10/26/2008 - Surfers Paradise, Australia (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Australian-native Ryan Briscoe held off reigning IndyCar Series champion Scott Dixon in the final laps to win the Nikon Indy 300 on the Streets of Surfers Paradise. The No.6 Team Penske driver led a race-high 39 laps and crossed the finish line 0.5019 seconds ahead of Dixon to become the first Aussie to win the Gold Coast event.
"What a way to finish the year and kick off the 2009 season," Briscoe said. "It's just a dream to win in my home country. I got to thank the whole team at Team Penske. They gave me a perfect car today."
Briscoe finished the 2008 season fifth in points with two championship-point victories to his credit. His first career IndyCar win came in June at the Milwaukee Mile, while his second victory came the following month at the Mid- Ohio Sports Car Course.
Briscoe started third and put on a dominating performance throughout the race.
Will Power started on the pole and opened up a three-second lead on the field, while Briscoe passed Dixon for the second spot after the first lap. Vitor Meira, who made his first start in the No.14 car for AJ Foyt Racing, made contact with Mario Moraes and spun heading into the first turn.
Moraes spun and slapped the wall, severely damaging the rear suspension of his car on the eighth lap for the first full caution.
Danica Patrick made contact with Helio Castroneves on Lap 12 and suffered damage to her front wing. Patrick's incident added to an already frustrating weekend at Surfers Paradise where she struggled in practice and failed to post a qualifying time after crashing into the wall on the first lap.
Power led the first 17 laps, but blew a left-rear tire and brazed the wall in turn eight, putting him out of competition early.
"I just clipped the inside wall," Power said. "Just a very bad mistake, very unfortunate."
Power's mishap allowed Briscoe to capture the lead for the first time.
Briscoe pitted for fuel only on Lap 21 as he handed the lead over to Dixon. The following lap, Dixon entered the pits before a full-course caution came for an incident involving Ed Carpenter, Graham Rahal and AJ Foyt IV. After the cycle of stops was completed, Briscoe was back in the lead with Dixon in second.
Dario Franchitti spun and went off the track on Lap 28 for another full-course caution. He was running among the top-10 for the first-half of the race, but fell a lap behind. Franchitti, driving the No.10 car for Chip Ganassi Racing, marked his return to IndyCar after spending the last year in Sprint Cup and Nationwide Series competition. He ended up finishing 16th.
Briscoe and Dixon pitted at the same time under green, while Alex Tagliani inherited the lead on Lap 39. Briscoe beat Dixon out of the pits and then recaptured the lead for the final time on Lap 42.
Ryan Hunter-Reay, Tagliani and Oriol Servia finished third through fifth. EJ Viso, Castroneves, Hideki Mutoh, Rahal and Dan Wheldon completed the top-10.
The IRL begins its 2009 season April 5th in St. Petersburg, FL.
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at 1
In any football or basketball game (the main sports that use point spreads) there are two teams playing against each other.
Those teams, though, are rarely exactly evenly matched – meaning that typically one team has a better chance than the other to win the game. If bettors were allowed to bet on who was simply going to win the game, smart ones would obviously bet on the better team (likely winning more than 50% of the time in the process).
If winning were that easy the Las Vegas and online sportsbooks would stop taking any bets! This is where the point spread comes in: the basic function of the point spread is to balance the likelihood of each team “winning” by adjusting the final score by the point spread. After this adjustment is made you get the Against The Spread result (ATS result for short).
Let’s look at Super Bowl XXXIX, New England Patriots vs. Philadelphia Eagles. Most people believed the defending champ Patriots to be the better team – so if betting were simply based upon which team would win the game, an uneven majority of people would have wagered on New England. But, by using the point spread, the bookmakers adjusted the terms of the bet, evening the proposition so about half the people believed the Pats to be the smart bet, while the other half considered Philly to be the smart bet.
New England Patriots -7 vs. Philadelphia Eagles
The better team, called the Favorite, is expected to win the game and must “give” or “lay” points to the weaker team. The favorite is listed with a minus sign and the number of points they are favored by (e.g., New England -7)
In the case of our example, New England must not only win the game, but they must win by more than 7 points for Pats bettors to have a winning ATS result. An Eagles bettor wins his bet either if:
There was also the possibility that the final score could land exactly on the spread number (for example, the Pats winning 28-21 when -7), which is called a “push” or “no action” and a refund is then issued to bettors of both teams.
The same game with the same point spread can be considered from the weaker team’s perspective: The Underdog (Philly in the case of our example) is not expected to win the game and thus receives or “gets” points given by the stronger team. When a game is stated from the underdog’s perspective the team is listed with a plus sign and the number of points they are underdogs by:
Philadelphia Eagles +7 vs. New England Patriots
Keep in mind that Philadelphia +7 and New England -7 is the same point spread on the same game, simply stated differently. The first is from the underdog’s perspective; the later is from the favorite’s.
Not a must, but for some a mathematical approach is insightful. You can determine the ATS winner by either:
Let’s look at the actual result of Super Bowl XXXIX: New England 24 Philadelphia 21
The favorite, New England, won the game but not by more than the point spread they were favored by (7), so the ATS result was a LOSS for Pats bettors.
Looking at it from the underdog’s perspective, Philly did not win the game, but they lost by less than the point spread (7), so the ATS result was a WIN for Eagle bettors.
Mathematically considered, 24 for the favorite Pats minus 7 equals 17, which is less than the 20 the Eagles scored, so the underdog Eagles win the ATS result (or you could figure 20 plus 7 equals 27 for the Eagles, which is more than 24 for the Pats).
Emily’s boyfriend understood the point spread and wagered $100 on the Eagles at +7. The Eagles may not have gotten a Super Bowl ring, but since they won the ATS result Emily’s boyfriend cashed his bet – giving him money to take her out to a nice dinner.
And now hopefully you understand how to read point spreads, putting you one step closer to joining the fun of sports betting.
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