Stewart beats Edwards for Sprint Cup title in tiebreaker

Autoracing Betting Lines

11/20/2011 - Homestead, FL (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Tony Stewart has won his third Sprint Cup Series championship by winning the season-ending Ford 400 in thrilling fashion at Homestead-Miami Speedway.

Stewart and Carl Edwards, who finished second in the race, ended the 2011 season with 2,403 points each, but Stewart won the series title by virtue of his five wins this season -- all of them in the Chase for the Sprint Cup -- compared to only one victory for Edwards, which came in March at Las Vegas.

Starting 15th, Stewart ran over debris and damaged his front end grill. He had to pit twice under caution for repairs and fell back as far as 40th early in the race. But Stewart battled back from his incident as well as two slow stops later in the 400-mile race.

Stewart last pitted with 56 laps to go in a fuel and tire strategy, and then took the lead for good when he passed Kyle Busch after a restart with 37 laps remaining. Stewart beat Edwards to the finish by 1.3 seconds for his third win at Homestead.

The 300-mile race at Homestead was stopped for one hour, 15 minutes for an isolated shower. Rain also slowed the event two other times.

"If this doesn't go down as one of the greatest championship battles in history, I don't know what will," Stewart said as rain began to fall again on the 1.5-mile South Florida racetrack.

Edwards, the pole sitter, led the most laps with 119, which earned him two bonus points.

Martin Truex Jr. finished third, followed by Matt Kenseth and Jeff Gordon.

Gamblingfromhome Autoracing Betting News

<< Atlanta holds off Tennessee
Atlanta, GA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Matt Ryan threw for 316 yards and a touchdown, as the Atlanta Falcons withstood a late charge from the Tennessee Titans to secure a 23-17 bounce-back win. Michael Turner rushed for 100 yards and a touch

<< Lions down Eskimos, clinch Grey Cup berth
Vancouver, BC (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Travis Lulay passed for two touchdowns and ran for another, and British Columbia moved into the Grey Cup with a 40-23 victory over Edmonton in the West Division championship game. Lulay completed 20-of-27 pas

<< Skinner, Hurricanes hold off Maple Leafs
Raleigh, NC (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Jeff Skinner netted the game-winner with just under seven minutes left in regulation, as Carolina fended off a late charge and edged Toronto, 3-2, at RBC Center. Jay Harrison and Jussi Jokinen also t

<< 49ers top Cardinals, run win streak to 8
San Francisco, CA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Alex Smith passed for 267 yards and two touchdowns and the San Francisco 49ers beat the Arizona Cardinals, 23-7, on Sunday to win their eighth straight game for the first time in 14 years. Smith's t

<< Rockies send Wigginton to Phillies
Denver, CO (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Colorado Rockies traded infielder Ty Wigginton to the Philadelphia Phillies on Sunday for a player to be named later or cash considerations. Wigginton, 34, batted .242 with 15 home runs and 47

SEC leads the way in BCS standings >>
Irving, TX (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - LSU is still No. 1 in the most recent BCS standings released Sunday, but the rest of the field has been shaken up following a weekend of upsets. The Tigers (11-0), one of the two remaining undefeated teams and a

No. 16 Alabama downs Purdue in Puerto Rico >>
San Juan, PR (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Trevor Releford totaled 20 points, five assists and four rebounds, an all-around effort that helped 16th-ranked Alabama beat Purdue, 65-56, in the championship game of the Puerto Rico Tip- Off.

Sharks down Avalanche behind Marleau's hat trick >>
Denver, CO (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Patrick Marleau recorded the fourth hat trick of his career, Thomas Greiss made 36 saves and the San Jose Sharks continued their strong play with a 4-1 victory over the Colorado Avalanche at Pepsi Center.

Miami to withhold football team from bowl game >>
Coral Gables, FL (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The University of Miami has decided to withhold its football team from bowl consideration while it deals with an ongoing NCAA inquiry. According to a statement released by the school, the dec

Stuart leads Red Wings past Ducks >>
Anaheim, CA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Brad Stuart scored two goals to help the Detroit Red Wings beat the Anaheim Ducks, 4-2, at Honda Center. Henrik Zetterberg and Johan Franzen both registered a goal and an assist for Detroit, which salv

COLLEGE FOOTBALL BETTING

NCAA Football Betting : USC's reward: Top spot in Top 25

NEW YORK (AP) -By staying away from the cupcakes, Southern California earned itself a slim new ranking.

No. 1 always seems to fit USC.

