Daytona testing underway, Danica begins prep for 500

Autoracing Betting Lines

01/12/2012 - Daytona Beach, FL (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Thirty-one Sprint Cup Series teams checked in at Daytona International Speedway on Thursday to begin a three-day test session in preparation for the February 26 season-opening Daytona 500.

During the morning single-car session, Hendrick Motorsports driver and three- time Daytona 500 winner Jeff Gordon topped the speed charts with a lap at 192.773 mph. Paul Menard was second fastest at 192.369 mph, followed by Kurt Busch, who is making his debut with Phoenix Racing after being released from Penske Racing at the end of the 2011 season.

Ricky Stenhouse Jr. was fourth and Juan Pablo Montoya fifth. Stenhouse Jr., the reigning Nationwide Series champion, has landed a ride for the Daytona 500 in Roush Fenway Racing's No.6 Ford.

Teams are mainly familiarizing themselves with NASCAR's new rules package for next month's race at Daytona. A number of revisions have been made to the Sprint Cup cars for restrictor-plate racing at Daytona and Talladega Superspeedway this year, including a smaller capacity in both the radiators and overflow tank.

In addition, the radiator inlet will be moved up closer into the front center bumper area. The springs on the cars will be softer and the rear spoiler smaller. The restrictor plate has been modified to 1/64 inch larger than the plate size used for last year's Daytona 500.

"I'm glad they [NASCAR] opened up the cars a little bit and gave us a bigger plate," said 2004 Daytona 500 winner Dale Earnhardt Jr. "I think the changes they made are really good, and I can feel that I'm going around the corners faster than I have been in the last couple of years, which is good."

Earnhardt Jr. was 11th quickest (191.388 mph) in the opening session. He won the pole for last year's Daytona 500 with a lap at 186.089 mph.

NASCAR is hoping to minimize and perhaps eliminate two-car drafts, which has become an unpopular style of racing at restrictor-plate tracks. The sanctioning body is also considering banning communications between drivers on their car radios during the race in effort to break up the two-car tandems.

Earnhardt Jr. doesn't think NASCAR's rule of ceasing communication between drivers while on the racetrack will make that much of a difference.

"I don't think it will be a big deal," he said. "Pretty much everybody is working with teammates anyway. I don't think their going to limit that, so I don't think it will be any big deal. When we first started tandem drafting, you might ended up working with somebody outside of your company. But then everybody sort of got a little strict on who they're going to work with and how they're going to do it, and they stuck with that plan for the entire race."

Some two-car drafting took place during the afternoon hours on day one at Daytona.

The test session will also allow teams with new drivers this year to get familiar with each other. Running a limited Sprint Cup schedule this season, beginning with the Daytona 500, Danica Patrick is getting more acquainted with her crew chief, Greg Zipadelli, and the crew members of her No.10 Stewart-Haas Racing team.

"Today it's just run on our own and seeing how fast we can get the car to go," Patrick said. "I think [Friday] we'll work on bump drafting. I heard Tony [Stewart] say he's going to let someone else do it first with the new rear spoiler and springs, so that's fine with me. I said that I think I want to be the one getting pushed, so I don't be the one who takes out my boss [Stewart]. That would be bad."

Last month, Zipadelli was named as the new competition director for Tony Stewart's multi-car organization. Zipadelli had served as crew chief for Stewart (1999-2008) and Joey Logano (2009-2011) at Joe Gibbs Racing.

As of now, Patrick is not guaranteed a starting position in the Daytona 500, but Stewart, the 2011 Sprint Cup driver/owner champion, could give his owner points to Patrick to ensure her a spot in the race.

"I think we're still trying to figure that equation out," Stewart said. "The good thing is looking on the sheet today the car seems to have good speed right off the bat. I've got the utmost confidence that even in the worst-case scenario that we've got the right driver that can get this car in the race with no problem.

"We're working through that and trying to get it finalized and figuring out what are options are to make sure that we give her the best opportunity to get into the Daytona 500 and get her all the experience that we can get her."

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

Additional sports lines can be found at: www.Sportsbooks.com

To bet on March Madness games this online sportsbook accepts credit cards.