IndyCar gears up for Fourth of July affair at Watkins Glen

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06/30/2010 - Watkins Glen, NY (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Series: IZOD IndyCar. Date: Sunday, July 4. Race: Camping World Grand Prix at The Glen. Site: Watkins Glen International. Track: 3.4-mile, 11-turn road course. Start Time: 3:30 p.m. (et). Laps: 60. Miles: 204. 2009 winner: Justin Wilson. Television: ABC. Radio: IMS Radio Network/SIRIUS XM Satellite.

Watkins Glen International kicks off five consecutive street/road course races for the IZOD IndyCar Series. The series will run in the Canadian cities of Toronto and Edmonton before returning to the United States for Mid-Ohio and Sonoma, CA. The next IndyCar oval event is scheduled for August 28 at Chicagoland.

After a fourth-place finish two weeks ago at Iowa, Will Power from Penske Racing reclaimed the championship points lead. Power holds an 11-point advantage over Target Chip Ganassi Racing's Scott Dixon, while Dixon's teammate, Dario Franchitti, dropped to third in points (-14) after his disappointing 18th-place finish at Iowa. Franchitti led the most laps with 69, but suffered a gear-box issue late in the race, which put the defending series champion 36 laps behind.

Power won two of the first four street/road course races this year. He kicked off the season with back-to-back victories at Sao Paulo, Brazil and St. Petersburg, FL.

Ryan Hunter-Reay from Andretti Autosport won the most recent street/road course event held in April at Long Beach, CA. Hunter-Reay's first win in the series came two years ago at Watkins Glen. He drove for the now-defunct Rahal Letterman Racing team at the time.

Last year at Watkins Glen, Justin Wilson put on a dominating performance and easily held off Ryan Briscoe and Dixon in the final laps for the win. Wilson not only scored his second career IndyCar victory, but also gave Dale Coyne Racing its first win in open-wheel competition.

"I think it's one of the best tracks in the world," Wilson said. "Having won there last year I'm going to say that, but it's just a great, fun track. There are a lot of fast corners, and it hasn't lost any of its character with the safety improvements. That's key. When you come out of those fifth-and-fourth gear corners, you know when you've got it right."

One year ago, Wilson became the first non-Ganassi or Penske driver to win an IndyCar race since his victory at Detroit in August 2008 when he drove for Newman/Haas/Lanigan Racing. He is now behind the wheel of the No.22 car for Dreyer and Reinbold Racing.

"I'm focused on this year, hoping we can go back there and be as competitive," said Wilson, who currently sits eighth in points. "It's a different team, but I want to get back that same level of competition. Hopefully we can work it all out and repeat."

Wilson had three top-10 finishes, including two second-place runs, in the four early season street/road course races. He also has started on the outside pole in the last two Watkins Glen races.

Canadian Paul Tracy will be Wilson's teammate at Watkins Glen. Tracy is substituting for the injured Mike Conway in the No.24 Dreyer and Reinbold car. Conway continues to recover from injuries he sustained in a horrifying crash during the final lap of the May 30 Indianapolis 500.

Tracy previously announced that he would drive in the two upcoming Canadian races.

"It's obviously a good feeling to get more races, especially being able to race at The Glen and building up momentum before going into the Canadian events," Tracy said.

Twenty-five teams are on the preliminary entry list for the Camping World Grand Prix at The Glen.

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NCAA Football Betting : USC's reward: Top spot in Top 25

NEW YORK (AP) -By staying away from the cupcakes, Southern California earned itself a slim new ranking.

No. 1 always seems to fit USC.

Southern California jumped two spots to No. 1 in The Associated Press Top 25 on Tuesday, rewarded by voters for opening the season with a dominant performance on the road against a BCS conference opponent.

Georgia and Ohio State, the preseason Nos. 1 and 2, respectively, started their seasons with glorified scrimmages at home against FCS (formerly I-AA) teams. USC, however, traveled across country to face Virginia and could not have been more impressive in a 52-7 victory.

Georgia fell to No. 2 and Ohio State to No 3.

