Harvick wins at Texas; Hornaday Jr., Busch clash

Autoracing Betting Lines

11/04/2011 - Fort Worth, TX (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Camping World Truck Series race on Friday night at Texas Motor Speedway had a little bit of everything. Kyle Busch lost his cool and knocked title contender Ron Hornaday Jr out of the event in the early going. Kevin Harvick held off points leader Austin Dillon in a green-white checkered finish to win the WinStar World Casino 350k and clinch the owner's championship, in what will be Kevin Harvick Inc's last year of competition in the series.

On lap 14, Hornaday Jr. bumped into Busch while they were battling hard for position and passing the slower truck of Johnny Chapman. Hornaday and Busch then made contact with the wall, forcing the first caution.

Busch chased down Hornaday on the following lap and punted the 53-year-old driver hard into the wall. Hornaday wound up finishing 34th and saw his hopes of winning a series record-extending fifth championship come to an end.

"He knows I'm going for the points [championship], so I don't know why he did it," a frustrated Hornaday said. "This is just stupid. He knew what I was going for, and he knew I was there. He had to lift too. If I would have lifted, I would have hit the back of the slower truck, and it would have created a bigger wreck. He just drove me into the fence and ruined a perfectly good race car."

Busch also hit the wall and severely damaged his truck after taking action against Hornaday. NASCAR officials immediately parked him for the remainder of the race. Busch and his crew chief, Eric Phillips, were also summoned to the NASCAR hauler following the race for a discussion with officials.

"Considering Ron is in the championship, maybe Ron could have played it a little bit smarter," Busch said. "Obviously, if you make it a three-wide situation I can't go up in the dirt. I'm already on the outside lane. There's not that many lanes out there.

"It's a truck race, and it's the first race here this weekend. So if I just lay over and give up everything for Ron Hornaday, that's not Kyle Busch's fashion. I'm out here to win a race just as much as anybody else. When he raced up on my inside, gets loose and takes me up to the fence, I ended up losing my cool."

Busch could be facing additional penalties from NASCAR, including a chance of being parked for Saturday's Nationwide event and Sunday's Sprint Cup Series race. Busch is one of the 12 drivers in the championship Chase field. He is presently 57 points behind leader Carl Edwards.

"Sorry, it was Ron Hornaday, and he's going after a championship, but the fact of the matter is, you can't place all blame on one person," Busch noted. "There's two people that got into it to begin with, and there's two people that ended it."

With one race to go, Hornaday has been eliminated from championship contention. He now trails leader Austin Dillon by 48 points. Hornaday had been on a late-season surge, finishing either first or second in the last four races, and came into this event 15 points behind Dillon.

"I think Kyle definitely showed his immaturity, and why he's one of those guys who just can't stand to lose - just a poor loser," said Harvick, who is Hornaday's team owner. "It's unfortunate for Ron, and it's too bad that a guy over here trying to win races got in the middle of the championship fight. At some point, [Busch] will feel the pain."

Harvick, driving the No.2 Chevrolet, claimed his fourth win of the season and the 13th of his truck career.

"We've had a lot of momentum in the '2' truck with the owner's championship, and with everything that was going on, I just wanted to be in it when we were able to clinch the championship, being that we're getting out of [the series at season's end]," he said.

An incident involving David Starr in the closing laps set up the two-lap overtime finish. Dillon challenged Harvick for the lead just after restart, but Harvick pulled away and crossed the finish line 0.3 seconds ahead of Dillon.

"I spun the tires and didn't get going, but I had my brother [Ty] behind to help me out," Dillon said. "He was doing a good job out there. I was hoping he could push me down the backstretch to clear Harvick, but I got a little loose on the right-front and had to turn back under Harvick. I had a run at him at the end. Our truck was really good."

Dillon now holds a 20-point lead over Johnny Sauter, who finished seventh. If Dillon finishes 16th or better in the November 18 season-finale at Homestead, FL, he will clinch the championship, regardless of any other driver's performance.

Ty Dillon, in just his second start, finished an impressive third.

Nelson Piquet Jr. took the fourth spot, while Matt Crafton completed the top- five.

Texas-native James Buescher came to his home track trailing Dillon by 11 points. Buescher started on the pole and led 56 laps, but he ran out of fuel during the final caution and wound up finishing two laps behind in 19th. He is now 28 points out of the lead.

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El Duque expected to throw Tuesday

PORT ST. LUCIE, Fla. -- New York Mets pitcher Orlando Hernandez, sidelined at spring training because of arthritis in his neck, is expected to resume throwing on Tuesday.

Hernandez received a cortisone shot Thursday after leaving camp and returning to New York to have his neck examined. The 41-year-old right-hander is penciled in as the team's No. 2 starter behind Tom Glavine.

El Duque's health is a major issue for the Mets, who won the NL East in 2007 and came within one victory of the World Series. Their aging and unsettled rotation is a big question mark this year.

MySportsbook.com has the Mets as -110 favorites to repeat as NL East champions odds. 

Hernandez went 11-11 with a 4.66 ERA last season, including 9-7 with a 4.09 ERA in 20 starts after the Mets acquired him from Arizona in late May. But he missed the playoffs because of a torn calf muscle.

