Celebration now, uncertainty in future for Stewart's team

Autoracing Betting Lines

11/21/2011 - Homestead, FL (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Tony Stewart has won a lot of championships during his illustrious racing career, but winning his third Sprint Cup Series title in 2011 was unlike any other one that he has experienced.

It's celebration time for Stewart and his No.14 team...and a well deserved one for them after battling back from adversity earlier in the season. But what's forthcoming for the team is ambiguous, particularly with crew chief Darian Grubb.

What a race for Stewart on Sunday at Homestead-Miami Speedway, and what a way to conclude his championship season.

Starting 15th and trailing leader Carl Edwards by just three points when the green flag waved for the 400-mile season-finale at Homestead, Stewart overcame numerous obstacles, especially in the early going when he ran over debris that damaged his front grille. He had to make two lengthy pit stops under caution for repairs and fell back to 40th.

But Stewart made an amazing comeback, passing a total of 118 cars throughout the race. He did a lot of his passing by going three and sometimes four wide after many restarts. Stewart last pitted with 56 laps remaining in a fuel and tire strategy. He held the third position during the eighth and final caution, but after the last restart with 37 laps to go, he quickly moved around Brad Keselowski and Kyle Busch to take the lead for good.

"Man, I feel like I passed half the State of Florida; 118 cars is a lot of cars to pass in one race," Stewart said. "I don't care what series you're in or where you're at. To do it under the circumstances and the pressure that we had [Sunday], I'm very proud of that. I've been racing 31 years, and I can't even remember some of the races I've won. But I would have to say that under the circumstances, I've got to believe that this is definitely one of the greatest races of my life."

Stewart's win coupled with a second-place finish for Edwards at Homestead gave each driver a season-ending 2,403 points. In a tiebreaker, Stewart captured the title by virtue of his five wins this season -- all of them coming in the 10-race Chase for the Sprint Cup -- compared to only one victory for Edwards, which came in March at Las Vegas.

When the Chase began on September 18 at Chicagoland Speedway, Stewart doubted whether or not he should have been in the playoffs after his team struggled during the summer months. Thanks to a third-place finish at Atlanta and then a seventh-place run in the season-ending race at Richmond, Stewart squeaked his way into the Chase, earning the tenth seed.

Stewart set a season-record of five Chase wins. His other victories came at Chicago, New Hampshire, Martinsville and Texas. Stewart had lost momentum in the Chase by finishing 25th at Dover and then 15th at Kansas, but he recovered nicely from there.

"When I said at Chicago that we didn't belong in this Chase and taking a space that somebody else that was doing a better job could have done, there were two things that could have happened with our group of guys," Stewart said. "They could have hung their heads and said that our guy doesn't believe in us, or they could do it, which is exactly what they did, and that's never give up, and they dug their heels in. They fought like the Bad News Bears.

"We were the team that nobody really thought had a shot at the beginning, and the longer this went, we battled adversity at Dover and Texas. and we just kept fighting."

Stewart's two other Sprint Cup championships came in 2002 and '05. He became the ninth different driver in 63-year history of NASCAR's premier series to win three or more titles. Stewart also became the first driver and owner to win the series championship since Alan Kulwicki did it in 1992.

Before he competed in NASCAR full-time, Stewart won the 1997 IndyCar championship. He also has several USAC titles to his credit.

When rain fell on the 1.5-mile South Florida track during his post-race championship celebration, Stewart received a surprise phone call from racing legend A.J. Foyt. Stewart's Chevrolet has the number 14 in honor of his childhood hero Foyt.

"To hear him say that was the best race he's ever seen me run, brings a tear to your eye," Stewart said. "Not many people can have their lifelong hero say that and hear you say that."

While Stewart will be honored as the Sprint Cup champion on December 2 in Las Vegas, Grubb's future with Stewart-Haas Racing is in doubt. Grubb was informed midway through the Chase that he would not be back with the team next season.

"I'm not sure what's going to happen," said Grubb, who became a first-time championship-winning crew chief in the series. "But I was told early in the Chase before Charlotte that next year I was not going to be here. We just kept fighting and doing everything we had to do every week. It did not change anything, what the outcome was going to be. We fought as if we were going to fight to win this championship and we did it, and now we'll just see in this coming week how things change."

Grubb worked for Hendrick Motorsports from 2001-08 prior to his arrival at Stewart's team. He has guided Stewart to 11 wins in the first three years of SHR's existence. Grubb is now exploring his options.

