Biffle leads Roush front row sweep at Kansas

Autoracing Betting Lines

10/07/2011 - Kansas City, KS (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Greg Biffle topped the charts in Friday's qualifying at Kansas Speedway, while his teammate, Carl Edwards, claimed the second spot to give Roush Fenway Racing the front starting row for the Hollywood Casino 400.

Biffle turned a lap at 174.887 mph for his second pole of the season and the eighth of his Sprint Cup Series career. He is a two-time race winner at Kansas, including a victory here one year ago.

"My lap was way better than practice," Biffle said. "[Crew chief] Matt [Puccia] and all the guys working on the car got it right. That makes me feel pretty good that they can get the car fast like that."

Edwards, who hails from nearby Columbia, MO, posted a lap at 174.571 mph to qualify the highest among the 12-driver field in the Chase for the Sprint Cup championship. He shares the points lead with Kevin Harvick heading into the fourth race of the playoffs.

"Our Roush Fords are good, and it's a good sign," Edwards said. "We were not that good in practice. I'm pretty proud of that lap."

It's the fourth time this season that Roush Fenway has swept the front row.

Title contenders Kyle Busch and Matt Kenseth, also a Roush driver, qualified third and fourth, respectively. Kasey Kahne took the fifth spot, followed by Paul Menard, who was fastest in practice earlier in the day.

Denny Hamlin, currently last in Chase points, will start seventh, while Martin Truex Jr., last weekend's pole winner at Dover, will roll off eighth.

Mark Martin and his Hendrick Motorsports teammate, Jeff Gordon, will share the fifth row. Gordon is presently ninth in points.

The remaining Chase drivers and their starting positions include: Ryan Newman (11th), Brad Keselowski (12th), Harvick (14th), Dover winner Kurt Busch (17th), Dale Earnhardt Jr. (18th), Jimmie Johnson (19th) and Tony Stewart (23rd).

Keselowski won the most recent race at Kansas in June.

"We weren't very good in qualifying trim today, but we were really good in race trim," he said. "I feel good about Sunday, and I guess that's the day that counts."

Austin Dillon, the current points leader in the Camping World Truck Series, will start 26th in his Sprint Cup debut.

David Starr, Josh Wise and Mike Skinner failed to qualify for Sunday's 400- mile race at Kansas, which is scheduled to start just after 2:00 p.m. (et).

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Big East Conference odds

Work left to do: Villanova, Syracuse, DePaul, West Virginia, Providence

Notre Dame and Louisville appear to have done enough to make the move, so we'll make them locks. The Cardinals, despite a modest RPI, are trending way up and have clinched at least a tie for third in the Big East, which should be more than enough with their pair of big road wins. Villanova got back to .500 and gets back to more solid footing. Syracuse got a very important road win and crippled a fellow contender in the process. West Virginia's fate could be in its hands Tuesday at Pitt.

Work left to do:

Villanova [18-9 (7-7), RPI: 21, SOS: 5] Pounded Rutgers to get back to .500. If Cats can get their last two (at UConn, vs. Syracuse), that should be enough with strong computer numbers and a host of wins away from The Pavilion. The Cats have beaten Texas and swept the Big 5 (never easy in Philly), but have a couple of losses to bubble teams (Xavier, Drexel), too. I still think they'll be OK, possibly even at 8-8.

Syracuse [20-8 (9-5), RPI: 53, SOS: 62] History says 10 wins will be plenty, but it might be hard for the Orange to get that last one with a final two vs. G'town, which is trying to win the league title, and at Villanova, which will be desperate for a W. The relative lack of nonconference heft and the weak computer numbers are still concerns, but the Orange have won four in a row and got a very, very big win at Providence on Saturday.

DePaul [16-12 (8-7), RPI: 54, SOS: 18] Beat Cincy and should get past South Florida to get to 9-7, but then what? They have beaten Kansas and Cal (right after the DeVon Hardin injury) earlier this season, but also have lost to Bradley and Purdue, among others. They'll likely need a couple of BE tourney wins, too, but we'll see ...

West Virginia [19-7 (8-6), RPI: 58, SOS: 125] The game at Pitt on Tuesday night could decide the Mountaineers' fate (barring a deep tournament run). They can still get to 9-7 in the Big East without it by beating Cincinnati, but the nine wins would be against UConn, Villanova, St. John's, South Florida, DePaul, Rutgers, Seton Hall twice and the Bearcats. Beating bubble foes is fine, but where's the beef? Outside of beating PG-less UCLA in nonconference play (still a top quality win), there's not a lot to fall back on (besides maybe NC State). WVU vs. Syracuse would be an interesting debate, as the teams don't play in the Big East regular season. WVU has the best win, but Cuse has played the much better schedule.

Providence [17-10 (7-7), RPI: 70, SOS: 33] The Friars likely saw their at-large hopes die at home in the four-point loss to Syracuse, barring an unexpected run to the Big East semis or more. The RPI, bad already, won't be helped by playing St. John's and South Florida in the final two league games.

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