Nationwide runs final road course race of the season at Montreal

Autoracing Betting Lines

08/24/2010 - Montreal, Canada (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Series: NASCAR Nationwide. Date: Sunday, August 29. Race: NAPA Auto Parts 200. Site: Circuit Gilles Villeneuve. Track: 2.710-mile, 14-turn road course. Start time: 2:30 p.m. (et). Laps: 74. Miles: 200.466. 2009 winner: Carl Edwards. Television: ESPN 2. Radio: Motor Racing Network (MRN)/SIRIUS NASCAR Radio.

The Nationwide Series travels to Montreal for the third and final road course race on the 2010 schedule. Carl Edwards won the inaugural event at the Road America road course in Elkhart Lake, WI in June. Marcos Ambrose won at Watkins Glen International for the third year in a row earlier this month.

Rain has been a huge factor in the last two Nationwide races at the 2.710- mile, 14-turn Circuit Gilles Villeneuve. The weather forecast for the Montreal area this weekend calls for mostly sunny skies with no chance of precipitation.

Last year, Ambrose led the field when a shower moved over the area with 16 laps remaining. NASCAR instructed teams to pit, giving them five minutes to change to rain tires and install a windshield wiper if needed. NASCAR's decision to continue the race on a wet track surface led to numerous spins that forced several late-race cautions, including one for a two-lap overtime finish. Ambrose pulled away on the final restart, but Edwards chased him down before the Aussie slid on the final turn of the last lap. Edwards made the pass and then claimed his third Nationwide victory of the season and his first on a road course.

"Montreal is a full-on go all the way through the gears, come all the way to a stop, turn right or left, then you go all through the gears, come to a stop and turn left or right -- it's a real stop-and-go racetrack," Edwards said. "I would say on a scale, Sonoma is really swoopy, smooth and finesse. Watkins Glen is in the middle, and Montreal is really aggressive."

Ambrose has led the most laps in the first three races at Montreal, but victory has eluded him here. He lost the 2008 race after being penalized for speeding on pit road late in the race. Canadian Ron Fellows went on to win the rain-shortened race. Fellows battled wet track conditions and capitalized on an early-race pit strategy to score his fourth career Nationwide victory. All four of his wins have come on road courses.

Kevin Harvick won the inaugural event in 2007, one in which Robby Gordon thought he had won after he and Ambrose took turns spinning each other on the final lap.

NASCAR determined that Gordon should be in the 14th spot for the final restart, but Gordon refused to move from behind Ambrose. The race resumed with Gordon right behind the leader. Gordon took out his frustration on Ambrose, spinning him in the second corner. Harvick then inherited the lead, and after holding off Patrick Carpentier, was declared the winner.

Harvick is not competing in Sunday's race at Montreal. Road course ace Max Papis will drive Harvick's No.33 Chevrolet.

Robby Gordon returns to Montreal since the inaugural race here in '07.

Brad Keselowski, who currently holds a 313-point lead over Edwards, has yet to win a Nationwide road course race in eight attempts. However, Keselowski has finished no worse than fifth in the last three road course events.

"The more you run the road courses, the better you get at it," Keselowski said. "The best part about Montreal is the people, so I enjoy the city and the atmosphere."

Several Canadian drivers are entered in this event. Jacques Villeneuve, the former Formula One world champion and Indianapolis 500 winner, returns to the track that bears his father's name

"I've been racing there over the years since 1993," Villeneuve said. "I've been on the track a lot of times, and to be able to go back in a NASCAR race is great. Last year, we had a good race, and we were competitive. We're going back this year with the same car from Elkhart Lake [Road America], which was very good. We've saved it for this race, because it is good in the tight corners, which should be a good positive for Montreal."

Patrick Carpentier, Andrew Ranger, who finished third in this race last year, J.R. Fitzpatrick, Pierre Bourque and Fellows are the other Canadians scheduled to compete at Montreal.

Forty-seven teams are on the preliminary entry list for Sunday's NAPA Auto Parts 200.

Kyle Busch is not entered for Montreal, since he is competing in Friday's Camping World Truck Series race at Chicagoland Speedway. Brad Coleman will drive the No.18 Toyota for Joe Gibbs Racing. Last Friday, Busch claimed his Nationwide record-tying 10th victory of the season.