"I had a lot of conversations with a lot of people, telling them please give me the courtesy of waiting until [Sunday night] to see what we could accomplish," he said. "Now that we have done that, I guess we'll start talking, but we'll do a little celebrating first."

In June, Stewart made a key personnel change in his racing organization with competition director Bobby Hutchens being released from the team. Matt Borland took over the role in the interim.

So what's in store for the team in the near future?

"There's a lot of things in the off-season and decisions that have to be made," Stewart said. "Obviously, we wanted to get through this championship battle first, and we'll sit down as a group this week and figure out the direction of our program."

What ends up happening at Stewart's team will be interesting to follow during the off-season.

For the meantime, they're just enjoying the party.

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Will Ohio State continue to run the table in College Football betting odds?
MySportsbook.com favors Buckeyes, Fighting Irish and Golden Bears in this weekend's big games.

NEW YORK, NY, Sept. 21 - My Sportsbook NCAA football fans: things are beginning to get really interesting on college football's national stage. Following last weekend's "Separation Saturday", which included five teams ranked in the top 15 dropping games, the BCS Championship picture is beginning to take shape - with Ohio State leading the charge. And, according to odds makers at MySportsbook.com, the number-one-ranked Buckeyes will continue their winning ways this weekend.

Revenge will be the name of the game in Columbus this Saturday, as Ohio State looks to even the score following last season's loss to Joe Paterno's Nittany Lions. Although Penn State are listed as 16.5 point underdogs, they are 11-10 all-time versus the Buckeyes. Paterno and the Lions, however, will have to shut down Heisman Trophy favorite Troy Smith who has thrown for 769 yards and seven touchdowns this season.

Speaking of revenge, Notre Dame will be out for some against Michigan State, following last year's 44 - 41 overtime loss to the Spartans in South Bend. The thirteenth-ranked Irish, listed as a 3-point favorite, will also be looking to avenge last Saturday's thrashing from the Michigan Wolverines. The Spartans, meanwhile, have won seven of the last nine match-ups against Notre Dame and are coming off an impressive 38-23 victory over Pittsburgh.

Out west, 22nd-ranked Arizona State will be battling for their first victory over 21st-ranked California since 2000. Although the Golden Bears are listed as 7.5-point favorites, the Sun Devils are 3-0, lead the nation in sacks with 18 and possess the Pac-10's leading passer in sophomore quarterback Rudy Carpenter.

To visit this online sportsbook got to MySportsbook.com for all your Sportsbook accepts Visa needs.

NCAA Football betting lines (home team in CAPS)
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Date Favorite Opponent Point Spread
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Sept 21 GEORGIA TECH Virginia 17
Sept 22 NEVADA Northwestern 6.5
Sept 23 MICHIGAN Wisconsin 14
Sept 23 Minnesota PURDUE 3
Sept 23 SYRACUSE Miami (Ohio) 6.5
Sept 23 MISSOURI Ohio 21.5
Sept 23 Louisville KANSAS STATE 14
Sept 23 TENNESSEE Marshall 22
Sept 23 CLEMSON North Carolina 16.5
Sept 23 FLORIDA Kentucky 24
Sept 23 Iowa ILLINOIS 20.5
Sept 23 FLORIDA STATE Rice 30.5
Sept 23 AUBURN Buffalo 41.5
Sept 23 BOWLING GREEN Kent 7
Sept 23 NAVY Tulsa 4.5
Sept 23 VIRGINIA TECH Cincinnati 27
Sept 23 BYU Utah State 29
Sept 23 OHIO STATE Penn State 16.5
Sept 23 TEXAS Iowa State 25
Sept 23 Washington State STANFORD 10
Sept 23 CALIFORNIA Arizona State 7.5
Sept 23 UCLA WASHINGTON 3
Sept 23 INDIANA Connecticut 1.5
Sept 23 Central Michigan EASTERN MICHIGAN 4
Sept 23 WYOMING Air Force 1
Sept 23 UTEP NEW MEXICO 9.5
Sept 23 West Virginia EAST CAROLINA 21
Sept 23 Boston College NORTH CAROLINA STATE 7
Sept 23 GEORGIA Colorado 27
Sept 23 ARKANSAS Alabama 1.5
Sept 23 BAYLOR Army 11
Sept 23 WESTERN MICHIGAN Temple 28
Sept 23 MISSISSIPPI Wake Forest 2.5
Sept 23 KANSAS South Florida 5.5
Sept 23 TEXAS A&amp;M Louisiana Tech 23.5
Sept 23 UAB Mississippi State 9.5
Sept 23 LSU Tulane 36
Sept 23 Utah SAN DIEGO STATE 6.5
Sept 23 BOISE STATE Hawaii 15
Sept 23 Notre Dame MICHIGAN STATE 3
Sept 23 USC ARIZONA U 22
Sept 23 Oklahoma State HOUSTON 1
Sept 23 OREGON STATE Idaho 23
Sept 23 OKLAHOMA Middle Tennessee State 29
Sept 23 MARYLAND Florida International 18.5
Sept 23 AKRON North Texas 17.5
Sept 23 SOUTH CAROLINA Florida Atlantic 29.5
Sept 23 NEBRASKA Troy 23
Sept 23 SMU Arkansas State 6

