Crafton tops in truck qualifying at Martinsville

Autoracing Betting Lines

10/29/2011 - Martinsville, VA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Matt Crafton will start on the pole for Saturday's Kroger 200 Camping World Truck Series race after setting a new track qualifying record at Martinsville Speedway.

Crafton turned a lap at 96.352 mph for his second pole of the season and the sixth of his truck career. Jack Sprague previously held the track record at 96.327 mph, set in 2008.

Ron Hornaday Jr.'s lap at 96.224 mph earned him the outside pole. Hornaday is the defending race winner.

Denny Hamlin, driving Kyle Busch Motorsports' No.18 truck, qualified third, while Johnny Sauter and James Buescher rounded out the top-five.

Kevin Harvick, Todd Bodine, Justin Lofton, Timothy Peters and Austin Dillon, the current points leader, qualified sixth through 10th, respectively.

With three races to go, Dillon holds just a three-point advantage over Buescher. Sauter trails Dillon by 14 points, while Hornaday is 16 markers out of the lead.

Jennifer Jo Cobb and Charlie Vest failed to qualify.

The 200-lap race at Martinsville is scheduled to start just after 2:00 p.m. (et).

Trygambling Autoracing Betting News

<< Cowboys waive RB Choice
Irving, TX (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Dallas Cowboys waived running back Tashard Choice on Saturday, more than 24 hours prior to a key NFC East contest in Philadelphia on Sunday night. The 26-year-old has been bothered by shoulder

<< Kvitova, Azarenka to meet in Championships final
Istanbul, Turkey (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Third-seeded Wimbledon champion Petra Kvitova and fourth-seeded Victoria Azarenka will meet in the final at the season-ending $4.55 million WTA Championships. Kvitova battled back from a set d

<< Martinsville qualifying washed out, Edwards on pole
Martinsville, VA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Persistent rain at Martinsville Speedway forced NASCAR to cancel Saturday's qualifying session and therefore set the starting field for the Tums Fast Relief 500 -- the seventh race in the Chase for the

<< Rangers holds off Aberdeen to remain unbeaten
Aberdeen, Scotland (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Goals from Kyle Lafferty and Nikica Jelavic handed Rangers another win in league play on Saturday as the club held off Aberdeen for a 2-1 win at Pittodrie Stadium. Lafferty put Rangers on the boa

<< Mets name Tom Goodwin first base coach
Flushing, NY (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The New York Mets named Tom Goodwin their first base coach Saturday. The 43-year-old Goodwin spent the past four seasons in the Boston Red Sox organization. Goodwin played 14 seasons in the big

Donald to miss HSBC Champions >>
Shanghai, China (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - World No. 1 Luke Donald announced on Saturday that he will skip next week's WGC-HSBC Champions to be with his wife for the birth of the couple's second child. Donald won the PGA Tour money title

Van Persie fires Arsenal past Chelsea >>
London, England (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - A hat trick from Robin van Persie inspired Arsenal to a 5-3 win over Chelsea at Stamford Bridge on Saturday, handing the Blues a second successive defeat. Chelsea dropped a 1-0 contest at QPR last week

Gomez leads Bayern to 4-0 win over Nurnberg >>
Munich, Germany (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Mario Gomez scored twice to remain atop the Bundesliga scoring chart, and Bayern Munich cruised to a 4-0 win over Nurnberg on Saturday at the Allianz Arena. Gomez scored in the 2nd and 69th minutes to inc

Toussaint leads Michigan over Purdue >>
Ann Arbor, MI (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Fitzgerald Toussaint carried the ball 20 times for 170 yards and two touchdowns, as the 17th-ranked Michigan Wolverines cruised past the Purdue Boilermakers, 36-14. Denard Robinson completed 9-of-14 pass

Kings activate Doughty from IR >>
Los Angeles, CA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Los Angeles Kings activated defenseman Drew Doughty from injured reserve on Saturday. Doughty suffered an upper-body injury during a 3-2 overtime win at Philadelphia on October 1

FOOTBALL BETTING : Crabtree's base deal: six years, $32 million

Football Betting

In the wake of the news that the 49ers have signed receiver Michael Crabtree after an extended holdout, there has been not a hint of the dollars to be paid to Crabtree.

And since this means that his agent hasn't leaked the numbers, it means that his agent feels no specific motivation to do so.

Possibly because his agent isn't all that thrilled to have his name on the deal.

So the numbers will come from sources other than Crabtree's agent. And we've gotten our mitts into them.

Per a league source, Crabtree has signed a six-year, $32 million contract. (The total includes guaranteed money, base salaries, and the one-time incentive based on achieving minimum playing time.)

The deal also includes $17 million in guaranteed money.

As reported elsewhere, the deal can void to five years based on performance triggers, wiping out a final year base salary of $4 million. But they won't be easily reached.

The source tells us that, in his first four seasons (including 2009), Crabtree must either qualify for two Pro Bowls, or he must qualify for one Pro Bowl in one year and he must participate in 80 percent of the offensive snaps in a separate year in which the team makes the playoffs.

In other words, if in 2010 he qualifies for the Pro Bowl and the team makes the playoffs and he participates in 80 percent of the snaps, he'll still need to make it to the Pro Bowl or achieve the 80-percent/playoffs in another season.

