It's official: Kentucky added to 2011 Sprint Cup schedule

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08/10/2010 - Sparta, KY (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The NASCAR Sprint Cup Series is coming to the "Bluegrass State," starting in 2011.

After more than a decade of requesting a Cup date, Kentucky Speedway will be added to the 2011 schedule. Bruton Smith, the chairman and chief executive officer of Speedway Motorsports Inc., the parent company of the speedway, confirmed on Tuesday the 1.5-mile oval, located roughly 40 miles south of downtown Cincinnati, will host a 400-mile night-time Cup race on July 9, 2011.

"You've been waiting 11 years," Smith said during a news conference held at the speedway.

SMI bought the speedway in 2008.

Last week, officials from Atlanta Motor Speedway announced the track will host only one Cup event, which will take place on Labor Day weekend, beginning next year. SMI moved its Atlanta spring race to Kentucky.

Kentucky Governor Steve Beshear and officials from both NASCAR and the Kentucky Speedway, as well as former NASCAR driver and Kentucky native Darrell Waltrip and Joey Logano, who has won the last three Nationwide Series races at the track, were among those present for the announcement.

"I thought I've been to some exciting events, but I haven't been to one more exciting than the announcement that Bruton Smith just gave us," Governor Beshear said. "The addition of a 400-mile NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race in 2011 solidifies the speedway's status as a world-class motorsports venue in the nation's number-one spectator sport. In it's 11th year, the speedway has finally reached the pinnacle."

The track opened in 2000, with the Camping World Truck Series competing once each year since then. The Nationwide Series has been racing here once each season since 2001.

Nationwide will join Sprint Cup on the same weekend at Kentucky next year.

The current seating capacity at the speedway is 66,000, but Smith said he plans to add an additional 50,000 seats to the venue.

Kentucky becomes the first track added to the Cup schedule since Chicagoland Speedway and Kansas Speedway - both 1.5 miles in length -- in 2001.

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Is there such a thing as a trap game in the NFL?

I once asked that question to Pete Korner, who at the time was office manager and a senior linesmaker for Las Vegas Sports Consultants.

Korner almost ripped my head off. There is no such thing as a trap game, he loudly berated me. It’s a myth. The numbers are made using power ratings, he said.

There are trap games, though. They just might not be what you think. The perception is of a good team, say Philadelphia, laying a small number against New Orleans.

Using the highly-respected power ranking from The Gold Sheet, you’d find the Eagles with a power rating of 4 and the Saints at 8. When you factor the game being played in New Orleans, you could see why the line opened so short at less than a field goal.

For some, this makes it enticing to take the Eagles. That’s not a real trap game, though.

A real trap game, says professional gambler Dave Malinsky, is thinking you’re getting value betting a bad team, which brings us to the Oakland Raiders-Denver Broncos matchup.

The Raiders are +15 in this long-standing division rivalry. Denver is on a short week having dispatched Baltimore Monday. However, the Raiders haven’t covered the spread their last 10 games.

Many bettors don’t trust the Raiders to give a full effort. Few think much of Art Shell and his Oakland’s coaching staff.

So oddsmakers have to do something to make Oakland attractive if they hope to get equal action.

Now Malinsky is a value shopper. But he won’t touch the Raiders even getting more than two touchdowns.

“I try to eliminate the undisciplined, unfocused teams because they’re the ones most likely to suffer the bad beats,” he said.

Near the top of Malinsky’s list of stay-away teams is the Miami Dolphins, who have yet to cover a spread this season.

“Whatever you think of Nick Saban, you have to look at the penalties and turnovers,” Malinsky said.

It’s easy to point out the Dolphins failed to get the money this past week against New England because Olindo Mare missed a field goal and had another field goal blocked. But even though the Dolphins outgained the Patriots, 283-213, they committed eight penalties.

Bad teams not only cost themselves victories, but pointspread covers as well. The Arizona Cardinals and Green Bay Packers are two more examples.

The Cardinals couldn’t have been in a better position this past Sunday, up 14-0 at home against a mediocre Kansas City Chiefs squad. But they couldn’t hold it. The Packers got a push against St. Louis, but also could have won losing by three when Brett Favre fumbled at the St. Louis 11-yard line with 44 seconds left.

“The Packers were in a position to beat Philadelphia, too,” Malinsky said. “But they couldn’t even cover double digits.

“These teams just make mistakes and it costs you … they always will look good from a value standpoint. They really will. But that’s the trap.”

Houston and Tennessee rank among the six-worst teams. Malinsky wouldn’t be afraid to take either of these teams, however, if the price were high enough.

The Texans are bad, Malinsky said, but they have some discipline. The Titans showed they could not only come up with an outstanding game plan, but execute it as well, losing by one to the Colts on the road as an 18 ?-point underdog this past Sunday.

“Jeff Fisher is a worker,” Malinsky said of the Titans coach. “I’m not sure how hard Art Shell wants to work when he gets out of bed.”

Fisher, though, could be out as Tennessee coach after this season. Is he still worth backing in the right spot, with the right price, as a lame duck coach?

“It’s in his nature to keep working hard and not worry about any possible lame duck status,” Malinsky said. “He’s coaching for his resume.”

Note: Monday night game will be picked Monday. Lines used are from football betting lines.