Kanaan makes late race pass for IndyCar win

Autoracing Betting Lines

08/12/2007 - Sparta, KY (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Tony Kanaan was strong all day, but still needed to make a late race pass of A.J. Foyt IV to capture Saturday night's Meijer Indy 300 IndyCar race at the Kentucky Speedway. The No.11 Andretti Green Racing driver crossed the finish line 1.7457 seconds ahead of Scott Dixon.

The victory was Kanaan's fourth of the season and 11th of his IndyCar career.

" I didn't tell anybody, but it was my Dad's birthday on Friday, so this was for you Dad," said Kanaan.

Kanaan brought the field to the green flag with series points leader Dario Franchitti right beside him. The two front-row qualifiers immediately put some distance between themselves and third place. The gap to Dixon was half-a- second after just five laps.

But the fastest cars on the track were Sam Hornish Jr. and Dan Wheldon who moved into fourth and fifth, respectively. They caught Dixon on lap 25 and passed him on the following lap.

Then on lap 36, Hornish Jr. and Wheldon got together down the back straight and both drivers were out of the race. What had happened was Hornish Jr. had been trying to pass Franchitti for second, got loose spinning up the track and collected Wheldon who was just an innocent bystander and had no place to go.

Everyone took the opportunity to pit and Franchitti's AGR crew was just a bit quicker than Kanaan's AGR crew to grab the race lead. On the drop of the green flag the top four cars, which included Franchitti, Kanaan, Tomas Scheckter and Dixon, put two seconds between themselves and fifth-place Scott Sharp. By lap 80 the gap for the front runners was more than four and-a-half seconds.

A second round of pit stops began on lap 90 and after they cycled through it was Kanaan leading Dixon and Franchitti. They were still that way at the mid- point of the 200-lap event. The trio was three seconds ahead of Scheckter, in fourth.

On lap 108 Franchitti got around the outside of Dixon for second place and tucked in behind Kanaan. The three were putting up fast laps and pulled away by more than four seconds.

A debris caution flag on lap 125 in turn three slowed the field and closed the gap between the leaders and the pack. The yellow flag also set up a round of pit stops and Dixon beat out both Kanaan and Franchitti.

The restart with 70 laps to go meant there would be one more pit stop before the checkered flag.

Dixon didn't hold the lead for long as Kanaan caught him on the first green- flag lap. But Franchitti was having a much harder time getting around the Target Chip Ganassi racer. He could get side-by-side, even edging a little ahead, but not enough to make the pass.

Kanaan built his lead to almost three seconds with 40 laps remaining as Dixon and Franchitti continued to battle side-by-side for second place. The fight allowed Scheckter to join them, though there was no place for him to try and get around them.

On lap 164 Franchitti slid all the way to the top of the track, had to get off the gas pedal and by the time he could get going again found himself in eighth place.

Final pit stops began under green flag conditions. Scheckter was the first of the leaders to pit. Then Kanaan as they waited as long as they could for a caution flag. Franchitti, Danica Patrick and Dixon came in together and Franchitti came in a little hot. He slammed the outside pit road marker and his crew was forced to replace the front nose wing slowing his stop.

When the race restarted, A.J. Foyt IV was leading with Kanaan and Dixon just behind.

Then Patrick spun, while still under caution, and it ended here day. Something exploded on her car and she just missed hitting a safety vehicle.

On the restart, Kanaan made quick work of Foyt IV and so did Dixon. Kanaan had more than one second on Dixon and unless the No.11 AGR driver made an error the race was his. Kanaan was perfect and he won his fourth race of the season.

After Franchitti crossed the finish line, he ran into the back of Kosuke Matsuura who was already slowing down and once again went airborne hitting the outside wall. Fortunately, no one was injured as Franchitti got another ride in an ambulance.

"That was a scary moment after the race but thank God he's ok," said Kanaan of the post-race incident.

With his second place finish, Dixon moves to just eight points behind Franchitti. Kanaan, after two consecutive wins, is 52 points behind the leader.

The next IndyCar race is scheduled for Sunday, August 26th at the Infineon Raceway.

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Numerous College Basketball teams take final big step to March Madness betting

So, what turned on the lock spigot? Well, after what felt like weeks of teams treading water and slipping back into the bubble muck, a bunch of them finally decided to say "to heck with parity" and won games that should put them into the Big Dance.