"We realize that rankings so early in a season are certainly fluid. But rankings do help establish a pecking order for things later in the season," USC coach Pete Carroll said in a statement. "As for moving into the No. 1 spot, it's nice to know that people think highly of our team."

Since reaching No. 1 on Dec. 7, 2003, the final-regular season AP poll of that season, USC has been No. 1 in 39 polls, by far the most of any team during that time.

"Some have said the voters are taking our schedule into consideration," Carroll said. "Our philosophy has always been to schedule outstanding opponents. We need to play challenging games like we just did, traveling across the country to open the season at Virginia. Games like that bring out our best and make us stronger as a team."

The latest voting was close. USC received 21 first-place votes and 1,539 points from the 65-member media panel. Georgia had 20 first-place votes and 1,506 points. Ohio State got 15 first-place votes and 1,497 points.

"I'd say we've evolved as pollsters," said Stewart Mandel of SI.com, who moved USC up to No. 1. "In the past, voters just kind of automatically moved teams up and kept teams where they were if they won."

Georgia beat Georgia Southern 45-21 on Saturday and Ohio State opened with a 43-0 win over Youngstown State.

"There's a bit of a growing backlash for the amount of teams that open with I-AA cupcakes," said Mandel, whose book "Bowls, Polls and Tattered Souls" chronicles college football's controversies. "To see a team [USC] go on the road and play a New Year's Day bowl team from last season, and not only play them but destroy them, how could you not reward that team?"

USC also jumped past Georgia to No. 1 in the USA Today coaches' poll, which has the same top five as the AP poll.

"It's definitely a privilege to be No. 1. But it's not heartbreaking to me if we drop," Georgia offensive lineman Josh Davis said. "It doesn't matter right now what we're ranked. What matters is our next game and right now, that's Central Michigan. The only time the polls matter is in December. That's when the polls matter."

While the Bulldogs opened easy, their schedule ultimately should be as difficult as any team's. Georgia's big nonconference test is at No. 15 Arizona State on Sept. 20. The Bulldogs also face six Southeastern Conference rivals that've been ranked in the first two polls.

As for Ohio State, the Buckeyes play at USC on Sept. 13 before getting into the Big Ten schedule.

But of the teams in this week's top 10, USC and Texas are the only ones that don't play an FCS opponent, and the Trojans are the only team that doesn't play a team from a non-BCS conference.

Get the latest 2009 BCS Championship odds at MySportsbook.com.

The last team to drop from No. 1 after a victory was USC last season. LSU jumped from No. 2 to No. 1 when it beat Tulane 34-9, the same week the Trojans edged Washington 27-24 on the road.

The last preseason No. 1 team to lose the top spot after winning its opening game was Florida in 2001. The Gators beat Marshall 49-14, but preseason No. 2 Miami opened with a 33-7 victory over Penn State and the Hurricanes jumped to No. 1 with Florida slipping to second.

The next four teams in the new Top 25 stayed the same: No. 4 Oklahoma (two first-place votes), No. 5 Florida (five first-place votes), No. 6 Missouri (one first-place vote), No. 7 LSU (one first-place vote) and No. 8 West Virginia.

No. 9 Auburn and No. 10 Texas each moved up a spot, taking advantage of Clemson's big drop. Clemson, ninth in the preseason, fell out after losing 34-10 to Alabama on Saturday.

Also falling out after losses were Virginia Tech, Pittsburgh and Tennessee.

Moving into the rankings were No. 21 Fresno State, No. 22 Utah, No. 23 UCLA and No. 24 South Carolina.

Alabama moved up 11 spots after its big victory over Clemson.

The second 10 started with No. 11 Wisconsin, followed by Texas Tech, Alabama and Kansas. BYU and Arizona State were tied for 15th. Rivals BYU and Utah are both ranked for the first time since 1996.

South Florida was No. 17, ahead of Oregon, Penn State and Wake Forest at No. 20.

The final five were all the teams to move into the ranking, except for Illinois, which dropped four spots and tied South Carolina for No. 24.

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