Franchitti riding high into Texas after Indy win

Autoracing Betting Lines

06/02/2010 - Fort Worth, TX (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Series: IZOD IndyCar. Date: Saturday, June 5. Race: Firestone 550k. Site: Texas Motor Speedway. Track: 1.5-mile tri-oval. Start Time: 8:45 p.m. (et). Laps: 228. Miles: 550 (kilometers). 2009 winner: Helio Castroneves. Television: VERSUS. Radio: IMS Radio Network/SIRIUS XM Satellite.

After winning the Indianapolis 500 in dominating fashion last Sunday, Dario Franchitti made a strong statement in his bid for a second straight IZOD IndyCar Series championship.

Franchitti led 155 of 200 laps to claim his second Indy 500 victory. His first win came in 2007.

"To win two of these things is pretty special," Franchitti said. "They showed me a list of two time winners. Those guys are legends. I said the other night, I'm just a driver, those guys are legends. I'm so lucky to be drive for Chip [Ganassi] and Team Target, getting in good cars, especially having gone away after we won in '07. To be invited back was pretty cool. To have won a championship and an Indy 500, I didn't expect any of this."

Franchitti collected nearly $2.8 million for his Indy 500 win.

"That's a lot of money in any currency," he said. "This race just gets better and better, and I think we're getting back to the glory days. I'm so proud to be back here and be a part of it. It's home for me."

Franchitti not only gave Ganassi his fourth Indy 500 victory as a team owner, but also helped Ganassi become the only owner to win the Indy 500 and the Daytona 500 in the same year. Jamie McMurray, in his first year with Earnhardt Ganassi Racing in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series, won the Daytona 500 in February.

With six of 17 races completed on the 2010 IndyCar schedule, Franchitti is just 11 points behind leader Will Power from Team Penske.

Franchitti has recorded 14 career IndyCar victories, but has yet to win at the 1.5-mile Texas Motor Speedway. His best finish in six starts at Texas is second, which came in 2004. He started on the pole there in '04 and last year.

Helio Castroneves is the defending race winner.

Castroneves' Penske teammate, Ryan Briscoe, dominated the race by leading 160 of 228 laps, but Castroneves beat Briscoe out of the pits during final round of stops and took the lead for good with 53 laps remaining. The Brazilian has not won a race since one year ago at Texas.

After sustaining multiple injuries during a hard crash in the closing laps of the Indy 500, Mike Conway will be out of the No.24 Dreyer and Reinbold Racing car for at least three months. The team has yet to name a driver for Saturday's race at Texas.

Conway had surgery to repair fractures to his lower left leg. He also has a soft tissue injury to his lower left leg and is expected to have another surgical procedure later this week. Conway also suffered a compression fracture of one of his thoracic vertebrae. He has been fitted for a back brace, which he will wear for the next few months.

Ryan Hunter-Reay also was involved in the late-race crash at Indy. Hunter-Reay had surgery on his left thumb and was fitted with a carbon fiber splint, which should allow him to participate at Texas.

Twenty-six teams are on the preliminary entry list for the Firestone 550k.

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Chiefs' Treen Green out for Sunday's game

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A two-time Pro Bowler, Green was going into a feet-first hook slide when he was knocked unconscious by a thunderous, head-snapping hit from Cincinnati's Robert Geathers.

Oddsmakers at online sportsbook MySportsbook.com currently have the Chiefs listed as 7-point favorites versus the 49ers.

The 49ers got beat by Philadelphia 38-24 as a 6.5-point underdog last week. The combined score went OVER the posted over/under total (42.5).

Alex Smith completed 27-of-46 passes for 293 yards with a touchdown. Michael Robinson rushed for 29 yards and a pair of touchdowns on five carries.

The Chiefs lost 9-6 to Denver last week as an 11-point underdog. The combined score was well UNDER the posted over/under total (38).

Larry Johnson rushed for 126 yards on 27 carries. Damon Huard completed 17-of-23 passes for 133 yards with no touchdowns and no interceptions.

To visit this online sports book got to MySportsbook.com for all your football betting needs.

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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