Since the chances of Crabtree making the Pro Bowl or participating in 80 percent of the offensive snaps this year is roughly zero percent, he'll have three years to get it done.

And it won't be easy. Frankly, he'll be hard pressed to make it to one Pro Bowl in three years with the likes of Larry Fitzgerald, Calvin Johnson, Anquan Boldin, Steve Smith, the other Steve Smith, Hakeem Nicks, DeSean Jackson, Johnny Knox, Percy Harvin, Greg Jennings, Roddy White, T.J. Houshmandzadeh in the same conference for sportsbook betting.

So, by all appearances, it's a six-year deal. And at $17 million in guaranteed money, the per-year guarantee is a tepid $2.83 million per year.

There's another problem with the deal -- it has no mid-tier incentive package. Instead, the additional $8 million that Crabtree can earn (pushing the max value to six years, $40 million) requires the kind of unrealistic, mega-star performances that no rookie is likely to ever achieve.

So while the contract paid to Packers defensive tackle B.J. Raji covers five years and pays $22.5 million, he has the ability (if he's a solid player) to make up the difference between his base deal and Crabtree's five-year, $28 million haul via the mid-tier incentive package in Raji's deal.

And unless Crabtree meets the performance thresholds necessary to void the sixth year, he'll be stuck under contract for another year at a base salary of only $4 million.

There's one other area of concern with the deal. Crabtree, per the source, received no option bonus. Instead, he has significant money tied to a fairly new device known as a "discretionary salary advance," which unlike an opition bonus is subject to forfeiture if Crabtree decides in a year or two that he wants to hold out for a better deal. (We're also told that the 49ers have included language that would make certain escalators subject to forfeiture, too.)

Meanwhile, the deal falls well short of the mark for which Crabtree and agent Eugene Parker were aiming -- the five-year, $38.25 million contract paid by the Raiders to receiver Darrius Heyward-Bey, the seventh overall pick in the draft.

Even if Crabtree successfully voids the final year, he'll make more than $2 million per year less on average than Heyward-Bey.

Thus, as we explained earlier in the day, this is a deal that Crabtree could have done in July, which would have given him a much better chance of making a contribution to the 49ers during his rookie year.

So while the final outcome can be described as win-win, the broader view suggests that it's really a lose-lose situation.

NFL Betting Lines

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

American Idol odds : Blake Lewis the Early Standout

An important American Idol betting lines recap from February 20 Guys episode. The 12 men came out flat overall with Blake Lewis appearing to have the early edge after the first hour and a half.

Rudy - was quite good singing "Free Ride" to start off.  Randy was not impressed though.  Paula thought he started off fantastic.  "Never had anyone stop off so lively" said Paula but Simon (who does not like Rudy) does not feel he has a distinct voice and was not impressed either. 

Brandon was a little pitchy according to Randy and Paula agreed.  Simon said he was a good singer but the song was "too safe" and he needs to make an impact.  He was listed at +1200 odds or $1200 paid out on a $100 bet should he win the competition. 

Big favorite Sundance came in with a flat version of "Knights in White Satin" and the judges let him have it, including Paula.  Randy claimed the song was out of pitch throughout.

Korean American - and a Jenny Woo favorite - Paul Kim was up next.  Another pitchy flat one but Randy said he still liked his potential.  Kim at +3000 odds was said to have sung a "third rate version of that (George Michael) song" according to Simon Cowell.  He sang "Careless Whisper".

22 year old Chris Richardson was up next.  He was listed with +1100 odds coming in.  He got the best response from the judges though Simon did not believe the vocal was that great. 

Nick was boring and pitchy.  Simon didn't think he was that bad though and predicted he would be back next week.  Nick Pedro was a big +3000 dog coming into this competition. 

Beat boxer Blake Lewis was listed with early +1000 odds or $1000 payout on a $100 bet if he were to become the next American Idol winner odds .  These of course were the early odds.  He was considered original for picking an "odd song".  He did not beat box and the judges felt it was the best vocal of the night. 

Sanjaya came in as the second biggest favorite after Chris Sligh but his performance Tuesday night was not very good. 

Chris Sleigh was the early favorite at +450 odds.  Great voice and a great sense of humor.  He's a real standout.  Randy felt it was on point but maybe ahead of the chorus a little bit.  Simon Cowell said he felt like he was in some "sort of weird student gig". 

Jared Cotter followed.  He was listed with +2000 odds early on to win the competition.  The judges felt he needs to take more risks but looked good. 

22-year old AJ Talbado, who has tried out for American Idol five times, was up next.  "Kind of a theme park performance" said Simon.  Though the judges felt he performed okay.  Simon did feel AJ might be better than he originally thought.

Phil - this season's military favorite - came into this competition with +1200 odds to win the competition.  He was the last to perform.  He was certainly strong enough to get through this stage of the competition and perhaps the best one after a shaky start. 

Tomorrow night, the ladies perform and I sure hope they do a better job than the boys.  Check out all the American Idol betting odds here.

To visit this online sportsbook got to MySportsbook.com - this sportsbook accepts credit cards.