NASCAR odds: Franchitti gets Nationwide ride

After losing his ride in NASCAR’s Sprint Cup Series, Dario Franchitti

Franchitti, who is part of the field at +1000 at WagerWeb.com, will pilot the No. 40 Dodge for Chip Ganassi Racing. Ganassi shuttered Franchitti's Sprint Cup Series team last week because of a lack of funding, leaving the 2007 IndyCar Series champion's future in doubt.

But Ganassi has sponsorship for his Nationwide car, and is giving Franchitti the option to drive that until they figure out a long-term plan. Bryan Clauson drove the car last weekend at Daytona International Speedway, winning his first career pole.

This will be Franchitti’s 11th start of the year and the 15th of his career in the second-level series. His return is not full-time yet, as the Scot’s plans for the rest of the season will probably be disclosed next week after he and Ganassi meet to discuss their options.

But Franchitti made it clear what he wants.

"I want to be successful in NASCAR and I certainly don't want it to end like this," he said. "I made a big commitment coming over here [from IndyCar] and I'd like to get in a [situation] to be successful. When I made the decision to come here I wasn't going to do the IndyCar thing anymore, so this isn't a case of missing out on what could have been. That wasn't a direction I wanted to go. Never say never, but it's unlikely I'll go back."

Franchitti's race at Chicago on Friday will be his first in stock cars at the 1.5-mile oval. He does have three IndyCar starts there, including wrapping up the 2007 IndyCar Championship there by starting from the pole and winning the season finale.Franchitti was disappointed in Ganassi’s decision to shut down his Sprint Cup ride, saying his broken ankle suffered at Talladega and the five missed races after that certainly didn’t help matters.

"The injury didn't help, and I know I still have a lot to learn, but we were moving in the right direction,” Franchitti said. “There were some very difficult days and there were also days where we felt we were making progress, and those days were fun. I'd love to start again with the level of experience I have in NASCAR now and that is why I want to continue and show what I can do. I got the feeling whatever could go wrong did go wrong, but I think we were turning things round."

Bet on NASCAR at WagerWeb.com will be back behind the wheel Friday when he races in the Nationwide Series Dollar General 300 at Chicagoland Speedway.

Horse racing odds: Curlin to run in Man o'War

Curlin, the 2007 Horse of the Year, will make his grass debut Saturday in the 1 3/8-mile Man o'War Stakes at Belmont Park after a licensing issue was resolved.

The New York State Racing and Wagering Board will issue a license to the receiver representing the minority ownership interest in Curlin. Stonestreet Stables, which owns 80 percent of Curlin, is already licensed in New York, but Midnight Cry Stables, which owns the other 20 percent, has faced ongoing legal problems since late last year that have complicated its eligibility for licensing in many jurisdictions, but it got the OK.

Midnight Cry Stables is owned by Lexington lawyers William Gallion and Shirley Cunningham Jr., who are currently in jail as they await a retrial in a case alleging that they defrauded their clients in a 2002 settlement with the manufacturer of the diet-drug combination fen-phen.

The Man o' War would be Curlin's first race on the turf. Trainer Steve Asmussen said if Curlin runs and performs well, he will ship to Saratoga before shipping to France for a possible start in the Prix Foy, a race on the grass at Longchamp, as a prep for the Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe in France on Oct. 5, also at Longchamp.

"I think the Arc is one of the greatest races in the world," Asmussen said, "and we want to establish Curlin as one of the greatest horses in the world."

No American-based horse has won the 1 1/2-mile Arc, Europe's most prestigious event. Among those who failed were Tom Rolfe, sixth in 1965, and Carry Back, 10th in 1962. A victory by Curlin, who has won nine of 12 starts on dirt, would place him among the best of all time. But first Curlin must perform Saturday."We do expect a Curlin race Saturday, but there are questions out there. We don't want to kid ourselves about his turf form if we're going to try the Arc. I think we're going to get a gauge of his turf ability, but even if all goes well, we'll still have a lot to do," Asmussen said.

Asmussen chose the 1 3/8th-mile Man o'War over Saturday's Arlington Park Handicap at Arlington Park near Chicago, in part because the lure of stiff competition. Curlin should get it against a field that will include former Breeders' Cup Turf winners Better Talk Now and Red Rocks.

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NASCAR odds: Who replaces Tony Stewart?

In a huge move in NASCAR circles, Joe Gibbs Racing will release Tony Stewart from his contract at the end of the season, and “Smoke” will join forces with Haas CNC Racing for the 2009 season, where he reportedly own a 50 percent stake in the organization.

“We've had a lot of success with Tony in our 12 years here," Joe Gibbs Racing president J.D. Gibbs said in the release. "While this moment is bittersweet, we're parting on good terms and we know that each of us has benefited greatly from the other.”

