07/04/2008 - Daytona Beach, FL (Autoracing Betting) - Paul Menard became a first-time pole winner in the Sprint Cup Series, taking the top spot for Saturday night's Coke Zero 400 at the Daytona International Speedway. The No.15 Dale Earnhardt, Inc. driver turned in a lap at the high-banked 2.5-mile superspeedway of 48.409 seconds (185.916 m.p.h.).
Menard's first career pole victory came in his 57th start. His previous best start was in June at Dover where he started 13th.
"Everyone back at the shop does such an awesome job, said Menard. "It ran good at Talladega in the race...it all comes down to guys that work on it."
Menard becomes the second first-time pole winner in a row. Patrick Carpentier won last week's pole at New Hampshire.
Starting alongside Menard on the front row will be his DEI teammate Mark Martin who posted a time of 48.421 seconds. Earlier in the day, Martin announced he'll drive the No.5 Chevrolet for Hendrick Motorsports full-time beginning next year.
Dale Earnhardt, Jr. (48.534) and Joe Nemechek (48.573) will make up row two.
Other drivers of note and their starting positions: points leader Kyle Busch (ninth), Matt Kenseth (19th), Jeff Burton (23rd), Jeff Gordon (26th), Jimmie Johnson (30th), Daytona 500 champion Ryan Newman (32nd) and Kasey Kahne (41st).
Despite a 17th-place starting position on the grid, Tony Stewart should be a factor in the race. Smoke" has been known for his hot streaks during the summer months. During his second championship season in 2005, all five of his victories for the year came in a seven-race stretch from June to August. Last season, he picked up back-to-back wins at Chicagoland and Indianapolis in July before his most recent victory at Watkins Glen.
Stewart won this race (formerly the Pepsi 400) in 2005 and 2006. He was running up front with his Joe Gibbs Racing teammate Denny Hamlin in the early stages of last year's race, but his chances of a three-peat quickly came to an end when he ran into the back of Hamlin. Hamlin spun back into Stewart, taking both drivers out. Stewart and Hamlin finished 38th and 43rd, respectively.
Boris Said will be in this year's show after rain cancelled qualifying and ended his pole-winning run last year. A fan favorite, Said qualified seventh quickest on Friday.
Defending race champion Jamie McMurray will start 40th. McMurray picked up his second career Cup victory last year at Daytona. He edged Busch to the finish line by only 0.005 seconds in what was one of the closest finishes since NASCAR started using electronic timing and scoring in 1993. McMurray has been winless since Daytona.
The green flag is scheduled to drop on Saturday around 8 p.m. (et).
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March Madness odds and printable March Madness brackets
With the field of 64/65 set, MySportsbook.com has the Florida Gators as the 4-1 favorite to successfully defend their National Championship. Men’s Division-1 College Basketball has not seen a team repeat as National Champions since Duke won back to back championships in ’91 & ‘92. After losing three out of four late in the season, the Gators are full of momentum as they won their last four games by an average of 18 points. Not surprisingly, right behind the Gators are the other three top seeds: Kansas 5-1, UNC 6-1, and Ohio State 7-1. Many consider Kansas to be the hottest team in the country, having won 11 straight. With Kansas, it is hard to ignore all of the early exits from the “dance” in recent years. With an impressive ACC Tournament, UNC ensured themselves the other top seed. UNC has about as much talent as any other team in the tournament but with a team that’s best players are primarily freshman and sophomores, could youth be a concern. Behind freshman sensation, Greg Oden, OSU will look to do what their football team failed to do just a few months earlier. OSU seems to have peeked at the right time, as they currently have a 17 game winning streak. Since the tournament field was expanded in 1985, there has never been an instance where all four #1 seeds advanced to the Final Four. It is obvious that each of the top seeds have the talent to make it through to Atlanta. But as everyone knows, when makes the NCAA Tournament so special are all of the spoilers and “Cinderella” stories that knock off the favorites on a daily basis.
Be sure to logon to MySportsbook.com to see check out all of the early lines and “March Madness” props. Also be sure to enter the “$10,000,000 Perfect Bracket Contest”. If someone has the skills to predict every winner, they will be set for life and walk away with $10,000,000. Even if no one can cash in on the Grand Prize, with a $35,000 guaranteed prize pool and a Mazda RX-8 to the first prize winner, Sportsbook.com’s bracket is a must for all “March Madness” fans.
MySportsbook.com’s odds to win the Championship and Regions:
| EAST | National Championship | Region |
| Arkansas | 300-1 | 50-1 |
| Belmont | 1000-1 | |
| Boston College | 100-1 | 40-1 |
| Eastern KY | 1000-1 | |
| George Washington | 75-1 | |
| Georgetown | 10-1 | 3-2 |
| Marquette | 100-1 | 40-1 |
| Michigan State | 100-1 | 25-1 |
| New Mexico St. | 500-1 | 200-1 |
| UNC | 6-1 | 6-5 |
| Oral Roberts | 500-1 | |
| Texas | 15-1 | 5-1 |
| Texas Tech | 200-1 | 5-1 |
| USC | 75-1 | 20-1 |
| Vanderbilt | 100-1 | 30-1 |
| Washington State | 40-1 | 15-1 |
| WEST | ||
| Duke | 50-1 | 10-1 |
| Florida A&M | 1000-1 | |
| Gonzaga | 200-1 | 40-1 |
| Holy Cross | 300-1 | |
| Illinois | 300-1 | 60-1 |
| Indiana | 75-1 | 40-1 |
| Kansas | 5-1 | 13-10 |
| Kentucky | 100-1 | 40-1 |
| Niagara | 1000-1 | |
| Pittsburgh | 40-1 | 8-1 |
| Southern Ill. | 50-1 | 12-1 |
| UCLA | 10-1 | 3-2 |
| VCU | 500-1 | 100-1 |
| Villanova | 100-1 | 40-1 |
| VA Tech | 50-1 | 15-1 |
| Weber St | 1000-1 | |
| Wright St | 1000-1 | 300-1 |
| MIDWEST | ||
| Arizona | 50-1 | 30-1 |
| Butler | 40-1 | 30-1 |
| Davidson | 300-1 | |
| Florida | 4-1 | 4-5 |
| Georgia Tech | 75-1 | 25-1 |
| Jackson State | 1000-1 | |
| Maryland | 30-1 | 6-1 |
| Miami-OH | 300-1 | |
| Notre Dame | 100-1 | 20-1 |
| ODU | 500-1 | 100-1 |
| Oregon | 40-1 | 6-1 |
| Purdue | 300-1 | 60-1 |
| Texas A&M CC | 1000-1 | |
| UNLV | 100-1 | 30-1 |
| Winthrop | 500-1 | 100-1 |
| Wisconsin | 15-1 | 7-2 |
| SOUTH | ||
| Albany | 200-1 | |
| BYU | 200-1 | 40-1 |
| Central CT St. | 1000-1 | |
| Creighton | 100-1 | 35-1 |
| Long Beach St. | 500-1 | 200-1 |
| Louisville | 40-1 | 10-1 |
| Memphis | 30-1 | 4-1 |
| Nevada | 75-1 | 35-1 |
| North Texas | 500-1 | |
| Ohio State | 7-1 | 6-5 |
| Penn | 500-1 | |
| Stanford | 200-1 | 50-1 |
| Tennessee | 100-1 | 20-1 |
| Texas A&M | 12-1 | 11-5 |
| Virginia | 75-1 | 18-1 |
| Xavier | 100-1 | 40-1 |
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