Martin comes up big both on track and off

Autoracing Betting Lines

02/20/2007 - Philadelphia, PA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Mark Martin won the 2007 Daytona 500. Sure, he didn't get the trophy, the huge check or drenched by champagne in Victory Lane, but that doesn't change the fact that he won the race.

In typical NASCAR fashion, the rules were not applied consistently and this time it cost Martin the biggest prize of his career.

To set the scene we must turn back the clock to Sunday - lap 202 of the Daytona 500. Martin has held off the field and is just a short distance from his first Daytona 500 win in 23 attempts. Harvick is flying on the outside with help from Matt Kenseth and is close to catching Martin. Through turn three they go and Kyle Busch gets too low on the track, the rear wheels break loose and he slids up into Kenseth. All hell breaks loose behind the two leaders.

Had it been any other lap in the race, the caution flag would have come out immediately.

But NASCAR is gun-shy to throw the caution flag on the final lap of a race ever since Gordon was declared the winner over Dale Earnhardt Jr, at Talladega in the summer of 2004. The fans almost started a riot after the race, throwing bottles and cans at Gordon as he tried to take his victory lap.

So they let Martin and Harvick decide it on the track. They held the flag behind their back while Clint Bowyer was sliding upside down with flames leaping from the engine.

Harvick edged Martin by 0.020 seconds - about three feet.

"I have no idea what happened behind me," Martin said after the race. "From what my spotter said, I was ahead when they started wrecking."

About two hours after the race had ended, NASCAR changed the ruling saying: "When the No.07 car (Bowyer) went sideways - the No.29 (Harvick) was ahead of the No.01 (Martin) and was declared the winner."

Ten minutes later they reversed that statement by saying the race "ended under the green flag."

Still, Martin is a "gentlemen racer" and he didn't complain about the decision and what might have been. He said in the post-race press conference that he "thought NASCAR made the right decision." Martin is the kind of guy who wants to win the Daytona 500 fair and square. He didn't want to win the Daytona 500 by caution flag, he wanted to be the first driver to the checkered flag.

You may not respect NASCAR for its decision but you MUST respect the driver.

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Big Ten Conference odds

Teams that should be in: Michigan State, Indiana
Work left to do: Illinois, Purdue, Michigan, Iowa

Behind the big two, the pecking order might be in a bit of flux. Has Michigan State passed Indiana after handling the Hoosiers in East Lansing? Where is Illinois in that mix? What looked like a four-big league last week could be morphing into five -- and even six is not unthinkable at this point if everything breaks right.

Should be in:

Michigan State [21-8 (8-6), RPI: 20, SOS: 15] The Spartans made it four-for-four on the homestand, a gigantic accomplishment that leaves them in extremely good shape. MSU is only 1-6 on the road and is at Michigan and at Wisconsin to close things out, meaning the date with the Wolverines on Tuesday looms very, very large. Beating Texas early will hold up well, as will the rout of Bradley and the win over BYU, but will 8-8 be enough? It very well could be, as the computer numbers are good, but why chance it?

Indiana [18-9 (8-6), RPI: 24, SOS: 32] Hmm ... good thing the last two are at Northwestern and home to Penn State, because IU might want to get both to feel completely safe after dropping its third in the last four, fading after halftime at Michigan State. Who knew the best nonconference win would be over Southern Illinois, which is a gift that keeps on giving for the Hoosiers. The win over Wisconsin also looks good on the mantel.

Work left to do:

Illinois [21-9 (9-6), RPI: 31, SOS: 25] A good performance at Penn State leaves the Illini in pretty good shape. Can they go to Iowa and take care of business to really look on their way? That's a huge game, as there is a possible cluster of teams that will end at 9-7. Illinois beat Bradley, but has lost to Xavier. A 9-7 mark and a semifinals trip in Chicago could be enough with the computer profile hanging in there, but it would be better not to mess around, clinching at least a tie for third.

Purdue [18-10 (7-7), RPI: 47, SOS: 28] Couldn't get it done at Iowa, but did win at Northwestern to put 9-7 squarely in sight. Where does that leave the Boilermakers, though? Even if they beat Minnesota and Northwestern at home, that won't help the computer numbers. Nonconference wins over Virginia, DePaul and Oklahoma are solid, but not spectacular. The Boilers very well might need an upset in the B10 quarters to have a legit claim.

Michigan [19-10 (7-7), RPI: 55, SOS: 53] Well, Michigan did what it needed to do, winning at Minnesota to take control of its fate. The Wolverines have Michigan State and an already-wrapped-up-the-league Ohio State at home to close, so the chances are there. Win both and we can talk. There is no marquee win yet in the profile, and the Wolverines were splattered in several games against name opponents. A mediocre computer profile fueled by a lack of road wins isn't helping, either.

Iowa [16-12 (8-6), RPI: 80, SOS: 64] For the sake of being complete, we'll add Iowa, this season's Stanford. It's plausible that the Hawkeyes could get to 10-6 (at Penn State, vs. Illinois left), but where does that leave them after a gruesome nonconference performance where the best win was over ... Toledo? Iowa State? Cornell?? If they get to 10-6, we can start to look at what they need to do in the B10 tourney, although my gut sense is that they would need to make the final and have knocked off Ohio State or Wisconsin on the way to have any real claim.

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