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Additional baseball lines and World Series odds can be found at: www.MySportsbook.com

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MySportsbook.com: NFL draft - The NFC South


In part two of MySportsbook.com’s draft preview, we’ll take a look at a division that was extremely disappointing last season: the NFC South.  Many “experts” predicted the Panthers to represent the NFC in the Super Bowl, of course they could not even make the playoffs in an extremely weak NFC.  The Saints definitely made up for the disappointing seasons of their NFC South brethren by exploding out of no where en route to the NFC Championship game.  For the avid NFL gambler, it is imperative to pay attention to the NFL draft.  Although free agency gets a ton of publicity, the successful franchises build their teams around the draft.

1. New Orleans Saints
Who would have thought this time last year that the Saints would be the favorites to win the NFC South for the 2007 campaign?  New Orleans is loaded with firepower on the offensive side of the ball but with the exodus of Joe Horn they will most likely look to draft a WR on Day 1.  Despite having the NFL’s 3rd ranked pass defense last season, the Saints will most likely upgrade their CB’s with one of their first two picks. Other possibilities for the Saints will be TE and DT.  Because of where they will be selecting (27th), the Saints could go the “best available player” route which could net a LB.

Key additions: Eric Johnson TE, Troy Evans LB, David Patten WR
Key loses: Joe Horn WR,
Team needs: CB, WR, TE, LB, DT
Possible draftees: Aaron Ross CB Texas, Darrelle Revis CB Pitt, Ted Ginn Jr. WR OSU, Paul Posluszny LB PSU, Chris Houston CB Arkansas, Greg Olsen TE Miami

2. Carolina Panthers
Carolina was one of the biggest disappointments in the NFL last season.  With the signing of David Carr, expect the very first quarterback controversy to come out of Carolina if Jake Delhomme doesn’t rebound quickly from an average 2007 season. With veteran safety Mike Minter getting up there in age, they will look to draft a safety on Day 1 but probably not in the first round.  LB is another need with the loss of Chris Draft to go along with Dan Morgan’s concussion problems.  If TE Greg Olsen is still on the board, he might be too good to pass up despite their needs on the defensive side of the ball.

Key additions: David Carr QB
Key loses: Chris Draft LB
Team needs: LB, TE, S, OT
Possible draftees: Greg Olsen TE Miami, Patrick Willis LB Ole Miss, Paul Posluszny LB PSU, Levi Brown OT PSU

3. Atlanta Falcons
The Falcons were another NFC South team to have a disappointing 2007 season.  The Falcons have been plenty busy during the off season with plenty of players coming and going including a new head coach.  The Falcons were able to improve their draft position with the trade of coveted backup QB Matt Schaub.  High on the list of Day 1 needs will be a defensive end to replace Patrick Kerney and a hard hitting safety since Lawyer Milloy is nearing the end of his career.  With an additional 2nd round pick, the Falcons could attempt to trade up to acquire local product WR Calvin Johnson. 

Key additions: Joey Harrington QB, Toniu Fonoti OG, Joe Horn WR
Key loses: Justin Griffen RB, Patrick Kerney DE, Matt Lehr OG, Ashley Lelie WR, Matt Schaub QB
Team needs: DE, S, OT, WR, DT
Possible draftees: LaRon Landry S LSU, Amobi Okoye DT Louisville, Levi Brown OT PSU, Jamaal Anderson DE Arkansas, Alan Branch DT Michigan

4. Tampa Bay Buccaneers
Age really caught up to the Bucs last season.  The Bucs still have plenty of household names on defense in Ronde Barber, Simeon Rice and Derrick Brooks but the one thing those three have in common is unfortunately age.  It is imperative for the Bucs to get much younger, especially on the defensive side of the ball. Despite having bigger needs on the defensive side of the ball, WR Calvin Johnson is the most likely pick if he is still available when the Bucs pick at the four spot.  This would suit Bucs’ faithful just fine as Johnson is widely considered the top talent in the draft and it is a position of need for the Bucs.

Key additions: Jeff Garcia QB, Kevin Carter DE, Torrie Cox CB, Cato June LB
Key loses: Dewayne White DE, Sean Mahan OG
Team needs: WR, LB, DE, CB (Youth on defense!)
Possible draftees: Calvin Johnson WR Georgia Tech, Gains Adams DE Clemson, Jamaal Anderson DE Arkansas

It is never too early to start betting on the NFL. Log on to MySportsbook.com to checkout all of the NFL futures for the upcoming season.  On the clock: the NFC North

Odds to win the NFC South:
New Orleans Saints 8-5
Carolina Panthers 2-1
Atlanta Falcons 12-5
Tampa Bay Buccaneers 9-2    

Odds to win the NFC:
New Orleans Saints 13-2
Carolina Panthers 7-1
Atlanta Falcons 20-1
Tampa Bay Buccaneers 25-1

Odds to win the Super Bowl:
New Orleans Saints 18-1
Carolina Panthers 20-1
Atlanta Falcons 50-1
Tampa Bay Buccaneers 75-1

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