Dillon quickly making a name for himself in NASCAR

Autoracing Betting Lines

07/12/2010 - Newton, IA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Look out NASCAR, there's a promising young gun on the horizon.

Austin Dillon is looking more and more like the next big up-and-comer in the sport after winning his first Camping World Truck Series race in dominating fashion on Sunday at Iowa Speedway. His first win came in just his 12th truck start. Dillon also set a record at Iowa by becoming the first rookie in the series to win three consecutive poles.

At age 20 years, two months and 37 days, Dillon became the second-youngest race winner in the 16-year history of the series, behind Kyle Busch, who won at Charlotte in 2005 when he was 20 years and 18 days old.

After leading 187 of 205 laps and holding off NASCAR veteran Johnny Sauter in a two-lap overtime finish, Dillon drove the famed black No.3 in victory lane at Iowa, which was a delight to many race fans around the world.

"It's pretty awesome," Dillon said. "I've wanted to do it for the fans too. I know they want to see it out front, and that's the only way people really want to appreciate it if it's run well, I think. I've put enough pressure on myself to go out and do the best I can every time I get in that truck, and this just proves that we can do it. I'm glad it's the No.3. It's my favorite number to run, and hopefully I can run it for a long time."

Not since the days of Dale Earnhardt have we seen a black-colored vehicle with the No.3 on it win a race in any one of NASCAR's top-three series. Earnhardt made the 3 one of the most popular icons in NASCAR while driving for team owner Richard Childress from the early 1980's until his untimely death during the 2001 Daytona 500.

Dillon is Childress' grandson.

Earlier this month, Dale Earnhardt Jr. won the Nationwide Series race at Daytona International Speedway, driving the iconic Wrangler blue and yellow paint scheme No.3 Chevrolet. Earnhardt Jr. had a one-race deal with Richard Childress Racing to drive the car in honor of his late-father's recent induction into the NASCAR Hall of Fame.

"It's just one of these great days, and to be back in [victory lane] with the 3 last week was special with Dale Jr., but [Sunday] was really special," Childress said after Dillon's win at Iowa.

Childress made the trip to the 0.875-mile track, located roughly 35 miles east of Des Moines, IA, following Saturday night's Sprint Cup race at Chicagoland Speedway.

Currently sitting in the seventh spot in the truck standings, Dillon is far from being counted out of the championship. He trails leader Todd Bodine by 267 points. Dillon is almost certain to receive rookie of the year honors in the series this year, and will take the next career step by graduating to either the Nationwide or Sprint Cup Series in 2011.

"We've kind of sat down and planned out next year," Dillon said. "I'm planning on running the Truck Series again next year, running for a championship again, which I'm really excited for. I think that's the way we need to approach it, is try and get more experience.

"We did win the race [Sunday]. I know everybody wants to move up quick. I feel we're at a point right now where we can take our time. My grandfather is the same way. We don't want to rush things, move up too fast. Just puts you in a bad situation. That's the plan for so far, is to run the Truck Series."

After brief stints in trucks, several drivers, including Kurt Busch and Carl Edwards, quickly elevated to Cup, and did so with a great success.

Busch recorded four victories during his sophomore Cup season, and then went on to win the inaugural championship Chase in 2004. Edwards won four races and finished third in points during his first full season in NASCAR's top-tier series in 2005.

Dillon made his first two truck starts in 2009, with his debut coming last September at Iowa. He originally qualified for the October race at Talladega, but had his time disallowed after his truck did not meet the minimum height requirement during post-qualifying inspection.

He has also made seven Nationwide starts so far, the recent coming last month at New Hampshire, where he drove the No.21 RCR Chevrolet to a 25th-place finish.

Since the start of the season, Dillon has continued to show improvement, finishing no worse than fifth in the last three truck races. Don't be surprised to see him in victory lane again before the end of this year, and rest assured that he's on his way to becoming one of the next big stars in NASCAR.

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Numerous College Basketball teams take final big step to March Madness betting

So, what turned on the lock spigot? Well, after what felt like weeks of teams treading water and slipping back into the bubble muck, a bunch of them finally decided to say "to heck with parity" and won games that should put them into the Big Dance.

Disagree with some of these? Then here's the challenge. Take all of the "should be ins" and make a legit case that each should be ahead of the team that's a lock. Then find 10 more teams that also should be placed in the bracket ahead of that lock team. Not so easy, is it?

