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01/16/2012 - Statesville, NC (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - David Ragan will drive the No.34 Ford for Front Row Motorsports during the 2012 Sprint Cup Series season, the team announced on Monday.
Ragan drove the No.6 car for Roush Fenway Racing in Sprint Cup the past five years but was released after the 2011 season when the team ceased operations due to lack of sponsorship, which had come from UPS. The 26-year-old from Unadilla, GA pursued opportunities with Penske Racing, Phoenix Racing and Richard Petty Motorsports before landing a ride with Front Row this year.
"Front Row has made great progress in the last few years, and I look forward to helping them advance to the next level," Ragan said in a team statement. "I think the team appreciates what I can bring to the table, and I think it's a good opportunity for both of us. I've also enjoyed a long relationship with Ford, and I'm glad that I'll get to keep working with them."
Last year, Ragan picked up his first win in NASCAR's premier series in the July race at Daytona. He has also recorded 30 top-10 finishes in 182 starts in the series. Ragan's career-best finish in Sprint Cup points is 13th, which came in 2008. He ended the 2011 season 23rd in points.
Ragan will team with David Gilliland, who has been retained by Front Row to drive its No.38 car.
Front Row, formed by restaurant and transportation entrepreneur Bob Jenkins, has competed in Sprint Cup each year since 2005. The racing organization elevated to full-time in the series in '09.
"I am committed to building a competitive race team by employing the same fundamental business principles that have worked for my other successful endeavors, and it all begins with the people," Jenkins said. "We took some pretty big steps in our race program last year, and adding David Ragan is another giant step in the right direction."
Front Row said in its news release that sponsorship for Ragan and Gilliland's teams this season is being finalized and expected to be announced soon. Both drivers are guaranteed a starting position in the February 26 season-opening Daytona 500 due to owner points from last season.
<< Chelsea completes Cahill signing
London, England (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Chelsea announced Monday that it has
completed the signing of central defender Gary Cahill from Bolton for an
undisclosed fee believed to be approximately $11 million.
After weeks of speculat
<< Baylor and Kansas tangle in pivotal Big 12 bout
Lawrence, KS (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Baylor Bears put their undefeated record
on the line as they head to legendary Allen Fieldhouse in Lawrence for a Big
12 Conference showdown with the Kansas Jayhawks.
This bout marks the 19th meeting betwe
<< Aggies and Tigers mix it up in Big 12 action
Columbia, MO (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Texas A&M Aggies will attempt to be the
second team this year to take down the Missouri Tigers as the Big 12
Conference rivals meet in an early evening showdown at Mizzou Arena.
This will be just the 2
<< Louisville visits Marquette in Monday matinee
Milwaukee, WI (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - A couple of Big East Conference squads pay
their respects on Martin Luther King Day the best way they know how as the
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Rose sidelined because of toe injury >>
Memphis, TN (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Chicago Bulls guard Derrick Rose will sit out
Monday's game against Memphis because of a lingering toe problem.
Rose was initially hurt during a January 10 game against Minnesota and missed
the following night'
Wild's Koivu to miss time with upper-body injury >>
St. Paul, MN (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Minnesota Wild head coach Mike Yeo announced
Monday that captain Mikko Koivu is week-to-week with an upper-body injury.
The Minneapolis Star-Tribune is reporting the 28-year-old center separated his
left sho
Aloha should mean goodbye >>
Philadelphia, PA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Aloha is Hawaiian for either hello, or
goodbye.
The PGA Tour should bid a permanent goodbye aloha to opening the season in
Hawaii.
The tour heads to the mainland of the United States this week after a
The long-last vindication of Alex Smith >>
Philadelphia, PA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - It's taken just one year for Jim Harbaugh
to undo nearly a decade's worth of missteps and restore the San Francisco 49ers
back to prominence.
But for the quarterback who helped steer the previously-fallen
NEW YORK (AP) -By staying away from the cupcakes, Southern California earned itself a slim new ranking.