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Sportsbooks to bet on football

Recently I had an email debate with an angry reader who said I did not understand "the science of oddsmaking", as he called it.

He said I was wrong for suggesting oddsmakers care about who wins or loses games.

"Oddsmakers only care about splitting the betting public 50/50 on both sides of the line and keeping the commission (a.k.a. juice)," he wrote.

He might have been right about not understanding "the science of oddsmaking". After all, I'm not an oddsmaker. That said, I stick to my assertion that oddsmakers (a.k.a. sportbooks) often do care about who wins games.

Granted, as a general rule, sportsbooks try to balance their action so that they're not exposed to big losses. However, there are times when this is difficult to pull off, regardless of how much a line has moved. There are also times when that general rule is ignored and a book pursues risk.

Generally speaking, it's safe to say the books in Vegas are risk-adverse. Unlike in the past when the wise guys ruled the town, Vegas is now corporate and the goal of most casinos is to make as much money as possible with as little risk as possible.

Thus, Vegas sportsbooks try everything in their power to balance the action. They're satisfied simply collecting the juice. But these profits are small, especially compared to the take from other casino games, namely slot machines.

Because the profits at Vegas sportsbooks are so small, you could argue that many casinos operate sportsbooks simply as a novelty to keep the tourists happy.

With a growing aversion to risk, it should come as no surprise that Vegas bookmakers have been panicking this NFL season.

Despite huge pointspreads, a disproportionate percentage of bettors are still laying their money on favorites like the Eagles, Colts, Pats and Vikings rather than the dogs (a common trend for the largely recreational bettors that visit Vegas).

And much to the dismay of the books, those favorites are finding ways to cover the thick chalk. In fact, prior to Week 7, the four teams listed above are a combined 16-2-2 (88 percent) against the spread. (The tables turned dramatically in Week 7, but more on that later.)

The result has been an early-season beating for the books, and a bonanza for bettors.

While Vegas increasingly hates risk, it's no longer a major player in the sports betting world. Most of the betting action now takes place offshore where sportsbooks are not as obsessed about balance. In fact, some books encourage exposure to risk because the rewards can be so much bigger.

Consider MySportsbook.com. On its website, the book has odds pages which actually display the amount of action it's getting on games. In other words, you can see how much action the book is taking on both sides of a pointspread, moneyline or over/under.

One look at these numbers and it's obvious MySportsbook.com does not balance every game. In fact, far from it.

Take last weekend's matchup between St. Louis and Miami. By game time on Sunday, 83 percent of the betting action at MySportsbook.com was on the Rams; only 17 percent was on Miami.

What's interesting is that MySportsbook.com opened the pointspread with Miami at +6 1/2. By game time, the spread had lowered to +5.

That goes contrary to the balancing theory. If MySportsbook.com had wanted to balance the action, it would have given Miami more points; instead, it took away 1 1/2. World Series odds are now up as well.

MySportsbook.com exposed itself to even more to risk, and rolled the dice on the underdog Dolphins. Why? I contacted a representative with the book to find out. His answer was simple.

"The line moved early based on 'smart money' from sharp players," said Jeff Gilroy, a spokesperson for the book. "We also knew from early in the week that we would need Miami, therefore (we dropped) the spread to encourage Rams money.

"At the end of the day, we liked the home team."

So the conclusion is this: MySportsbook.com respected the sharp action, and gambled that the sharp bettors had a better take on the game than the recreational bettors, who were hammering the visiting Rams.

In the end, the gamble paid off. Miami, desperate for a win in front of its home fans, pounded the overrated Rams, who are terrible on the road and even worse on grass. Final score: 31-14 Fish.

MySportsbook.com was also heavily exposed on numerous favorites in Week 7, including Philadelphia, Seattle and Denver. All three failed to cover.

The fact that sportsbooks are exposed to risk on certain games is really nothing new. The fact, that Sportsbook.com is willing to show the public where it's exposed is intriguing.

Armed with this type of information, bettors can make more educated wagers. They can get an idea where the sharp money is going and conversely where the public money is headed.

MySportsbook.com is opening up its cashbox, letting bettors look inside and challenging them to take their best shot at grabbing the cash.

To visit this online football betting got to MySportsbook.com for all your football betting odds needs. Mysportsbook.com online sportsbook accepts Visa and Mastercard credit cards.