Edwards wins for first time since 2005

Autoracing Betting Lines

06/17/2007 - Brooklyn, MI (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Breaking a 52-race winless streak, Carl Edwards captured Sunday's Citizens Bank 400 at the Michigan International Speedway. The No.99 Roush Fenway Racing Ford driver crossed the finish line more than three seconds ahead of Martin Truex Jr.

The victory was the fifth of Edwards' Nextel Cup career and the first since November 2005 at the Texas Motor Speedway.

"This is awesome, I'm just living the dream and having a blast," said Edwards.

First-time pole winner J.J. Yeley brought the field to the green flag for 200 laps of high-speed racing. But it was Jimmie Johnson who led the first lap. In fact, Yeley fell all the way to eighth place before he could get back into line.

Behind Johnson, Ryan Newman and new powerhouse Truex Jr. were taking up the chase. Truex Jr. passed Newman and on lap 10 went inside Johnson for his first lead of the race.

Newman fell further back with a flat left-rear tire on lap 14. It was not an easy change as rubber had wrapped itself around the axle. The No.12 Alltel Dodge returned to the track in 43rd place, three laps down to the leaders.

By lap 30, Truex Jr.'s lead over Johnson had ballooned to 3.070 seconds. Behind Johnson was an even bigger gap, it was more than six seconds to third- place Jeff Gordon.

Through a round of green-flag pit stops and Truex Jr., Johnson and Gordon were still one-two-three. The pace was fast and through 50 laps only 28 cars remained on the lead lap.

A first caution flag of the race on lap 53 sent everyone diving down pit lane. Truex Jr. came out first, but the big winner was Dale Earnhardt Jr., who used a two-tire change to grab second place from Johnson. Bill Elliott, who won the June race at MIS three straight years from 1985-1987, also used a two-tire stop to crack the top-10.

Johnson took four tires and after just three laps he moved around "Junior" for second place. He was flying and on lap 64 he went underneath Truex Jr. for the lead.

Juan Montoya brought out caution flag number two when he slammed the wall in turn two. Edwards, who was up to second place just before the caution, was penalized for speeding on pit road dropping him all the way back to 28th place.

Jeff Green and Newman brought out a third caution flag as the No.12 Dodge was sent flying across the infield. Truex Jr., Kenseth and Brian Vickers were sucked up in the accident and it sent the No.17 Roush Fenway Ford to the garage. Before today, Kenseth had completed every lap of every race in 2007.

Johnson and Gordon were now one-two and working together to pull away from third place Kurt Busch. They were two seconds up on the No.2 Dodge and five seconds up on Tony Stewart who had finally made his way into contention after starting 43rd.

Meanwhile, Edwards and Truex Jr. were working their way through the slower cars to get back into the race. By lap 90 they were 12th and 15th, respectively. Three laps later Edwards was in the top-10 again.

Johnson began to stretch out his lead, to one and-a-half seconds at the 100- lap mark. Five laps later it was 2.632 seconds as Gordon began to complain of a "tight" race car. Gordon suddenly began to drop, to fifth on lap 109. He pitted on the next lap, beginning a round of green-flag stops.

Near the end of the stops, Tony Raines spun to bring out a caution flag. Truex Jr., Earnhardt Jr. and Paul Menard, all DEI cars, were leading the race when the flag came out. They would pit and return to the track in ninth, 10th and 13th, respectively

Johnson was again the leader with Busch, Stewart and Edwards just behind. Edwards was still strong and by lap 124 had passed Stewart and Busch and he was just six-tenths behind the No.48 Chevy.

Three laps later he was on Johnson's rear bumper. Edwards tried a couple of times to pass Johnson, but each time he had to fall back into line. Finally, on lap 130, he got his man.

With clean air, Edwards showed off his power and built the lead to 2.021 second in just eight laps. With 55 laps to go the gap was up to 3.005 seconds over the new second-place driver - Truex Jr. Of course, Edwards had an 11- second lead in Saturday's Busch race and didn't win, so there was still a lot of work to do.

By lap 158, Truex Jr. closed onto Edwards' bumper. Edwards pitted while Truex Jr. continued on with the lead. Gordon, who had topped off before the last green flag restart stayed out as well.

Truex Jr. came in with 41 laps to go, could he make it all the way from here?

Gordon came in on the next lap and the question was the same for the No.24 Chevy.

Johnson was the new race leader, but he would likely need a "splash-and-go" unless there were some caution flag laps. Behind him were Edwards and Truex Jr. Gordon returned to the track in 13th.

Edwards was again on the move and caught Johnson on lap 164. He went to the high side and swept past Johnson with 35 laps to go. Thirty to go and the lead was 1.462 seconds on Johnson and 3.006 seconds on Truex Jr. Of the three, Truex Jr. was posting the fastest laps.

Truex Jr. got around Johnson with 26 to go as Johnson was in "fuel conservation" mode. His crew chief thought he was about two laps short of reaching the checkered flag.

The No.1 DEI Chevy was still on the move and it looked like only a matter of time before he caught Edwards. Twenty-two laps to go and the margin was just 0.556 seconds. He cut it two about four car lengths, but then his charge to the front seemed to stall.

Was he having a problem or just waiting to make his move?

Edwards was fighting back and built the lead to one second with 10 laps remaining.

Johnson coasted down pit lane with eight laps to go...out of fuel.