Disagree with some of these? Then here's the challenge. Take all of the "should be ins" and make a legit case that each should be ahead of the team that's a lock. Then find 10 more teams that also should be placed in the bracket ahead of that lock team. Not so easy, is it?

If you want more evidence that these locks should be good to go, check out what our research department dug up. Since the NCAA Tournament went to 64 teams in 1985, only six teams from a "big six" conference have had a record of 10-6 or better in conference play and not been selected: Colorado (2004) and Nebraska (1999) from the Big 12, Boston College and Seton Hall (both 2003) from the Big East, Indiana (2005) from the Big Ten and UCLA, which somehow went 12-6 in the Pac-10 in 1988 and still missed out. (Note: Five teams went 11-7 and didn't get in, the latest being last season's Stanford team, which had a brutal nonconference run.)

Yes, 10 conference wins doesn't always mean what it used to because of unbalanced schedules, but this season, it should be plenty good in all but the extreme cases (see: Iowa).

In a way, this is a welcome development, because this is a bubble watch, not a lock watch. We can finally be done with teams like Maryland and Virginia Tech and start really bearing down on at-large battles such as Syracuse-West Virginia and Appalachian State-Georgia Tech.

Interestingly, all the shifting of teams into lock status appears to be more administrative than impactful. The number of remaining available at-larges didn't change one iota. The only difference is that teams on the bubble now have a clearer idea of which team(s) they are competing with for those precious bids.

The Bubble Breakdown
CONFERENCE LOCKS SHOULD BE INS AT-LARGES TAKEN
(assuming no auto bid outlier)
ACC Betting Odds 6 0 5
Big East Betting Odds 5 0 4
Big Ten Betting Odds 2 2 3
Big 12 Betting Odds 3 0 2
Pac-10 Betting Odds 5 1 5
SEC Betting Odds 4 0 3
MVC Betting Odds 1 1 1
MWC Betting Odds 2 1 2
TOTAL 28 5 25

As always, I've tried to be as inclusive as possible while only including teams that would have a reasonable chance of at least being discussed if this were Selection Sunday. If your team's not on here, there's probably a good reason (or three) -- start with the RPI and SOS numbers and work your way down.

(Please remember, per selection committee criteria, that records displayed are Division I only. Next update: Feb. 28)

If you have a legitimate grievance, or just like talking bubble, send an e-mail. Polite ones with fact-based arguments have a much better chance of receiving a response. I apologize in advance if I can't get back to all of you.

Atlantic Coast Conference

Work left to do: Clemson, Florida State, Georgia Tech

The ACC moves to six locks as BC, Va Tech and Virginia all got their 10th ACC wins, which should be more than enough this season, and Maryland rallied past North Carolina to get the final piece the Terps needed. After that? It could end there unless FSU, Ga Tech or Clemson picks things up in a hurry.

 

Work left to do:

Clemson [19-9 (5-9), RPI: 41, SOS: 42] The Tigers are closer to locking up the collapse of the year award (in a good battle with OK State) than they are to grabbing an at-large. Clemson's been very competitive, but there's no really positive way you can spin nine losses in 11 games. They now cannot get to .500 in ACC play and still must head to Virginia Tech in the season finale (after hosting Miami). Unless the Tigers win both and/or do some serious work in the ACC tourney, they very well could be left out. There are no great nonconference wins, but ODU, App State, Miss. State, South Carolina and Georgia are all respectable W's.

Florida State [18-11 (6-9), RPI: 48, SOS: 14] The Noles got thrashed at Maryland to run their losing streak to five, but then pounded NC State at home to set the table for what likely is an elimination game at Miami. You can at least make a case for the Seminoles at 7-9 in ACC play (and some work in the ACC tourney), but 6-10 is not going to cut it. Wins at Duke and over Florida will resonate, but the computer numbers remain questionable. Beyond Florida, FSU thrashed bubble buddy Providence, but there's not a ton beyond those two games that will help. They didn't show well in big-time opportunities against Pitt and Wisconsin (before the Florida win).

Georgia Tech [18-10 (6-8), RPI: 51, SOS: 46] The Jackets beat Wake on Wednesday but couldn't get it done at UVa on Saturday, which could be a crucial loss with UNC and BC (both at home) remaining and 8-8 almost a certain need for at-large consideration. A nonconference win over Memphis helps, but the RPI and SOS are not at-large quality right now; if you combine those with a sub-.500 ACC mark, that could spell NIT for GT.

For more College Basketball betting lines go to MySportsbook.com

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