If you want more evidence that these locks should be good to go, check out what our research department dug up. Since the NCAA Tournament went to 64 teams in 1985, only six teams from a "big six" conference have had a record of 10-6 or better in conference play and not been selected: Colorado (2004) and Nebraska (1999) from the Big 12, Boston College and Seton Hall (both 2003) from the Big East, Indiana (2005) from the Big Ten and UCLA, which somehow went 12-6 in the Pac-10 in 1988 and still missed out. (Note: Five teams went 11-7 and didn't get in, the latest being last season's Stanford team, which had a brutal nonconference run.)

Yes, 10 conference wins doesn't always mean what it used to because of unbalanced schedules, but this season, it should be plenty good in all but the extreme cases (see: Iowa).

In a way, this is a welcome development, because this is a bubble watch, not a lock watch. We can finally be done with teams like Maryland and Virginia Tech and start really bearing down on at-large battles such as Syracuse-West Virginia and Appalachian State-Georgia Tech.

Interestingly, all the shifting of teams into lock status appears to be more administrative than impactful. The number of remaining available at-larges didn't change one iota. The only difference is that teams on the bubble now have a clearer idea of which team(s) they are competing with for those precious bids.

The Bubble Breakdown
CONFERENCE LOCKS SHOULD BE INS AT-LARGES TAKEN
(assuming no auto bid outlier)
ACC Betting Odds 6 0 5
Big East Betting Odds 5 0 4
Big Ten Betting Odds 2 2 3
Big 12 Betting Odds 3 0 2
Pac-10 Betting Odds 5 1 5
SEC Betting Odds 4 0 3
MVC Betting Odds 1 1 1
MWC Betting Odds 2 1 2
TOTAL 28 5 25

As always, I've tried to be as inclusive as possible while only including teams that would have a reasonable chance of at least being discussed if this were Selection Sunday. If your team's not on here, there's probably a good reason (or three) -- start with the RPI and SOS numbers and work your way down.

(Please remember, per selection committee criteria, that records displayed are Division I only. Next update: Feb. 28)

If you have a legitimate grievance, or just like talking bubble, send an e-mail. Polite ones with fact-based arguments have a much better chance of receiving a response. I apologize in advance if I can't get back to all of you.

Atlantic Coast Conference

Work left to do: Clemson, Florida State, Georgia Tech

The ACC moves to six locks as BC, Va Tech and Virginia all got their 10th ACC wins, which should be more than enough this season, and Maryland rallied past North Carolina to get the final piece the Terps needed. After that? It could end there unless FSU, Ga Tech or Clemson picks things up in a hurry.

 

Work left to do:

Clemson [19-9 (5-9), RPI: 41, SOS: 42] The Tigers are closer to locking up the collapse of the year award (in a good battle with OK State) than they are to grabbing an at-large. Clemson's been very competitive, but there's no really positive way you can spin nine losses in 11 games. They now cannot get to .500 in ACC play and still must head to Virginia Tech in the season finale (after hosting Miami). Unless the Tigers win both and/or do some serious work in the ACC tourney, they very well could be left out. There are no great nonconference wins, but ODU, App State, Miss. State, South Carolina and Georgia are all respectable W's.

Florida State [18-11 (6-9), RPI: 48, SOS: 14] The Noles got thrashed at Maryland to run their losing streak to five, but then pounded NC State at home to set the table for what likely is an elimination game at Miami. You can at least make a case for the Seminoles at 7-9 in ACC play (and some work in the ACC tourney), but 6-10 is not going to cut it. Wins at Duke and over Florida will resonate, but the computer numbers remain questionable. Beyond Florida, FSU thrashed bubble buddy Providence, but there's not a ton beyond those two games that will help. They didn't show well in big-time opportunities against Pitt and Wisconsin (before the Florida win).

Georgia Tech [18-10 (6-8), RPI: 51, SOS: 46] The Jackets beat Wake on Wednesday but couldn't get it done at UVa on Saturday, which could be a crucial loss with UNC and BC (both at home) remaining and 8-8 almost a certain need for at-large consideration. A nonconference win over Memphis helps, but the RPI and SOS are not at-large quality right now; if you combine those with a sub-.500 ACC mark, that could spell NIT for GT.

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