Harvick wins at Texas; Hornaday Jr., Busch clash

Autoracing Betting Lines

11/04/2011 - Fort Worth, TX (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Camping World Truck Series race on Friday night at Texas Motor Speedway had a little bit of everything. Kyle Busch lost his cool and knocked title contender Ron Hornaday Jr out of the event in the early going. Kevin Harvick held off points leader Austin Dillon in a green-white checkered finish to win the WinStar World Casino 350k and clinch the owner's championship, in what will be Kevin Harvick Inc's last year of competition in the series.

On lap 14, Hornaday Jr. bumped into Busch while they were battling hard for position and passing the slower truck of Johnny Chapman. Hornaday and Busch then made contact with the wall, forcing the first caution.

Busch chased down Hornaday on the following lap and punted the 53-year-old driver hard into the wall. Hornaday wound up finishing 34th and saw his hopes of winning a series record-extending fifth championship come to an end.

"He knows I'm going for the points [championship], so I don't know why he did it," a frustrated Hornaday said. "This is just stupid. He knew what I was going for, and he knew I was there. He had to lift too. If I would have lifted, I would have hit the back of the slower truck, and it would have created a bigger wreck. He just drove me into the fence and ruined a perfectly good race car."

Busch also hit the wall and severely damaged his truck after taking action against Hornaday. NASCAR officials immediately parked him for the remainder of the race. Busch and his crew chief, Eric Phillips, were also summoned to the NASCAR hauler following the race for a discussion with officials.

"Considering Ron is in the championship, maybe Ron could have played it a little bit smarter," Busch said. "Obviously, if you make it a three-wide situation I can't go up in the dirt. I'm already on the outside lane. There's not that many lanes out there.

"It's a truck race, and it's the first race here this weekend. So if I just lay over and give up everything for Ron Hornaday, that's not Kyle Busch's fashion. I'm out here to win a race just as much as anybody else. When he raced up on my inside, gets loose and takes me up to the fence, I ended up losing my cool."

Busch could be facing additional penalties from NASCAR, including a chance of being parked for Saturday's Nationwide event and Sunday's Sprint Cup Series race. Busch is one of the 12 drivers in the championship Chase field. He is presently 57 points behind leader Carl Edwards.

"Sorry, it was Ron Hornaday, and he's going after a championship, but the fact of the matter is, you can't place all blame on one person," Busch noted. "There's two people that got into it to begin with, and there's two people that ended it."

With one race to go, Hornaday has been eliminated from championship contention. He now trails leader Austin Dillon by 48 points. Hornaday had been on a late-season surge, finishing either first or second in the last four races, and came into this event 15 points behind Dillon.

"I think Kyle definitely showed his immaturity, and why he's one of those guys who just can't stand to lose - just a poor loser," said Harvick, who is Hornaday's team owner. "It's unfortunate for Ron, and it's too bad that a guy over here trying to win races got in the middle of the championship fight. At some point, [Busch] will feel the pain."

Harvick, driving the No.2 Chevrolet, claimed his fourth win of the season and the 13th of his truck career.

"We've had a lot of momentum in the '2' truck with the owner's championship, and with everything that was going on, I just wanted to be in it when we were able to clinch the championship, being that we're getting out of [the series at season's end]," he said.

An incident involving David Starr in the closing laps set up the two-lap overtime finish. Dillon challenged Harvick for the lead just after restart, but Harvick pulled away and crossed the finish line 0.3 seconds ahead of Dillon.

"I spun the tires and didn't get going, but I had my brother [Ty] behind to help me out," Dillon said. "He was doing a good job out there. I was hoping he could push me down the backstretch to clear Harvick, but I got a little loose on the right-front and had to turn back under Harvick. I had a run at him at the end. Our truck was really good."

Dillon now holds a 20-point lead over Johnny Sauter, who finished seventh. If Dillon finishes 16th or better in the November 18 season-finale at Homestead, FL, he will clinch the championship, regardless of any other driver's performance.

Ty Dillon, in just his second start, finished an impressive third.

Nelson Piquet Jr. took the fourth spot, while Matt Crafton completed the top- five.

Texas-native James Buescher came to his home track trailing Dillon by 11 points. Buescher started on the pole and led 56 laps, but he ran out of fuel during the final caution and wound up finishing two laps behind in 19th. He is now 28 points out of the lead.

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Horse Betting

(This is an update of a sportsbook for the May 4th issue of ESPN The Magazine).