Edwards was now 2.775 seconds ahead of Truex Jr. with five laps to go and seemed resigned to second place unless the No.99 Ford ran out of fuel.

With the lead, Edwards could now coast in and out of the corners and he made it to the checkered flag for the victory.

Edwards celebrated with his traditional back flip and made the trip to Victory Lane.

Gordon finished ninth and his lead is 264 points over Denny Hamlin going to the next event at the Infineon Raceway on June 24th for the first road-course race of the year.

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Pro Football Odds : NFC SOUTH BETTING ODDS

NFL Sports Betting

NFL betting action is back! At MySportsbook, all of the pro football odds are posted for the NFC North. Check out how we see the four teams in this cloudy division stacking up this year in the chase for the playoffs! Green Bay Packers (+125) - With QB Aaron Rodgers leading the offense and DC Dom Capers working his magic on defense, the Packers are a real force to be reckoned with.

Virtually nothing changed on this offense for Green Bay from last year to this year, save for the addition of rookie OT Brian Bulaga to the bunch. Expect more huge numbers from the Pack, and a relatively favorable schedule should get them over the hump and into the playoffs once again this season. My NFL Betting Predictions: 11-5, 1st place in NFC North Minnesota Vikings (+130) - There are still too many unknowns about the Vikes this year. There is a huge difference between QB Brett Favre and either Tarvaris Jackson or Sage Rosenfels under center. Plus, is Favre comes back, is he really going to be able to keep his pick total under double digits again? Depth at running back looked like it might have been an issue with RB Chester Taylor fleeing in free agency, but drafting RB Toby Gerhart should pick up the difference. This defense is still suitable, but with a first place schedule, making the playoffs is going to be very tough regardless of whether #4 comes back or not.

There is a huge difference between QB Brett Favre and either Tarvaris Jackson or Sage Rosenfels under center. Plus, is Favre comes back, is he really going to be able to keep his pick total under double digits again? Depth at running back looked like it might have been an issue with RB Chester Taylor fleeing in free agency, but drafting RB Toby Gerhart should pick up the difference. This defense is still suitable, but with a first place schedule, making the playoffs is going to be very tough regardless of whether #4 comes back or not. Play this weekly NFL Football Contestto see if you can win.

Chicago Bears (+350) - The Bears are probably a bit of an overhyped team once again this year.No, we don't think it is plausible for QB Jay Cutler to have as bad of a season as he did last year, and we do think the additions of RB Chester Taylor and DE Julius Peppers are going to help immensely, but there's still something in the water in the Windy City that we aren't so sure about. Maybe Chicago finds its way to .500... but then again, maybe it doesn't. If Favre comes back, Cutler might be the worst quarterback in this division this year.

Detroit Lions (+1500) - The Lions are probably once again going to be the whipping boys for the rest of the teams in the NFC North, but they aren't just going to roll over and die once again. There is some real talent amassing on this team offensively, as the combination of QB Matt Stafford, RB Jahvid Best, WR Calvin Johnson, and TE Brandon Pettigrew should put a bunch of points on the board if the offensive line can even remotely hold up. The questions really lie on defense, where it feels like DT Ndamukong Suh is going to be trying to stop opposing teams all by himself. This year should show some marked improvement in the Motor City.

The Patriots will make NFL betting fans a lot of money this season, get in early and enjoy the cash.

NFL Betting

To visit this sportsbook go to MySportsbook.com for all your NFL football betting needs.

Big 12 Conference betting odds

Work left to do: Texas Tech, Oklahoma State, Kansas State

Texas joins Texas A&M and Kansas as locks after getting league win No. 11. Texas Tech greatly helped its own hopes and crippled OK State's with the two-point win Saturday. Is K-State the last reasonable hopeful? Could be an elimination match in Stillwater on Tuesday, at least for the Cowboys.

Work left to do:

Texas Tech [18-11 (7-7), RPI: 44, SOS: 12] A critical two-point win over OK State leaves the Red Raiders with Baylor and at Iowa State left. Get both and the Red Raiders likely are good to go. Get one and there could be some interesting comparisons with a K-State team that could finish two or three games "ahead" of them in the standings but doesn't have any of the quality wins Texas Tech has. Not a lot in nonconference play (against Arkansas in Little Rock being the best win, by far) to lean on.

Oklahoma State [18-9 (5-8), RPI: 50, SOS: 35] Still without a road win, the Cowboys now need to win two on the road just to get to .500 in conference play. It's hard to recall a team (OK, other than Clemson) falling so precipitously from lock status to almost certainly out of the NCAAs at this point. There are wins to be had in the last three, including a very big home game against K-State on Tuesday, but this team is reeling. Can you tell the pressure to win is getting to them with the way the final possession played out at Texas Tech? There are some good nonconference performances to lean on, specifically beating Missouri State and Syracuse on neutral floors and Pitt in OK City, but if the Pokes don't right this very, very soon, that won't be enough.

Kansas State [20-9 (9-5), RPI: 56, SOS: 96] It pays to be in the Big 12 North. The nine league wins are Colorado (twice), Missouri (twice), Iowa State (twice), Baylor, Nebraska and (a good one against) Texas. That helps explain the middling computer profile. The win over USC is nice, but the nonconference leaves a lot to be desired. The game at OK State in Stillwater on Tuesday is huge, as it could KO the Cowboys and leave K-State with a home date against Oklahoma with which to work.