For complete NCAA football odds and World Series odds please visit MySportsbook.com

Pacific-10 Conference odds

Teams that should be in: Stanford

Oregon and USC get their tickets punched after taking care of business this weekend. Yes, the Trojans' computer numbers aren't great, but there's no way the third-place team in this league is getting nixed. Grudgingly, I added Arizona after consultation with our Bracketologist. I don't know that Arizona will lose its last three (including a Pac-10 quarterfinal game), and even if the Cats do, I still can't see how they'd be left out, given the overall profile. That said, it bears watching, as three more L's would leave them at 18-12 (9-9) and on a 6-11 skid entering the Dance. It would be nice to see the Wildcats get at least one W in the Bay Area next week, as Cincinnati (albeit without Armein Kirkland and with a worse profile) was axed after a similar slide last season. I just couldn't rationalize having some of the other teams as locks and not having Arizona in that category -- there just aren't enough good teams behind the Cats to threaten their spot, it seems. Stanford has its fate in its own hands with the Arizona schools coming to the Farm to close out the regular season next weekend.

Should be in:

Stanford [17-10 (9-7), RPI: 40, SOS: 21] No shame in not getting a win in L.A., but that makes the home game against Arizona State a must-win ahead of what could be an intriguing meeting with Arizona should the Cats lose at Cal. Getting to 11 Pac-10 wins would make Selection Sunday much more comfortable, but 10's probably more than enough this season. The Cardinal have nonconference wins over Texas Tech and at Virginia to lean on, although they also lost badly to Air Force and Santa Clara at home.

Southeastern Conference odds
Work left to do: Alabama, Georgia, Mississippi, Mississippi State

It looks more and more possible that no one from the SEC West will make the NCAAs. How weird is that? Tennessee and Vandy move into the locks category after more good work this weekend. Kentucky stays there, although it would be smart for the Cats to handle Georgia at home Wednesday ahead of a trip to the Swamp. Could a disaster scenario (two more L's and a first-round SEC tourney exit) somehow dislodge the Cats despite their incredible computer numbers? Still unlikely, but not worth chancing it.

Work left to do:

Alabama [19-9 (6-8), RPI: 43, SOS: 47] The tough L at Tennessee was understandable, and even created some hope. Unfortunately, that hope was dashed by a home loss to Auburn, which leaves the Tide in some real trouble. There's still no signature win on the profile (no, Kentucky doesn't count), and the computer profile is weakening rapidly. The Tide conceivably could beat Ole Miss and win at Miss. State to get to 8-8 and clinch at least a share of the West crown, but that's probably not enough right now. The Tide will need to do some work in the SEC tourney.

Georgia [16-10 (8-6), RPI: 52, SOS: 23] This is the team with the best chance to make it from this section right now. The Bulldogs rebounded from a terrible performance at Ole Miss to beat down Miss. State. Now they are at Kentucky (king of the RPI 51-100 win) and home to Tennessee. That would be worth a lot of computer points to get both (which is doable), as both teams are in the top 11 in RPI. Finishing at least 9-7 is an absolute must, and I would feel much better about the Dawgs' chances if they got both to get to 10 SEC wins. They also beat Gonzaga, but lost to ACC bubblers Georgia Tech and Clemson.

Mississippi [18-10 (7-7), RPI: 63, SOS: 79] Like everyone else in this division, Ole Miss gacked up a chance to stake a claim, losing by double figures at South Carolina. Even 9-7 likely is not nearly enough with a nonconference profile devoid of anything notable.

Mississippi State [16-11 (7-7), RPI: 66, SOS: 37] With a chance to get in the mix, these Bulldogs were leashed by their Georgia counterparts. Could they get to 9-7? I guess -- although winning at Arkansas, then beating Alabama is no lock -- but would that mean all that much for a team with this overall profile? Probably not. There's nothing of note (on the good side) in the nonconference profile.

For more College Basketball betting lines go to MySportsbook.com

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