With 32 career victories, Cup championships in 2002 and 2005 and more than $68 million in winnings, it's been one of the most steady and successful partnerships in NASCAR history. JGR wanted Stewart to sign an extension to stay with the No. 20 team beyond his current contract, which expires at the end of 2009.

However, Stewart is winless this season and was intrigued in an ownership stake – he already owns several smaller racetracks. He will finish out 2008 with JGR.

Haas CNC has two cars, the Nos. 66 and 70 Chevys currently driven by Scott Riggs and Johnny Sauter. Ryan Newman, who is in the final year of his contract with Penske Racing, is widely considered the leading candidate to become Stewart's teammate.

But who fills his big shoes at JGR?

It's expected that 18-year-old Joey Logano will replace Stewart in the No. 20 Sprint Cup Series car. Logano made his Nationwide Series debut in May and became the youngest driver ever to win in the division when he was victorious in his third series start on June 14.Logano acknowledged Wednesday that he is a candidate to fill that spot.

“It has been brought up a few times," Logano said.

Logano said he will focus the rest of this season on his Nationwide Series ride and hope to get into a few Cup races before the end of the year to prepare him for next season. In four Nationwide starts, Logano has finished sixth, 31st, first and second.

"It's a big deal," Logano said of Stewart leaving. "But Joe Gibbs Racing will go on and continue to do well. I don't see the team taking a very big hit."

J.D. Gibbs has said in recent weeks that the organization is in no rush to move Logano up but also that he thinks Logano is ready to compete at stock car racing's highest level.

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NBA odds: What does Brand to Sixers mean?

Well, Elton Brand surprised everyone, especially the Los Angeles Clippers, by signing with the Philadelphia 76ers on Wednesday.

The former Duke star is being pilloried in much of the media for supposedly going against his word after saying his “intention” was to re-sign with L.A. after opting out of his contract. However, the market for Brand suddenly changed when the Warriors and Sixers offered deals that were millions more than the Clippers’.

So despite Brand supposedly luring friend Baron Davis to L.A. and asking that team to improve around him, he took the money and headed back East – he’s from New York.

Brand, who got a five-year, $82 million deal, joins a Sixers team that is no longer the lottery-bound loser it was a year ago. Andre Miller, Andre Iguodala, Samuel Dalembert and the blossoming Thaddeus Young turned the 76ers into a surprise playoff team, even stretching Detroit to six games in a first-round series. And that was with a starting power forward, Reggie Evans, who averaged only 5.2 points. Brand is a career 20-10 guy.

Now the Sixers should be a top-four team in the East and could even surpass Detroit and Cleveland as a main challenger to Boston.

As for the other teams involved in this merry-go-round:

The Warriors have made two moves in the wake of losing Davis and not getting Brand. First, they signed Corey Maggette to a five-year, $50-million deal.Maggette averaged 22.1 points and 5.6 rebounds in 35.7 minutes for the Clippers last season. His relentless attacking approach to offense produced a career-high 681 free throws, sixth-most in the league.He said he asked the Clippers if they would match Golden State’s deal. The answer was no.

"I wish the Clippers would have at least given me an opportunity, and they didn't," he said. "But there's no bad blood, and I wish them the best."

In addition, the Warriors have offered a four-year deal to Lakers forward Ronny Turiaf, but L.A. has seven days to match that contract.

The Clippers, as usual, are the big losers in all this.

They are expected to focus their wallet on Hawks swingman Josh Smith as well as Charlotte Bobcats restricted free-agent Emeka Okafor to fill Brand's spot. However, the Hawks and Bobcats can offer more money and one more maximum year than the Clippers, and the Hawks for sure are expected to do so. Okafor reportedly is pondering taking a one-year deal from Charlotte and then becoming an unrestricted free agent next year.

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MLB odds: Yanks crossing fingers on Matsui

Yankees outfielder Hideki Matsui, on the disabled list since June 27 with an inflamed left knee, took 45 swings off a tee Tuesday and reported nothing negative, which is a positive for New York.

"I felt pretty good. No pain," he said in a statement issued by the team. "I hope to keep going in a positive direction."

Now Matsui is headed to the team's minor-league complex in Tampa to continue rehabbing. Matsui is hitting .323 in 251 at-bats over 69 games, including seven home runs and 34 RBIs.

"With this type of injury he has, you just take it day by day and hope that each step, when you come back the next day, you can take another step," Yankees manager Joe Girardi said.

If he continues in a pain-free direction, Matsui should be able to avoid surgery, embark on a quick rehab assignment and be back with the Yankees after the All-Star break.