Southern California jumped two spots to No. 1 in The Associated Press Top 25 on Tuesday, rewarded by voters for opening the season with a dominant performance on the road against a BCS conference opponent.

Georgia and Ohio State, the preseason Nos. 1 and 2, respectively, started their seasons with glorified scrimmages at home against FCS (formerly I-AA) teams. USC, however, traveled across country to face Virginia and could not have been more impressive in a 52-7 victory.

Georgia fell to No. 2 and Ohio State to No 3.

"We realize that rankings so early in a season are certainly fluid. But rankings do help establish a pecking order for things later in the season," USC coach Pete Carroll said in a statement. "As for moving into the No. 1 spot, it's nice to know that people think highly of our team."

Since reaching No. 1 on Dec. 7, 2003, the final-regular season AP poll of that season, USC has been No. 1 in 39 polls, by far the most of any team during that time.

"Some have said the voters are taking our schedule into consideration," Carroll said. "Our philosophy has always been to schedule outstanding opponents. We need to play challenging games like we just did, traveling across the country to open the season at Virginia. Games like that bring out our best and make us stronger as a team."

The latest voting was close. USC received 21 first-place votes and 1,539 points from the 65-member media panel. Georgia had 20 first-place votes and 1,506 points. Ohio State got 15 first-place votes and 1,497 points.

"I'd say we've evolved as pollsters," said Stewart Mandel of SI.com, who moved USC up to No. 1. "In the past, voters just kind of automatically moved teams up and kept teams where they were if they won."

Georgia beat Georgia Southern 45-21 on Saturday and Ohio State opened with a 43-0 win over Youngstown State.

"There's a bit of a growing backlash for the amount of teams that open with I-AA cupcakes," said Mandel, whose book "Bowls, Polls and Tattered Souls" chronicles college football's controversies. "To see a team [USC] go on the road and play a New Year's Day bowl team from last season, and not only play them but destroy them, how could you not reward that team?"

USC also jumped past Georgia to No. 1 in the USA Today coaches' poll, which has the same top five as the AP poll.

"It's definitely a privilege to be No. 1. But it's not heartbreaking to me if we drop," Georgia offensive lineman Josh Davis said. "It doesn't matter right now what we're ranked. What matters is our next game and right now, that's Central Michigan. The only time the polls matter is in December. That's when the polls matter."

While the Bulldogs opened easy, their schedule ultimately should be as difficult as any team's. Georgia's big nonconference test is at No. 15 Arizona State on Sept. 20. The Bulldogs also face six Southeastern Conference rivals that've been ranked in the first two polls.

As for Ohio State, the Buckeyes play at USC on Sept. 13 before getting into the Big Ten schedule.

But of the teams in this week's top 10, USC and Texas are the only ones that don't play an FCS opponent, and the Trojans are the only team that doesn't play a team from a non-BCS conference.

Get the latest 2009 BCS Championship odds at MySportsbook.com.

The last team to drop from No. 1 after a victory was USC last season. LSU jumped from No. 2 to No. 1 when it beat Tulane 34-9, the same week the Trojans edged Washington 27-24 on the road.

The last preseason No. 1 team to lose the top spot after winning its opening game was Florida in 2001. The Gators beat Marshall 49-14, but preseason No. 2 Miami opened with a 33-7 victory over Penn State and the Hurricanes jumped to No. 1 with Florida slipping to second.

The next four teams in the new Top 25 stayed the same: No. 4 Oklahoma (two first-place votes), No. 5 Florida (five first-place votes), No. 6 Missouri (one first-place vote), No. 7 LSU (one first-place vote) and No. 8 West Virginia.

No. 9 Auburn and No. 10 Texas each moved up a spot, taking advantage of Clemson's big drop. Clemson, ninth in the preseason, fell out after losing 34-10 to Alabama on Saturday.

Also falling out after losses were Virginia Tech, Pittsburgh and Tennessee.

Moving into the rankings were No. 21 Fresno State, No. 22 Utah, No. 23 UCLA and No. 24 South Carolina.

Alabama moved up 11 spots after its big victory over Clemson.

The second 10 started with No. 11 Wisconsin, followed by Texas Tech, Alabama and Kansas. BYU and Arizona State were tied for 15th. Rivals BYU and Utah are both ranked for the first time since 1996.

South Florida was No. 17, ahead of Oregon, Penn State and Wake Forest at No. 20.

The final five were all the teams to move into the ranking, except for Illinois, which dropped four spots and tied South Carolina for No. 24.

Get free Sports Betting lines RSS feeds from top rated online sportsbook MySportsbook.com