +7 vs. New England Patriots
Keep in mind that Philadelphia +7 and New England -7 is the same point spread on the same game, simply stated differently. The first is from the underdog’s perspective; the later is from the favorite’s.
Not a must, but for some a mathematical approach is insightful. You can determine the ATS winner by either:
Let’s look at the actual result of Super Bowl XXXIX: New England 24 Philadelphia 21
The favorite, New England, won the game but not by more than the point spread they were favored by (7), so the ATS result was a LOSS for Pats bettors.
Looking at it from the underdog’s perspective, Philly did not win the game, but they lost by less than the point spread (7), so the ATS result was a WIN for Eagle bettors.
Mathematically considered, 24 for the favorite Pats minus 7 equals 17, which is less than the 20 the Eagles scored, so the underdog Eagles win the ATS result (or you could figure 20 plus 7 equals 27 for the Eagles, which is more than 24 for the Pats).
Emily’s boyfriend understood the point spread and wagered $100 on the Eagles at +7. The Eagles may not have gotten a Super Bowl ring, but since they won the ATS result Emily’s boyfriend cashed his bet – giving him money to take her out to a nice dinner.
And now hopefully you understand how to read point spreads, putting you one step closer to joining the fun of sports betting.
To visit this internet sportsbook go to MySportsbook.com for all your football betting and World Series odds.
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