But Matsui will have to progress to more intensive drills, then batting practice, and then he could go on a minor-league rehabilitation assignment. The Yankees seem pessimistic that he will be able to do anything but be a designated hitter for the rest of this season, however.Matsui originally was eligible to return for Wednesday's game against the Rays. But when he responded poorly to physical therapy and felt unable to take batting practice over the weekend, those plans changed.

Girardi said season-ending surgery has not been ruled out, especially if Matsui's pain returns when the rehab sessions step up.

"As you start to increase the workload," Girardi said, "you have to see how his leg responds."

The team should know if Matsui will need surgery within the next few weeks. You can bet the Yanks' position in the standings will play a big part in that decision.

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NCAA basketball odds: Top Arizona recruit to Europe

The University of Arizona looked to be a preseason top 10 team next season with Chase Budinger returning to school and top prep point guard Brandon Jennings arriving in Tucson. However, Jennings has decided to play in Europe for a year instead of attend college.

Wildcats coach Lute Olson blames the “one-and-done” rule instituted by the NBA in 2006, saying it needs to be retooled. Jennings, 18, under NBA rules must be 19 and a year removed from high school to be eligible for the NBA draft.

“Kids should be able to come out of high school," Olson said. "They need to institute something like what baseball has. Once someone enters school, they have to stay a minimum of either two of three years.

"We as coaches warned the NCAA about this when it was first put in place," he added. "It's going to turn into a bigger mess."

Olson also said his outlook with regards to recruiting some of the elite players will change in the wake of the Jennings situation.

"We're going to change our position and if we think someone we're recruiting has that kind of thought about going to Europe, we're going to stop trying to recruit those type of guys."

Jennings had not passed his first two attempts at a standardized test qualifying score but decided not to even wait for his third test result, which are due later this week.

"Over the course of the last two months I have consulted a number of people in basketball before coming to this decision," Jennings said in a statement released through his attorney. "I would like to thank the University of Arizona for their interest and support through this process." ...Jennings expects to earn "certainly, in the hundreds of thousands of dollars," in both a playing contract and shoe and other endorsement deals, his attorney said.

This could truly be a landmark decision by an American prep recruit. If Jennings lands a contract in the hundreds of thousands, which is doubted by some European basketball experts, plays well and is a high NBA draft pick, this could be the wave of the future for top incoming college freshmen. And a killer to college basketball.

Once a player shows that Europe is viable, more will follow, said Sonny Vaccaro, a former marketing executive with Nike Inc, Adidas AG and Reebok. "Once one does it, we will have a migration of young people."

Meanwhile, without Jennings, the Wildcats of 2008-09 have Nic Wise, Budinger and forward Jordan Hill and a lot of questions after them. Could be another mediocre season in Tucson.

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NFL odds: Favre saga drags on

Another day, another news item about whether Brett Favre will return to the Green Bay Packers.

If you ask the team’s current and former presidents, No. 4 will stay retired, which, if you read between the lines, appears to be what the Packers want him to do.

"I keep going back to his retirement announcement and how sincere and heartfelt that was," current president Mark Murphy said. "I think it's pretty reasonable that, as an organization, we're going to move on. … It's a very delicate situation, because he has such a special place in Packers history."

Murphy did say any decision on Favre's status with the team, should he request to be reinstated from the reserve/retired list, would be left up to the football side of the operation, headed by GM Ted Thompson.

A Milwaukee television station reported that Favre sent a text message to Thompson on Saturday. Thompson reportedly replied that he was on vacation and they would have to talk later. Add that to a Sports Illustrated report from Peter King that Thompson also isn't returning agent Bus Cook's phone calls.

The Packers have yet to publicly address reports that Favre, who announced his retirement on March 6, again has "the itch" to play football.

"What I remember about him is he was ready to retire, and that's how I feel today. I think down deep, that's exactly how he feels," team chairman emeritus Bob Harlan said.

The one player most affected by Favre’s return would be presumed starter Aaron Rodgers. He swears he’s been “immune” to the furor swirling in Green Bay.“As the organization has commented, I’m going to keep it pretty much the same. I’m not going to comment on any of the rumors that are out there.”

Should Favre announce his intention to report for training camp, Thompson must decide whether he is welcome. It would seem the club would want back a Pro Bowl quarterback as Favre was last year. But Favre turns 39 in November and struggled the NFC Championship game loss to the New York Giants, not to mention in the 2006 season.

In addition, Rodgers spent the entire off-season solidifying himself as Green Bay's new starter, and the club has reworked its offensive scheme to Rodgers’ skills.

Would the club dare release or trade a franchise icon?

“There's no need to speculate about 'What ifs?' " Thompson said. "You could do that with any team. We're just going by what we have and what we know and trying to put the best team we can on the field."

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