Truck begin nine-week stretch at Iowa

Autoracing Betting Lines

07/06/2010 - Newton, IA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Series: NASCAR Camping World Truck. Date: Sunday, July 11. Race: Lucas Oil 200. Site: Iowa Speedway. Track: .875-mile oval. Start time: 2:00 p.m. (et). Laps: 200. Miles: 175. 2009 winner: Mike Skinner. Television: SPEED. Radio: Motor Racing Network(MRN)/SIRIUS NASCAR Radio.

After a three-week hiatus, the Camping World Truck Series returns to action this weekend at Iowa Speedway. Iowa kicks off a nine-week stretch of racing in the series.

Todd Bodine currently holds a 55-point lead over Aric Almirola, who won the most recent truck race on June 12 at Michigan. Almirola claimed his first career truck win in May at Dover.

"We've been on a roll here lately," Almirola said. "It would be awesome to leave Iowa with another trophy this year. We were competitive there last year. We ran second, and I felt like we had a good truck, but we weren't good enough to win. We were just good enough to run second."

Mike Skinner won the 2009 inaugural truck race at Iowa. Skinner led all but 20 of the 200 laps, but had just enough fuel remaining to hold off Almirola in a four-lap shootout to the finish. Almirola's second-place run was his career- best finish in the series at the time.

"I feel really confident going back there, and if everything plays out right, you never know what could happen," Almirola added.

David Starr is expected to make his 250th career start at Iowa. Starr, who made his first truck start in 1998 at Phoenix, will become the fourth active driver to reach this milestone. He will join Rick Crawford, Dennis Setzer and four-time series champion Ron Hornaday Jr.

"I've been very fortunate and blessed that I have been racing at this level for this long," said Starr, who drives the No.81 Toyota for Randy Moss Motorsports. "To make it to 250 is very cool, but what I really want to do is make at least 250 more starts after that."

Thirty-eight teams are on the preliminary entry list for the Lucas Oil 200.

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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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