New Nationwide Series car makes debut at Daytona

Autoracing Betting Lines

06/30/2010 - Daytona Beach, FL (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Series: NASCAR Nationwide. Date: Friday, July 2. Race: Subway Jalapeno 250. Site: Daytona International Speedway. Track: 2.5-mile tri-oval. Start time: 8:00 p.m. (et). Laps: 100. Miles: 250. 2009 winner: Denny Hamlin. Television: ESPN. Radio: Motor Racing Network (MRN) /SIRIUS NASCAR Radio.

After three-plus years of design, testing and back-and-forth discussion with teams about the proper rollout time, the new Nationwide Series car will make its debut on Friday at Daytona International Speedway.

Ford will showcase its popular Mustang. The auto maker currently uses its Fusion in Sprint Cup and Nationwide, while its F-150 model competes in the Camping World Truck Series. The Mustang has been used in NHRA drag racing, Grand-Am and Formula D drifting.

Dodge will introduce the Challenger, while Chevrolet will bring a new model of its Impala, and Toyota will keep its standard version of the Camry.

Nationwide teams partake in a special four-hour practice session at Daytona on Wednesday.

"I don't really know what to expect this weekend with the new car, but I'm still excited about it," said Nationwide veteran Jason Leffler, who drives the No.38 Toyota for Braun Racing. "Going into this weekend, there's not much you can do to be prepared, but just make sure your car is put together right and go from there.

"Having that test day on Wednesday is really important and will allow us more time to adjust to these cars and give us a better idea of what to expect on Friday night."

Twenty-six drivers and 32 cars representing 12 teams participated in last month's two-day test session of the new car at Daytona.

"It's really a neat looking race car, said Kevin Harvick, a Sprint Cup regular and part-time Nationwide competitor. "Climbing in and out of it, you realize how much more comfortable it is from a driver's standpoint to have more room in the safety aspects of it.

"I think it's going to be a pretty neat race this weekend. The cars move around and slide around a lot. I'm really excited about the new car. The best part about it is that 18 car [Kyle Busch] won't have those cars to race any more, so hopefully we can close that competition gap on the Nationwide side."

The new car also will race at Michigan (August 14), Richmond (September 10) and Charlotte (October 15). It is targeted for full integration in Nationwide next year.

Dale Earnhardt Jr. also will add excitement to this race, as he will drive the No.3 Wrangler Chevrolet, which was made famous by his father, Dale Earnhardt.

"This will be a special weekend for us," Earnhardt Jr. said. "We got together with Richard [Childress] and Teresa [Earnhardt] and put this deal together to honor my dad and his induction into the NASCAR Hall of Fame. We're bringing back this Wrangler paint scheme, because it's kind of what started his whole persona as being the tough guy that he was."

Dale Earnhardt holds the record for most Nationwide wins at Daytona with seven. He also won 22 Cup races in the No.3 Wrangler Chevrolet.

"This is a one-time deal," Earnhardt Jr. added. "I have no intentions of making it a habit to run special paint schemes with my dad's number every year, and I'm pretty sure this will be the last time I drive the No.3. It's my dad's number."

Forty-four teams are on the preliminary entry list for the Subway Jalapeno 250.

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SPORTS BETTING - Tennis is an underrated and under-utilized bettors' sport.

Ten years ago, at just about this time, I called Alan Boston in Vegas and left him a voicemail that went something like this (abridged version): "Hey Alan, Chad Millman from ESPN The Magazine calling. I want to do a book about wise guys, you in?"

A couple weeks later I got a message back (abridged version): "I don't know, maybe," Boston said. "Call me and we'll talk about it. But not later today. I got $1,000 on Andre Agassi to win the French Open at 40-1, and he's in the finals."

Here's what happened next (abridged version): Agassi won his tourney. Boston won his $40,000. I wrote sportsbook.

In the ten years since, how much has been wagered on the big-time tennis events? Put it this way: The Nevada Gaming Commission doesn't even track the number year by year because it's so small.

"Tennis makes up about one-tenth of one percent of our take," says Lucky's bookmaking boss Jimmy Vaccaro. "The last big golf major we probably had $100,000 worth of bets. In tennis, we might have written two big tickets."

Tennis' lack of popularity amongst the American bettoratti is no surprise, really. For starters, the biggest sports betting holidays -- the Super Bowl, the NCAA tourney -- are must see TV. People, at least the degenerates I know, plan vacations around watching those events in Vegas sports books.

But Wimbledon? Doesn't exactly reel in the whales. "Seriously, it's the nuts as an event," says Boston. "But who even knows when it's on?"

Here's another reason that helps explain why golf gets traction, something I call "The Bubbe Theory." My Bubbe is pushing 95 and has cataracts so bad that, to her, even the most crystalline Chicago day is mostly cloudy. But she still listens to the Cubs games, and she still calls me in a fit if she disagrees with something Rick Telander writes in the Chicago Sun Times. She's a sports fan. If she doesn't know you, you're just filling a niche. And niche players, even historically good ones like Roger and Raf, don't drive betting volume. Only the highest profile names attract square money, which inflates wagering totals like a shot of saline to the lips. Bubbe, and the public, loved Agassi, tennis' last cross-the-rubicon, mainstream draw. She also has a crush on Tiger. She's given me standing orders to put a sawbuck on the big cat whenever I walk through a sports book (or mistakenly tap into one via my Internet machine.) That explains why the Masters is getting $100K in action at some books while the four tennis majors might not get that combined this year.

This isn't a case of tennis being a difficult sport to bet. In fact, in Europe, it's probably the second most popular sport for gambling after soccer. Granted, as the WSJ football betting last week and The Mag's Shaun Assael examined in even greater depth last year, that might be because gamblers across the pond see it as an easy game to fix. But it could also be because, over there it holds the kind of sway the big two do over here.

Street corners in Spain are peppered with public courts and kids doing their best Raffy impressions. In some war torn parts of Eastern Europe poverty-stricken kids view tennis as an escape route, like football or basketball here. A couple years ago The Mag's Lindsay Berra wrote a great piece about Belgrade's Jelena Jankovic, Ana Ivanovic and Novak Djokovic. They learned the game as kids while bombs were raining down on their homeland. They practiced in drained swimming pools. Not exactly Nick Bolletierri conditions.

In the United States, casual fans think tennis is played four times a year. But on the tightly packed European continent, national interest in homegrown talent runs deep every weekend. Of the ATP's current top 20 players, only two, tennis betting and James Blake, are American. Fourteen are from Europe, representing six different countries.

No wonder fans from Lisbon to Bhudapest get jacked up for the net game, whether it's Wimbledon or a low-level tourney like the Estoril Open in Portugal (congrats to Spain's Albert Montanes for winning that one, btw). Chances are good that someone representing their flag will not only be playing, but have a shot at winning.

And that's all any bettor can ask for.

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