Pit gamble pays off for Franchitti in Chicagoland win

Autoracing Betting Lines

08/28/2010 - Joliet, IL (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Dario Franchitti gave his IZOD IndyCar Series title defense a huge boost by winning Saturday's Peak Antifreeze and Motor Oil Indy 300 at Chicagoland Speedway.

Franchitti opted not to take on new tires and took the lead during a late-race round of pit stops under caution. He held off challenges from Dan Wheldon and Marco Andretti during the final 25 laps to claim his third victory of the season and the 16th of his IndyCar career.

Wheldon finished second, and Andretti took the third spot. Ryan Hunter-Reay and Tony Kanaan rounded out the top-five.

Current points leader Will Power battled for the lead until four laps remaining when he had to pit unexpectedly for fuel. Power finished one lap behind in 16th and saw his lead over Franchitti trimmed to 23 points with three races remaining in the season.

Jazzsporta Autoracing Betting News

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Big 12 Conference betting odds

Work left to do: Texas Tech, Oklahoma State, Kansas State

Texas joins Texas A&M and Kansas as locks after getting league win No. 11. Texas Tech greatly helped its own hopes and crippled OK State's with the two-point win Saturday. Is K-State the last reasonable hopeful? Could be an elimination match in Stillwater on Tuesday, at least for the Cowboys.

Work left to do:

Texas Tech [18-11 (7-7), RPI: 44, SOS: 12] A critical two-point win over OK State leaves the Red Raiders with Baylor and at Iowa State left. Get both and the Red Raiders likely are good to go. Get one and there could be some interesting comparisons with a K-State team that could finish two or three games "ahead" of them in the standings but doesn't have any of the quality wins Texas Tech has. Not a lot in nonconference play (against Arkansas in Little Rock being the best win, by far) to lean on.

Oklahoma State [18-9 (5-8), RPI: 50, SOS: 35] Still without a road win, the Cowboys now need to win two on the road just to get to .500 in conference play. It's hard to recall a team (OK, other than Clemson) falling so precipitously from lock status to almost certainly out of the NCAAs at this point. There are wins to be had in the last three, including a very big home game against K-State on Tuesday, but this team is reeling. Can you tell the pressure to win is getting to them with the way the final possession played out at Texas Tech? There are some good nonconference performances to lean on, specifically beating Missouri State and Syracuse on neutral floors and Pitt in OK City, but if the Pokes don't right this very, very soon, that won't be enough.

Kansas State [20-9 (9-5), RPI: 56, SOS: 96] It pays to be in the Big 12 North. The nine league wins are Colorado (twice), Missouri (twice), Iowa State (twice), Baylor, Nebraska and (a good one against) Texas. That helps explain the middling computer profile. The win over USC is nice, but the nonconference leaves a lot to be desired. The game at OK State in Stillwater on Tuesday is huge, as it could KO the Cowboys and leave K-State with a home date against Oklahoma with which to work.