Gordon on pole after rain prevents qualifying

Autoracing Betting Lines

08/10/2007 - Watkins Glen, NY (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Intermittent showers prevented Nextel Cup drivers from qualifying at the Watkins Glen International road course and per NASCAR rules Jeff Gordon will start on the pole in Sunday's Centurion Boats at the Glen.

It will be the eighth time this season that the No.24 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet has started up front. Gordon has won two of the seven and finished in the top-five on all seven occasions.

Starting alongside Gordon will be Denny Hamlin who's No.11 Joe Gibbs Racing Chevrolet is second in owner points.

Matt Kenseth and Jeff Burton will make up row two.

Five races remain before the "Chase for the Nextel Cup" with four drivers fighting for the final two spots. Just 128 points separate 14th-place Ryan Newman from 11th-place Martin Truex Jr. In between the two are 2004 Nextel Cup champion Kurt Busch holding down the final spot and Dale Earnhardt Jr. just seven points out.

Watching these four drivers should be an interesting "race-within-a-race." But none of the four driver are particularly good at road-course events and likely won't get much television time.

When talking camera time at a road course, the first name that comes to mind is Gordon. The four-time Nextel Cup champion has won four times in 14 Watkins Glen starts with an average finish of 10th.

Kevin Harvick, ninth overall, has one win and four top-10s in six starts. His average finish is a very good 8.0.

Tony Stewart has an even better record than Harvick at the New York road course. The No.20 Joe Gibbs Racing driver has made eight starts, winning three times. His average finish is a stellar 6.8. His 2005 win was most impressive leading 83 of 92 laps.

And then there is Juan Pablo Montoya. The Bogota, Colombia native has made two NASCAR road course starts and won them both. Montoya's first foray into a NASCAR road race was in the Busch Series at Mexico City. He won that in relatively easy fashion. He then took on Gordon and Stewart at Infineon Raceway. Although he qualified horribly (32nd), he flew through the field and eventually made the winning pass around Jamie McMurray with eight laps remaining.

Other drivers of note and their starting positions: Stewart (fifth), Carl Edwards (sixth), Jimmie Johnson (seventh), Harvick (ninth), Truex Jr. (11th), Kurt Busch (13th), Earnhardt Jr. (14th) and Newman (15th).

Among those going home without attempting to qualify were Boris Said and Marcos Ambrose.

The race is scheduled to drop the green flag on Sunday at 2 p.m. (et).

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Now that Barry Bonds is signed and in Giants camp, it is on to his pursuit of all of sports most prestigious records: the all-time home run mark. Bonds sits just 21 homers shy of tying Hank Aaron for the career mark at 755. Word out of Giants’ camp is that Bonds is the healthiest he has been in a few years. Bonds is just two seasons removed from his injury riddled 2005 campaign where he played in only 14 games and hit only 5 home runs. He did come back last year and had a solid season hitting .270 with 26 bombs. All eyes will be on Bonds this spring and summer not only because of his home run chase but his highly publicized steroid abuse allegations. If and when Bonds breaks the record, he surely will not get the positive attention one should for breaking a record that was once thought of as “unbreakable”. Despite Bonds decent season last year, he is just 50-1 at MySportsbook.com to lead the MLB in long balls this season.

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World Series odds

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To visit this online sportsbook got to MySportsbook.com - this sportsbook accepts credit cards.