Power continues road course domination with Mid-Ohio pole

Autoracing Betting Lines

08/07/2010 - Lexington, OH (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Will Power edged defending IZOD IndyCar Series champion Dario Franchitti in Saturday's qualifying to capture the pole for the Honda Indy 200 at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course.

Power lapped the 2.258-mile, 13 turn road course in one minute, 7.1997 seconds for his seventh pole of the season, which placed him in a tie with his Team Penske teammate Helio Castroneves for most poles in an IndyCar season. Castroneves won seven poles during the 2007 season.

Earlier in the day, Power was involved in a wreck during a practice session. He got loose and then spun on the wet grass before he backed it hard into a tire barrier.

"Bad mistake on my behalf this morning," Power said. "The guys had to put together the spare car in a two-hour space. I can't thank them enough."

Indy Racing League medical officials reported that Power suffered a bruised thigh.

"All I did was obviously go over the data that my teammates had in that session and just did everything I could mentally to prepare and did my best," Power added.

Franchitti qualified 0.08 seconds behind Power to secure the outside pole.

"We just missed that tenth of a second, that perfect lap we needed to get ahead of Will," Franchitti said.

Power now holds a 51-point lead over Franchitti. The 29-year-old Australian driver can clinch the series' new road/street course championship at Mid-Ohio. Earlier this year, IndyCar announced the expansion of its championship format, with the highest-scoring oval and road/street course drivers winning separate titles, starting this season.

So far, Power has won four road/street course events -- Sao Paulo, Brazil; St. Petersburg, FL; Watkins, NY and Toronto.

Takuma Sato qualified a season-high third in his KV Racing Technology car. Ryan Hunter-Reay from Andretti Autosport will join Sato on row two.

Scott Dixon from Chip Ganassi Racing and Castroneves will share the third row.

Earlier this week, IndyCar officials fined Castroneves $60,000 and placed him on probation for the remainder of the season, following his post-race outburst with officials two weeks ago in Edmonton, Canada.

Castroneves was penalized for refusing to follow the direction of race officials and unsportsmanlike conduct when he engaged in a heated altercation with two officials on pit lane after the conclusion of the race.

Ryan Briscoe from Penske qualified seventh, followed by E.J. Viso from KV Racing, Andretti Autosport's Marco Andretti and Simona de Silvestro from HVM Racing.

Danica Patrick continued to struggle in road course racing this year, as the Andretti driver qualified 22nd in the 27-car field.

Sunday's 85-lap race is scheduled to start at 3:30 p.m. (et).

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Pacific-10 Conference odds

Teams that should be in: Stanford

Oregon and USC get their tickets punched after taking care of business this weekend. Yes, the Trojans' computer numbers aren't great, but there's no way the third-place team in this league is getting nixed. Grudgingly, I added Arizona after consultation with our Bracketologist. I don't know that Arizona will lose its last three (including a Pac-10 quarterfinal game), and even if the Cats do, I still can't see how they'd be left out, given the overall profile. That said, it bears watching, as three more L's would leave them at 18-12 (9-9) and on a 6-11 skid entering the Dance. It would be nice to see the Wildcats get at least one W in the Bay Area next week, as Cincinnati (albeit without Armein Kirkland and with a worse profile) was axed after a similar slide last season. I just couldn't rationalize having some of the other teams as locks and not having Arizona in that category -- there just aren't enough good teams behind the Cats to threaten their spot, it seems. Stanford has its fate in its own hands with the Arizona schools coming to the Farm to close out the regular season next weekend.

Should be in:

Stanford [17-10 (9-7), RPI: 40, SOS: 21] No shame in not getting a win in L.A., but that makes the home game against Arizona State a must-win ahead of what could be an intriguing meeting with Arizona should the Cats lose at Cal. Getting to 11 Pac-10 wins would make Selection Sunday much more comfortable, but 10's probably more than enough this season. The Cardinal have nonconference wins over Texas Tech and at Virginia to lean on, although they also lost badly to Air Force and Santa Clara at home.

Southeastern Conference odds
Work left to do: Alabama, Georgia, Mississippi, Mississippi State

It looks more and more possible that no one from the SEC West will make the NCAAs. How weird is that? Tennessee and Vandy move into the locks category after more good work this weekend. Kentucky stays there, although it would be smart for the Cats to handle Georgia at home Wednesday ahead of a trip to the Swamp. Could a disaster scenario (two more L's and a first-round SEC tourney exit) somehow dislodge the Cats despite their incredible computer numbers? Still unlikely, but not worth chancing it.

Work left to do:

Alabama [19-9 (6-8), RPI: 43, SOS: 47] The tough L at Tennessee was understandable, and even created some hope. Unfortunately, that hope was dashed by a home loss to Auburn, which leaves the Tide in some real trouble. There's still no signature win on the profile (no, Kentucky doesn't count), and the computer profile is weakening rapidly. The Tide conceivably could beat Ole Miss and win at Miss. State to get to 8-8 and clinch at least a share of the West crown, but that's probably not enough right now. The Tide will need to do some work in the SEC tourney.

Georgia [16-10 (8-6), RPI: 52, SOS: 23] This is the team with the best chance to make it from this section right now. The Bulldogs rebounded from a terrible performance at Ole Miss to beat down Miss. State. Now they are at Kentucky (king of the RPI 51-100 win) and home to Tennessee. That would be worth a lot of computer points to get both (which is doable), as both teams are in the top 11 in RPI. Finishing at least 9-7 is an absolute must, and I would feel much better about the Dawgs' chances if they got both to get to 10 SEC wins. They also beat Gonzaga, but lost to ACC bubblers Georgia Tech and Clemson.

Mississippi [18-10 (7-7), RPI: 63, SOS: 79] Like everyone else in this division, Ole Miss gacked up a chance to stake a claim, losing by double figures at South Carolina. Even 9-7 likely is not nearly enough with a nonconference profile devoid of anything notable.

Mississippi State [16-11 (7-7), RPI: 66, SOS: 37] With a chance to get in the mix, these Bulldogs were leashed by their Georgia counterparts. Could they get to 9-7? I guess -- although winning at Arkansas, then beating Alabama is no lock -- but would that mean all that much for a team with this overall profile? Probably not. There's nothing of note (on the good side) in the nonconference profile.

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