Truck begin nine-week stretch at Iowa

Autoracing Betting Lines

07/06/2010 - Newton, IA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Series: NASCAR Camping World Truck. Date: Sunday, July 11. Race: Lucas Oil 200. Site: Iowa Speedway. Track: .875-mile oval. Start time: 2:00 p.m. (et). Laps: 200. Miles: 175. 2009 winner: Mike Skinner. Television: SPEED. Radio: Motor Racing Network(MRN)/SIRIUS NASCAR Radio.

After a three-week hiatus, the Camping World Truck Series returns to action this weekend at Iowa Speedway. Iowa kicks off a nine-week stretch of racing in the series.

Todd Bodine currently holds a 55-point lead over Aric Almirola, who won the most recent truck race on June 12 at Michigan. Almirola claimed his first career truck win in May at Dover.

"We've been on a roll here lately," Almirola said. "It would be awesome to leave Iowa with another trophy this year. We were competitive there last year. We ran second, and I felt like we had a good truck, but we weren't good enough to win. We were just good enough to run second."

Mike Skinner won the 2009 inaugural truck race at Iowa. Skinner led all but 20 of the 200 laps, but had just enough fuel remaining to hold off Almirola in a four-lap shootout to the finish. Almirola's second-place run was his career- best finish in the series at the time.

"I feel really confident going back there, and if everything plays out right, you never know what could happen," Almirola added.

David Starr is expected to make his 250th career start at Iowa. Starr, who made his first truck start in 1998 at Phoenix, will become the fourth active driver to reach this milestone. He will join Rick Crawford, Dennis Setzer and four-time series champion Ron Hornaday Jr.

"I've been very fortunate and blessed that I have been racing at this level for this long," said Starr, who drives the No.81 Toyota for Randy Moss Motorsports. "To make it to 250 is very cool, but what I really want to do is make at least 250 more starts after that."

Thirty-eight teams are on the preliminary entry list for the Lucas Oil 200.

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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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