Patrick secures starting spot in Daytona 500

Autoracing Betting Lines

01/31/2012 - Kannapolis, NC (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Danica Patrick will be guaranteed a starting position in the February 26 Daytona 500 due to a transfer of owner points from Tommy Baldwin Racing to Patrick's team, Stewart-Haas Racing.

SHR and TBR announced on Tuesday that both racing organizations have formed a collaborative partnership. TBR will field the No.10 GoDaddy Chevrolet for all 10 of Patrick's Sprint Cup Series races, including the season-opener at Daytona, in 2012.

TBR's No.36 car, which finished the 2011 season 33rd in owner points, will become the No.10 entry for this upcoming season. David Reutimann will drive the No.10 in the 26 races where Patrick is not scheduled to compete. Dave Blaney drove for TBR last year. Blaney will drive another entry for the team this season.

Reutimann, who had been with Michael Waltrip Racing the past five Sprint Cup seasons, will attempt to keep the No.10 car in the top-35 rankings in owner points to assure Patrick a starting spot in each of her remaining races throughout the season.

"Tommy Baldwin Racing has proven to be a very strong organization, and it's a good fit with Stewart-Haas Racing," Matt Borland, the vice president of competition for Stewart-Haas Racing, said in a team statement. "It's a Chevrolet team led by a racer who knows every inch of a racecar. That kind of technical expertise, along with a company mindset that is similar to ours, provides the ideal environment for Danica to learn and succeed."

TBR, which is owned by Tommy Baldwin, a veteran Sprint Cup crew chief, had been a single-car operation since its entrance into NASCAR's premier series in 2009. As a crew chief, Baldwin has won five Sprint Cup races, including the 2002 Daytona 500 with driver Ward Burton.

"We're very proud of what we've established at Tommy Baldwin Racing, and the opportunity to partner with Stewart-Haas Racing and aid in the development of Danica Patrick is a testament to all the hard work we've put in over the years," Baldwin said. "Danica will have a great teammate in Dave Blaney, who has been instrumental in getting our race team to where it is today. And with David Reutimann driving the No.10 car in the races where Danica is not, the team will remain in a strong and competitive position throughout the year."

As part of the alliance, Baldwin will work closely with Patrick's crew chief, Greg Zipadelli, who also serves as SHR's director of competition. Zipadelli most recently served as crew chief for Joe Gibbs Racing's No.20 team, with driver Joey Logano.

"Working with Tommy will be like old times," Zipadelli said. "We both grew up together and competed against each other in modifieds, and we did the same thing when we got to Sprint Cup. To finally be able to work with each other and help Danica Patrick make a successful transition from Indy cars to stock cars is a challenge we're both looking forward to."

Patrick left the IndyCar Series at the end of last season to compete in NASCAR full-time this year, running the entire 33-race schedule in the Nationwide Series and a partial one in Sprint Cup. She will drive the No.7 Chevrolet for JR Motorsports in Nationwide.

After next month's race at Daytona, Patrick will not compete in a Sprint Cup race until May 12 at Darlington. She is also slated to compete at Charlotte (May 27), Bristol (August 25), Atlanta (September 2), Chicagoland (Sept. 16), Dover (Sept. 30), Texas (November 4) and Phoenix (Nov. 11).

Last week, Patrick announced she will forgo this year's Indianapolis 500 to compete in the 600-mile race at Charlotte. Her tenth Sprint Cup event this season will be announced at a later date.

SHR is hopeful Patrick will run a full-time schedule in Sprint Cup next year.

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Big 12 Conference betting odds

Work left to do: Texas Tech, Oklahoma State, Kansas State

Texas joins Texas A&M and Kansas as locks after getting league win No. 11. Texas Tech greatly helped its own hopes and crippled OK State's with the two-point win Saturday. Is K-State the last reasonable hopeful? Could be an elimination match in Stillwater on Tuesday, at least for the Cowboys.

Work left to do:

Texas Tech [18-11 (7-7), RPI: 44, SOS: 12] A critical two-point win over OK State leaves the Red Raiders with Baylor and at Iowa State left. Get both and the Red Raiders likely are good to go. Get one and there could be some interesting comparisons with a K-State team that could finish two or three games "ahead" of them in the standings but doesn't have any of the quality wins Texas Tech has. Not a lot in nonconference play (against Arkansas in Little Rock being the best win, by far) to lean on.

Oklahoma State [18-9 (5-8), RPI: 50, SOS: 35] Still without a road win, the Cowboys now need to win two on the road just to get to .500 in conference play. It's hard to recall a team (OK, other than Clemson) falling so precipitously from lock status to almost certainly out of the NCAAs at this point. There are wins to be had in the last three, including a very big home game against K-State on Tuesday, but this team is reeling. Can you tell the pressure to win is getting to them with the way the final possession played out at Texas Tech? There are some good nonconference performances to lean on, specifically beating Missouri State and Syracuse on neutral floors and Pitt in OK City, but if the Pokes don't right this very, very soon, that won't be enough.

Kansas State [20-9 (9-5), RPI: 56, SOS: 96] It pays to be in the Big 12 North. The nine league wins are Colorado (twice), Missouri (twice), Iowa State (twice), Baylor, Nebraska and (a good one against) Texas. That helps explain the middling computer profile. The win over USC is nice, but the nonconference leaves a lot to be desired. The game at OK State in Stillwater on Tuesday is huge, as it could KO the Cowboys and leave K-State with a home date against Oklahoma with which to work.