Power nips Dixon for IndyCar pole at Iowa

Autoracing Betting Lines

06/19/2010 - Newton, IA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Will Power from Team Penske won the pole for Sunday's Iowa Corn Indy 250 IZOD IndyCar Series after beating Target Chip Ganassi Racing's Scott Dixon by the slimmest of margins in qualifying at Iowa Speedway.

Power, currently second in points, recorded a four-lap average of 181.338 m.p.h. around the .875-mile track for his fourth pole of the season, but his first on an oval. He also gave Penske its seventh straight pole.

"It's fantastic," said Power, who claimed his sixth career IndyCar pole. "It's the best place to start the race tomorrow. It's going to be a long day. It's a tight track around here, and there's always a lot of traffic. I just want to have a good result on an oval, and I'm looking for it here."

The Aussie held a sizeable points lead after finishing no worse than fourth, including two victories, in the first four road course races this season. He has finished no better than eighth in the last three oval races -- Kansas, Indianapolis and Texas.

Power was only 0.002 seconds quicker than Dixon, who will start on the outside pole.

"In qualifying, we did very well sitting in P2, and the four-lap average was so close to Will Power," Dixon said. "We barely missed it. We will try to improve even more and hopefully get some points for the championship, but I am very happy with [qualifying]."

Marco Andretti qualified third, followed by Helio Castroneves and current points leader Dario Franchitti, who won this race in 2007 and '09. He missed Iowa in 2008 when he was competing in the NASCAR Sprint Cup and Nationwide Series.

Franchitti, the defending series champion, enters the race with just a two- point advantage over Power.

Alex Tagliani, Takuma Sato, Ryan Briscoe, who won two weeks ago at Texas, Danica Patrick and Dan Wheldon, the 2008 race winner at Iowa, will start sixth through 10th, respectively.

Milka Duno spun and crashed hard into the turn two wall during her qualifying attempt. Duno was not injured and was cleared by medical officials to compete in Sunday's 250-lap race, which is scheduled to start at 2:30 p.m. (et).

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Football Betting

NFL Football Betting Online

The San Francisco 49ers (5-11 SU, 5-10-1 ATS in 2007; 1-1 SU & ATS in pre-season) found some offensive life last week, and they will try to build some momentum on Thursday night as they travel to the Windy City to take on the Chicago Bears (7-9 SU & ATS in 2007; 0-2 SU, 0-1-1 ATS in pre-season) in an NFL matchup that is set to get underway at 8 PM ET at Soldier Field (natural turf) in Chicago.

Thursday, August 21

NFL betting odds: CHICAGO -3 (-120), Total 37

NOTABLE STAT: San Francisco was last in points, last in total offense in 2007
KEY NFL BETTING TREND: SF has lost its last seven SU on pre-season road

In the BetUS NFL pre-season football betting odds, the Bears are listed as a three-point favorite (laying -120), with the total posted at 37 points.

Here are some NFL football betting trends as they relate to this matchup (reflecting numbers going into the 2008 season):

* SF has lost 11 of its last 14 games SU
* SF has covered three of its last 11 games
* SF has lost six of its last seven road games SU
* SF has covered one of its last seven road games
* CHI has covered five of its last eight games
* CHI has played five of its last seven games OVER the total
* CHI has covered four of its last 13 home games
* SF has lost its last seven pre-season road games SU
* CHI has covered two of its last seven home pre-season games

Well, I guess we should congratulate the Bears on making their quarterback choice for the season's opening game, as they have designated Kyle Orton the starter against Indianapolis. The Bears obviously have lost patience with Rex Grossman, and what they do with him at this point is anybody's guess. But suffice it to say that there isn't a quarterback competition anymore, at least in training camp.

Meanwhile, the quarterback competition may also be settled in San Francisco, where the Niners bounced back from a lackluster 18-6 loss to the Raiders, in which they turned the ball over four times, to execute a 34-6 rout of the Packers last Saturday. However, coach Mike Nolan has stopped short of saying that, insisting that the job is still open. But J.T. O'Sullivan, the longshot of the trio of Niner signal-callers who opened camp, will start his third straight pre-season game here. Against Green Bay, O'Sullivan was only 8-for-17, and was intercepted, but he also threw for 9.1 yards an attempt, which included a 59-yard TD pass to Josh Morgan. The others struggled.

Some offensive cohesion is badly needed, in light of the Niners' dismal 2007 campaign, in which they were dead last in the NFL in scoring, with just 13.7 points a game. And O'Sullivan is the guy who is most familiar with offensive coordinator Mike Martz's exacting system, because he learned it last year in Detroit. O'Sullivan will go at least the entire first half and may even last longer. He'll be relieved by Alex Smith, with Shawn Hill doing the mop-up work. Three receivers who were out last week - Bryant Johnson, Ashley Lelie and Arnaz Battle - will miss this game too.

That may hurt a little here, especially since the Bears will be using a lot of their defensive starters. And it's the defense that has been keeping the Bears in games thus far. In fact, the defense and special teams were responsible for the first 19 points Chicago scored against Seattle last time out, as the offense really struggled with Grossman at the controls. But maybe the first-team offense has a chance to settle a little bit as it works more with Orton at the helm.

Certainly we have concerns about the Bears' offensive line, but we like the scenario for them here, especially if O'Sullivan doesn't make some bis plays. The Niners may have nowhere else to turn right now, and they have lost seven straight road games in the pre-season. Let's take Chicago, the three-point favorite in the NFL football betting odds.

CHICAGO -3 (-120) **
(Graded on a scale of 1-4 stars)

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