Johnson leads Hendrick sweep of Cup qualifying

Autoracing Betting Lines

09/07/2007 - Richmond, VA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Defending series champion Jimmie Johnson captured the pole for Saturday night's Nextel Cup "regular" season finale at the Richmond International Raceway. The No.48 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet driver will start on the pole for the Chevy Rock & Roll 400 after circling the 0.750-mile oval in 21.378 seconds (126.298 m.p.h.).

The pole victory was Johnson's first of the season and 10th of his Nextel Cup career.

"I knew it felt good, I'm just happy that it turned out that way," said Johnson, who is coming off a win at the California Speedway last Sunday night.

Starting alongside Johnson will be his teammate and series points leader Jeff Gordon, who posted a time of 21.541 seconds.

Another Hendrick Chevy, driven by Kyle Busch (21.543) and Ryan Newman (21.557) will make up row two.

Three drivers are vying for the final two places in the "Chase for the Nextel Cup" which begins next week at the New Hampshire International Speedway. The three drivers are Kevin Harvick (starting 13th), Kurt Busch (starting 14th) and Dale Earnhardt Jr. (starting 21st).

For Earnhardt Jr., the best scenario involves him leading the most laps (10 point bonus) and winning the race to earn the maximum points - 195. If he does all that, he will still need Kevin Harvick to finish 33rd or worse or Kurt Busch to finish 37th or worse.

After the 12 competitors for the "Chase" are determined this week, the series will rank the "Chase" drivers based on their number of wins in the first 26 weeks.

Johnson, who has five wins this season, will start the 10-race "Chase" with 5050 points, or 5060 if he wins Saturday night's race. He will have the most points at the start although if his Hendrick Motorsports teammate Gordon wins at Richmond they will both start with the same amount of points. The least points any driver can start with in the "Chase" is 5000 points. Drivers accumulate points under the same point structure as in the regular season and after 10 races the 2007 Nextel Cup champion will be determined.

Saturday night's race is set to drop the green flag at 7:30 p.m. (et).

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Elite 8 NCAA Tournament Betting at online sportsbook MySportsbook.com

In what should be an outstanding Saturday of March Madness betting action, the top four teams in the South and West Regions square off in what should be extremely close match-ups. Three of the four teams are coming off extremely close games on Thursday evening, only UCLA won semi comfortably over Pitt 64-55.

Ohio State is coming off their second game in a row where in all reality they should have lost. Of course that doesn’t matter now since the name of the game is “survive and advance” but as the tournament continues, they can’t afford to keep getting down to their opponents early. Kansas also avoided a scare by holding off a scrappy Southern Illinois squad. In the third thrilling game of the evening Memphis pulled off the minor upset (+3.5) despite being the higher seed to Texas A&M.

Although the spreads are fairly small for Saturday’s games, MySportsbook.com continue to bet against the underdogs. Despite OSU’s two scares, 86% of the “betting public” feels the Buckeyes (-1.5) have what it takes to make the Final Four. In fact, so much of the early money is on OSU that the line has already moved from -1 to -1.5. In the second game of the doubleheader, Kansas and their high-powered offense are 2 point favorites as they take on UCLA and their effective defense. About 63% of the early money thus far is once again backing the favorites. If those percentages stay that high, don’t be surprised if this line moves as well. If you like Kansas (-2) you might want to jump on it early.

Memphis vs. Ohio State

Both squads were involved in thrillers on Thursday evening and should come out fired up. OSU can ill afford to get behind early like they did versus their previous two opponents (Xavier, Tennessee). Greg Oden needs to stay out of foul trouble; the Buckeyes are a completely different team when he is on the court. Memphis definitely has the athleticism and length to match-up with OSU. Of Memphis’ five leading minute earners, the shortest of the bunch is 6’5”. Each team has a very effective defense; Memphis surrenders 62.3 PPG whereas the Buckeyes give up only 61 PPG. With those type of numbers, it isn’t surprising that Memphis covered the UNDER almost 69% of the time this season. As a favorite, OSU has covered the UNDER almost 66% of the time over the last three seasons. The major concern for Memphis which is magnifies this time of the year is their brutal foul shooting (62%). This season, OSU is 17-11 ATS versus teams with a winning record and 7-2 ATS in all tournament games. Memphis has been an extremely reliable cover in tournament play in recent years with a 23-8 ATS record over the last three seasons.

UCLA vs. Kansas

In the second game of Saturday’s doubleheader, UCLA will play in a role which they are very unfamiliar with that of the underdog. Only twice this season have they been getting points from the handicappers and both times they covered. Over the last three seasons UCLA is a reliable 23-7 ATS in this unfamiliar role. UCLA has not fared well against Big 12 opponents recently going 1-7 ATS since 1997. Giving up only 59.6 PPG, UCLA will definitely look to do what they do best: keep this game as low scoring as possible. Their defense has been especially tough during the tournament. UCLA opponents have been able to muster up only 48.7 PPG while shooting a combined 34.5% from the field. UCLA definitely has a challenge at hand with a Kansas team that is capable of putting points on the board in bunches. As a team, they average 79 PPG and shoot an impressive 49.6% from the field and 39.4% from beyond the arc. During the tournament Kansas has been “lights out” from the field having shot 56.2%.

With Friday -105 juice on Basketball betting, MySportsbook.com is the place to bet on all of the “March Madness” action.  Don’t forget to monitor who the public is backing at MySportsbook.com’s “Betting Trends”.  By doing so, you have the best chance of predicting a possible line change, thus getting the best value for your wager.

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