Bodine widens points lead with Nashville win

Autoracing Betting Lines

08/07/2010 - Lebanon, TN (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Todd Bodine increased his lead in the Camping World Truck Series point standings after winning Saturday's Nashville 200 in dominating fashion at Nashville Superspeedway.

Bodine, who started on the pole, suffered a flat tire and had to pit unexpectedly on lap 15. But Bodine's early pit stop allowed him to reclaim the lead on lap 62, when he did not pit during a round of green-flag stops. He led the final 89 laps and easily beat rookie Austin Dillon at the finish by 4.2 seconds for his first win at Nashville.

"I've been so close so many times," Bodine said after winning at Nashville for the first time in seven attempts here.

Bodine scored his second victory of the season and 19th of his career, which moved him into fourth place on the series' all-time race wins list. He also earned his long-awaited Gibson guitar trophy for winning at Nashville.

"It's about time I got this," he added.

With the victory, Bodine padded his points lead to 174 over Aric Almirola, who finished third.

Timothy Peters led 57 laps early in the race, but wound up finishing fourth. Johnny Sauter was fifth.

Ron Hornaday Jr., who won this race one year ago, finished sixth, while Matt Crafton took the seventh spot.

During the final laps, Brian Ickler and Justin Lofton were battling for a top-10 position. The two tangled on the last lap, which led to Lofton nudging Ickler from behind during the cool-down lap.

"It wasn't like we were racing for the win there," said Ickler, who drove the No.18 truck for Kyle Busch Motorsports. "It just was uncalled for, because we already had a difficult night, struggling a little bit. There's no need to tear these trucks up."

Ickler finished eighth, while Lofton settled for ninth.

"It was just good, hard racing; I don't know if it was necessarily clean," Lofton said. "[Ickler] kind of pinched me down on [Joe Aramendia], and he didn't move down as far as he should of."

Ken Schrader completed the top-10.

The series will race at Darlington Raceway for the first time in six years next Saturday.

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How did changes to college football betting rules affect bettors?

The 2007 college football rules changes that were implemented to shorten games are now history. The NCAA rules committee did what they set out to do; games were cut by an average of 14 minutes per game last season. There were also, on average, 14 fewer plays per game. We’ll get into how that did (or didn’t) affect games in regards to the pointspread a bit later.

While the NCAA rules committee may have had the betterment of the game in mind, they'll now “turn back the clock” for next season. Two key rules have now been overturned by the NCAA committee for the 2007 season, something definitely for the better.

For those of you who may not remember what those rules actually were, let us refresh your memory.

1) The first one was actually starting the clock on a kickoff as soon as the kicker touched the ball rather than waiting until the returner touched it. The problem here was near the end of the half (or game), if the team leading was kicking off, they could milk the clock by intentionally running offsides and then re-kicking. They could run 10-15 seconds off the clock each play while taking just five-yard penalties each time. They could run the clock down and simply cause the half (or game) to end on a kickoff, keeping the opposing offense off the field. In 2007, the clock will now start when the returner touches the ball as it had before last season.

2) The second rule dealt with starting the clock after a change of online football betting possession rather than waiting until the ball was snapped. This took a lot of time off the clock throughout the game as teams changed possession, however it caused the most problems late in games (or halves). Rather than huddling up and calling a play, the offensive team would have to rush onto the field as the clock started. This was a definite disadvantage to a team that was trying to come from behind late in the game. This year the clock will start on a change of possession, after the ball is snapped.

How did those rules affect the college game last year and will it make a difference this year when it comes to the pointspread? We commonly heard two theories when it came to these changes. First, it would affect scoring negatively. Second, it would hurt favorites as they would have less time and fewer plays to cover the number.

Did the rules hurt scoring? Yes. It seemed obvious that shortening the game by what amounted to 14 plays would push scoring downward. That was the case last year. Of the 119 Division 1A teams, 69 squads scored fewer points in 2007 than they did in 2005. Just 48 teams had a higher PPG scoring average and two stayed the same. Almost 59 percent of the teams in college football last year had a lower PPG average than they did in 2005. Expect more scoring in 2007 as we revert back to the old rules.

Did the rules hinder favorites from covering the number in 2007? Not really. Last year the favorites posted an overall spread record of 336-350-16 (48.9 percent). The year before, favorites were 316-326-13 (49.2 percent). In 2004, the favorites were 316-339-2 (48.2 percent). In fact, college football favorites have been above 50 percent for the season just once in the last seven years (in 2003). Last year’s numbers fell right in line with where they have been historically.

How about big favorites? The rules must have hurt them? Maybe a little bit. Double-digit favorites last year came in at a 47.8 percent clip compare with an average of just over 50 percent over the last seven years. Since 1980, favorites of -10 or more have covered at exactly a 50 percent clip (measured over 6,716 games).

Even bigger favorites must have struggled? Not really. In fact, it was just the opposite. Favorites of three TD’s or more were 59-54-2 last year (52.2 percent). Since 2000, those same favorites (-21 or higher) hit at 51.3 percent and since 1990 came in a clip of 50.3 percent. Stepping it up a notch to four TD favorites or higher, we actually see they've covered at a much better rate last season than before. Last year, favorites of -28 or more were 31-21-1, or almost 60 percent. Historically, four-TD-or-higher favorites have come in at a 50.7 percent spot since 2000 and only 48.9 percent since 1990. The “perceived” problem with the favorites covering at a reduced rate really never came to fruition.

Bottom line is, there might be some more scoring in 2007, but no real revelations when it comes to finding any pointspread golden nuggets.

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