Kahne edges Johnson for Sonoma pole

Autoracing Betting Lines

06/18/2010 - Sonoma, CA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Kasey Kahne will start on the pole for Sunday's Toyota/Save Mart 350 after posting the fastest lap during qualifying at Infineon Raceway.

Kahne, who won his first road-course race in the Sprint Cup Series last year at Sonoma, turned a lap of 93.893 m.p.h. for his first pole of the season and the 17th of his career. His last pole came at this 1.99-mile course in Northern California two years ago.

"We've had a pole here before, and now we have another one," Kahne said. "This whole team did a real nice job today. We showed up with a great car and then made a few adjustments. It felt really good. We haven't had a pole in a long time."

Kahne, currently 21st in points, is in the last year of his contract with Richard Petty Motorsports. Earlier today, he confirmed that his plans for next season remain uncertain before he replaces Mark Martin in the No.5 Chevrolet at Hendrick Motorsports in 2012.

"I actually talked with Mr. Hendrick this morning, and we just chatted," Kahne said. "We stay in touch every week, and we didn't even cross that path. I didn't even ask anything about next year, and he didn't bring it up either. We were just talking about other stuff, so I would say there is no new news."

Kahne finished a season-best second last weekend at Michigan.

Jimmie Johnson qualified 0.07 seconds behind Kahne to claim the outside pole. Johnson, the four-time defending series champion, has yet to win a road-course event.

"We didn't expect that; I knew that we didn't have a clean lap in practice," Johnson said. "I'm definitely impressed with the lap in qualifying that we had today. From inside the car, I didn't think it was going to be all that quick. It had great forward bite, but I just wasn't turning."

Kurt Busch took the third spot, followed by Kevin Harvick, the points leader, and Jeff Gordon, who holds the record for most victories at Sonoma with five.

"For us, it was a great run today in qualifying," Busch said. "I was slipping and sliding on banana peels all through practice."

Marcos Ambrose, Tony Stewart, Bobby Labonte, Greg Biffle and Martin Truex Jr. completed the top-10.

Harvick currently holds a 22-point lead over Kyle Busch, who qualified 27th.

Denny Hamlin, winner of the last two races, will start 12th.

Michael Waltrip, Brian Simo and Brandon Ash failed to qualify.

Sunday's race at Sonoma is scheduled to start just after 3:00 p.m. (et).

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Football Betting

NFL Football Betting Online

The San Francisco 49ers (5-11 SU, 5-10-1 ATS in 2007; 1-1 SU & ATS in pre-season) found some offensive life last week, and they will try to build some momentum on Thursday night as they travel to the Windy City to take on the Chicago Bears (7-9 SU & ATS in 2007; 0-2 SU, 0-1-1 ATS in pre-season) in an NFL matchup that is set to get underway at 8 PM ET at Soldier Field (natural turf) in Chicago.

Thursday, August 21

NFL betting odds: CHICAGO -3 (-120), Total 37

NOTABLE STAT: San Francisco was last in points, last in total offense in 2007
KEY NFL BETTING TREND: SF has lost its last seven SU on pre-season road

In the BetUS NFL pre-season football betting odds, the Bears are listed as a three-point favorite (laying -120), with the total posted at 37 points.

Here are some NFL football betting trends as they relate to this matchup (reflecting numbers going into the 2008 season):

* SF has lost 11 of its last 14 games SU
* SF has covered three of its last 11 games
* SF has lost six of its last seven road games SU
* SF has covered one of its last seven road games
* CHI has covered five of its last eight games
* CHI has played five of its last seven games OVER the total
* CHI has covered four of its last 13 home games
* SF has lost its last seven pre-season road games SU
* CHI has covered two of its last seven home pre-season games

Well, I guess we should congratulate the Bears on making their quarterback choice for the season's opening game, as they have designated Kyle Orton the starter against Indianapolis. The Bears obviously have lost patience with Rex Grossman, and what they do with him at this point is anybody's guess. But suffice it to say that there isn't a quarterback competition anymore, at least in training camp.

Meanwhile, the quarterback competition may also be settled in San Francisco, where the Niners bounced back from a lackluster 18-6 loss to the Raiders, in which they turned the ball over four times, to execute a 34-6 rout of the Packers last Saturday. However, coach Mike Nolan has stopped short of saying that, insisting that the job is still open. But J.T. O'Sullivan, the longshot of the trio of Niner signal-callers who opened camp, will start his third straight pre-season game here. Against Green Bay, O'Sullivan was only 8-for-17, and was intercepted, but he also threw for 9.1 yards an attempt, which included a 59-yard TD pass to Josh Morgan. The others struggled.

Some offensive cohesion is badly needed, in light of the Niners' dismal 2007 campaign, in which they were dead last in the NFL in scoring, with just 13.7 points a game. And O'Sullivan is the guy who is most familiar with offensive coordinator Mike Martz's exacting system, because he learned it last year in Detroit. O'Sullivan will go at least the entire first half and may even last longer. He'll be relieved by Alex Smith, with Shawn Hill doing the mop-up work. Three receivers who were out last week - Bryant Johnson, Ashley Lelie and Arnaz Battle - will miss this game too.

That may hurt a little here, especially since the Bears will be using a lot of their defensive starters. And it's the defense that has been keeping the Bears in games thus far. In fact, the defense and special teams were responsible for the first 19 points Chicago scored against Seattle last time out, as the offense really struggled with Grossman at the controls. But maybe the first-team offense has a chance to settle a little bit as it works more with Orton at the helm.

Certainly we have concerns about the Bears' offensive line, but we like the scenario for them here, especially if O'Sullivan doesn't make some bis plays. The Niners may have nowhere else to turn right now, and they have lost seven straight road games in the pre-season. Let's take Chicago, the three-point favorite in the NFL football betting odds.

CHICAGO -3 (-120) **
(Graded on a scale of 1-4 stars)

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