Caution: Is NASCAR now in show business?

Autoracing Betting Lines

06/15/2010 - Brooklyn, MI (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Debris, or not debris? That is the question NASCAR driver Denny Hamlin has been asking after a late-race caution for debris possibly cost him a victory in Sunday's race at Michigan International Speedway.

Hamlin put on one of the most dominating performances of his Sprint Cup Series career at Michigan. Leading a race-high 123 laps, Hamlin held a near 10-second advantage before NASCAR displayed the yellow flag for what appeared to be rubber-like debris on the track with 18 laps remaining.

Unlike last week's race at Pocono, Michigan featured no major drama, at least until that time. Two of the four cautions were for debris. Perhaps the only theatrical moments at Michigan were actors Adam Sandler and Kevin James providing a rather entertaining command to start engines and Red Bull Racing teammates Casey Mears and Scott Speed making contact and crashing one-quarter of the way into the 400-mile race.

So why not throw in a little bit of drama towards the end of a somewhat boring race?

"I understand this is show business," Hamlin said. "I didn't see any debris...We typically get them every single week. I'm not going to say it's accepted, but what can you do?"

While Hamlin debated NASCAR's reason for the caution, second-place finisher Kasey Kahne felt it was justified.

"It was a big piece of debris back there, and I saw it," Kahne said. "I felt good at the time, because I thought we might have a shot."

After the final restart with 14 laps to go, Hamlin pulled away from Kahne and then cruised to his series-leading fifth victory of the season. By the way, his margin of victory was 1.2 seconds, which was a heck of a lot better than a 10-second-plus blowout.

"If I don't win the race because maybe I get a bad restart or something, then probably I'm angry because I feel like NASCAR changed the outcome of the race," Hamlin added.

Michigan continued an ongoing debate on debris cautions that occur late in races. Are they warranted, or is NASCAR trying to liven up things in hopes of a thrilling finish?

NASCAR needs to thoroughly define to teams and fans its policy on debris cautions, especially ones that come in the closing laps.

Otherwise, the question of whether NASCAR is a sport or entertainment industry will remain prevalent.

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Michael Vick is back, Brett Favre isn't and the NFC East remains the best division in the NFC, maybe in all of football.

As players start to gather for the start of another season, some things change and some stay the same in the world of the NFL.

Bet 2010 Super Bowl Odds

The NFC East has been the dominant division in the National Conference for a while, despite limited playoff success, save for the New York Giants surprise Super Bowl win two seasons ago.

Hell, there's a generation of kids in Texas who have never seen the Cowboys win a playoff game (last win was in 1996).

But collectively, the Giants, Eagles, Cowboys and Redskins (well, maybe not so much the Redskins) are as good as a division gets in an NFC conference that has struggled to stay competitive with the AFC side.

Sports bettors have both acknowledged the NFC East's dominance, as one glance at the NFL future odds menu will show.

Looking over the NFL betting odds at online sports book MySportsbook.com we see the top three teams listed to win the NFC Championship are all from the NFC East:

Dallas Cowboys - 7 - 1

Philadelphia Eagles - 13 - 2

New York Giants - 9 - 2

Slotting in behind these three are two teams from the NFC North: the Minnesota Vikings (15-2) and the Chicago Bears (10-1).

Again, despite the lack of recent playoff success, the Dallas Cowboys are popular with the sports betting community, as they hold 14% of all the money wagered on who will win the NFC Championship.

So far, the New York Giants are the bettors' favorite to represent their conference in the Super Bowl, as they have 24% of the overall NFC Championship betting volume.

And what about the Philadelphia Eagles? For the most part, the Eagles had a very productive offseason, the kind that could bring them back to the top.

They had a good draft adding the likes of WR Jeremy Maclin and RB LeSean McCoy.

Unfortunately, the team received a blow when long-time defensive coordinator Jim Johnson passed away on Tuesday.

But this team will make a real run at the division title this year. Going into the regular season, Philly is listed at +240 to win the division.

Last season the Eagles were 9-6-1 SU and 10-6 ATS.

Teams from the NFC East will play teams from the AFC West in the regular season and the Eagles haven't really been a good bet in the last 20 games against the likes of San Diego, Oakland, K.C. and Denver, only going 8-12 ATS.

Two seasons removed from that Super Bowl title, the New York Giants see themselves listed as the odds-on favorite in NFC East championship futures at +162.

Plaxico Burress is gone and with him all the bad publicity surrounding the gun in the sweatpants incident, but can they replace him in the offense?

Last season the Giants were a very reliable bet going 12-4 ATS.

In the Giants' last 20 games against fellow teams from the NFC East; they are 13-7 ATS.

Dallas is listed at +240 to win the division.

Dallas went 9-7 SU and 7-9 ATS last season and with the amount of talent the Cowboys have, a similar performance won't do.

The Cowboys have been atrocious against divisional rivals, going 6-14 ATS in their last 20.

The Washington Redskins are longshots to win the division at +550.

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