Father-to-be Johnson cradles consecutive wins

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06/28/2010 - Loudon, NH (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - When Jimmie Johnson recently went 10 races without a victory, many speculated that the four-time defending Sprint Cup Series champion was in a season-slump. Now that Johnson has won back-to-back races at Sonoma, CA and New Hampshire, it's time to put that theory to rest.

Thanks in part to Marcos Ambrose's misfortune in the closing laps at Sonoma, Johnson claimed his first road course win. Ambrose held the lead during a caution with seven laps remaining, but lost his track position after he turned his engine off to conserve fuel and then had trouble restarting the car. That allowed second-place Johnson to take the lead for good.

It was a different story for Johnson in New Hampshire, where he had his hands full with Kurt Busch in the closing laps. Just after the final restart with eight laps to go, Busch made a bump-and-run move on Johnson to take the lead.

But Johnson was set on returning the favor, and doing so with aggression.

"I was livid," Johnson said. "I was so [ticked] off that he got into me, and I almost lost it at one point. Just kind of sliding and it took off and the tires started chattering, and that's usually when you're turned around.

"Once I got back going and I was still in second, I thought, 'Man, I hope I catch you. I look forward to this if I catch you.' And my incentive was not necessarily to pass him. All I had to do was get to his bumper, and I was going to win the race, if he gave me that option by moving me out of the way."

Johnson reeled in Busch and then pulled even with him before Johnson made the winning pass with less than two laps to go.

Unlike some races this season, Johnson and Busch prevented New Hampshire from erupting into a post-race pit road skirmish.

"The thought was ten points winning would look a lot better stacked in our deck than his chip count, that was the original thought," said Busch, who ended up finishing third after Tony Stewart passed him on the final lap. "Driving into turn three, I had all intentions of passing him on the inside and trying to cut underneath him at the apex. I just got into him a little bit in the left rear and nudged him up, and we were able to squeak on by.

"Your motive is always to pass a guy clean, and you always want to make sure that when you do pass him that he's not completely upset with you, and then we'll go and race again, if he's going to come back and try to pass me at the end. He did, and he did great."

Johnson's fifth win placed him in a tie with Denny Hamlin for most victories in the series so far this season. Each driver who qualifies for the championship Chase is awarded 10 bonus points for each race he wins during the regular season. There are nine races remaining before the Chase begins in September at New Hampshire.

"The ten points are really important," Johnson said. "It's nice to be even with Denny, and to have a gap on some of the other guys right now."

Indeed, these are good times for Johnson. His wife, Chandra, is expected to deliver the couple's first child any day soon. If her delivery occurs during an upcoming race weekend, Camping World Truck Series regular Aric Almirola will serve as Johnson's backup driver.

Daytona (July 3) and Chicagoland (July 10) are the next races on the schedule before Sprint Cup takes its second-to-last off-weekend of the season.

"I know it's kind of a weird situation," Johnson said. "[Almirola] is really hoping for the opportunity, and I know he'll do an amazing job given the opportunity, and then I want to stay in my ride and try to win as many races as I can.

"It just all depends on when the little baby decides to make her move and when she wants to come into the world, and if she's anything like her mother, she'll be late, so I should be fine, which puts us into the off-weekend, nice and deep."

In recent years, it's usually Tony Stewart who heats up in the summer time. It appears Johnson has replaced Stewart as the summer sensation this year. If Johnson remains hot for the next couple of months, just imagine what he will be like during Chase, the time when he really shines.

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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.

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