The Kentucky Derby's post-position draw happened on Wednesday. And, as is always the case, shortly afterwards, a buzz raced around Churchill Downs. It was a low rumble at first, nothing that the squares in the mint julep crowd pick up right away. But by the time the sun set over the twin spires, the chatter was impossible to ignore. Everyone -- sharps, trainers, owners -- was talking about one thing: the wise guy horse, the pre-draw long shot us mopes didn't have on our radar until it was too late.

"You think you're hearing the scoop," says handicapper Lane Gold. "Then you get to the window, the odds are short, and you missed it."

Recognizing a wise-guy horse early is as hard as picking a Derby bonnet. That's because handicappers don't like hype (see ya, I Want Revenge). They want Thoroughbreds who look good losing prep races like the Santa Anita Derby. They eye horses who ate up the field after starting wide or made an easy transition from synthetic tracks to dirt. They look for ponies who showed muscle gain race to race and those who ran hard after several weeks' rest.

"A wise guy," says John Avello, a bookmaker at Wynn Las Vegas, "looks for a horse who can improve."

When I first wrote Horse Betting for The Mag, which I turned in a three weeks before Wednesday's draw, I predicted these three horses had wise guy potential:

CHOCOLATE CANDY (15-1 in mid-April, currently 20-1 according to Avello): His second-place finish at Santa Anita, following a seven-week layoff, proved two things: He can run after resting, and -- by losing a high-profile prep race -- he wouldn't be overhyped.

DESERT PARTY (15-1; 15-1): He was upset in the UAE Derby by a horse he had beaten twice. The public remembers his loss, but the wise guys his wins.

PIONEEROF THE NILE (8-1; 4-1): The big favorite at Santa Anita struggled to win, so he initially got less hype than Quality Road and I Want Revenge.

You may have noticed that the odds on Pioneerof the Nile have been cut in half, from 8-1 to 4-1. Which means the wise guys took a shine to him long before the post-position draw. But, to be honest, this is one of those years with four elite horses getting everyone's attention, squares and sharps alike.

"You're not gonna get a lot of chatter about a horse that isn't in that group, which includes Pioneer, I Want Revenge, Dunkirk and Friesan Fire," Avello told me Wednesday. "We don't have a group of horses behind those top four who look like real legit contenders."

Come Derby week, the final two elements in picking a wise guy horse are how he's working out and what gate he's coming out of.

(By the way, picking a Preakness favorite is a whole different bale of hay, partially based on how horses finish in the Derby. You can see my analysis of who has the best shot at Pimlico on Insider Sunday morning.)

Well, early in the week I Want Revenge, Pioneerof the Nile and Friesan Fire were working out better than anyone. Some thought Friesan Fire, currently 6-1, might have run too fast, burning a five-furlong run in :57 4/5. "When you are running that fast you have the sense that it took something out of him," says Gold. "The Derby is longer than any horse has run, and if they need that extra surge you worry they won't have it because they burned it in the workout."

But, Gold points out, Friesan Fire's trainer is Larry Jones, Two years ago his horse Hard Spun did a five-eighths workout in :57 3/5 and then went on to finish second, behind Street Sense, in the Derby. "Every trainer has different methods," says Gold. "And clearly he knows what he's doing."

Now, as for starting position, Gold says to remember this: Churchill Downs traditionally has 14 starting gates. For the Derby, it brings out auxiliary gates and between the original 14th gate and the new 15th gate, there is a little more space than there is between gates 1-14. "That 15 position will give you a precious second or two to sort out what's happening to your inside," says Gold. "Sixteen is also okay because you can follow the horse in front of you."

Dunkirk, one of the race favorites, is coming out of gate 15. In 16 is Baffert's Pioneerof the Nile. I Want Revenge drew 13, where Smarty Jones won from in 2004, and Friesan Fire picked the sixth position. "He doesn't have a lot of speed to the inside of him," says Gold. "So he will get a clear shot to be near the front."

All the jibber-jabber means this: Pioneerof the Nile has leapfrogged from 8-1 to being the second favorite, along with Dunkirk, behind I Want Revenge. Meanwhile, Friesan Fire, with a good trainer, a strong week of training and a decent post position, is still at 6-1. "By Saturday, it's possible he could go from fourth to the favorite," says Gold.

In other words, meet Friesan Fire, your 2009 wise guy horse.

"Now," says Avello, "it's time for action."

To visit this horse betting site go to MySportsbook.com for all your horse racing betting needs.