No. 1 always seems to fit USC.
Southern California jumped two spots to No. 1 in The Associated Press Top 25 on Tuesday, rewarded by voters for opening the season with a dominant performance on the road against a BCS conference opponent.
Georgia and Ohio State, the preseason Nos. 1 and 2, respectively, started their seasons with glorified scrimmages at home against FCS (formerly I-AA) teams. USC, however, traveled across country to face Virginia and could not have been more impressive in a 52-7 victory.
Georgia fell to No. 2 and Ohio State to No 3.
"We realize that rankings so early in a season are certainly fluid. But rankings do help establish a pecking order for things later in the season," USC coach Pete Carroll said in a statement. "As for moving into the No. 1 spot, it's nice to know that people think highly of our team."
Since reaching No. 1 on Dec. 7, 2003, the final-regular season AP poll of that season, USC has been No. 1 in 39 polls, by far the most of any team during that time.
"Some have said the voters are taking our schedule into consideration," Carroll said. "Our philosophy has always been to schedule outstanding opponents. We need to play challenging games like we just did, traveling across the country to open the season at Virginia. Games like that bring out our best and make us stronger as a team."
The latest voting was close. USC received 21 first-place votes and 1,539 points from the 65-member media panel. Georgia had 20 first-place votes and 1,506 points. Ohio State got 15 first-place votes and 1,497 points.
"I'd say we've evolved as pollsters," said Stewart Mandel of SI.com, who moved USC up to No. 1. "In the past, voters just kind of automatically moved teams up and kept teams where they were if they won."
Georgia beat Georgia Southern 45-21 on Saturday and Ohio State opened with a 43-0 win over Youngstown State.
"There's a bit of a growing backlash for the amount of teams that open with I-AA cupcakes," said Mandel, whose book "Bowls, Polls and Tattered Souls" chronicles college football's controversies. "To see a team [USC] go on the road and play a New Year's Day bowl team from last season, and not only play them but destroy them, how could you not reward that team?"
USC also jumped past Georgia to No. 1 in the USA Today coaches' poll, which has the same top five as the AP poll.
"It's definitely a privilege to be No. 1. But it's not heartbreaking to me if we drop," Georgia offensive lineman Josh Davis said. "It doesn't matter right now what we're ranked. What matters is our next game and right now, that's Central Michigan. The only time the polls matter is in December. That's when the polls matter."
While the Bulldogs opened easy, their schedule ultimately should be as difficult as any team's. Georgia's big nonconference test is at No. 15 Arizona State on Sept. 20. The Bulldogs also face six Southeastern Conference rivals that've been ranked in the first two polls.
As for Ohio State, the Buckeyes play at USC on Sept. 13 before getting into the Big Ten schedule.
But of the teams in this week's top 10, USC and Texas are the only ones that don't play an FCS opponent, and the Trojans are the only team that doesn't play a team from a non-BCS conference.
Get the latest 2009 BCS Championship odds at MySportsbook.com.
The last team to drop from No. 1 after a victory was USC last season. LSU jumped from No. 2 to No. 1 when it beat Tulane 34-9, the same week the Trojans edged Washington 27-24 on the road.
The last preseason No. 1 team to lose the top spot after winning its opening game was Florida in 2001. The Gators beat Marshall 49-14, but preseason No. 2 Miami opened with a 33-7 victory over Penn State and the Hurricanes jumped to No. 1 with Florida slipping to second.
The next four teams in the new Top 25 stayed the same: No. 4 Oklahoma (two first-place votes), No. 5 Florida (five first-place votes), No. 6 Missouri (one first-place vote), No. 7 LSU (one first-place vote) and No. 8 West Virginia.
No. 9 Auburn and No. 10 Texas each moved up a spot, taking advantage of Clemson's big drop. Clemson, ninth in the preseason, fell out after losing 34-10 to Alabama on Saturday.
Also falling out after losses were Virginia Tech, Pittsburgh and Tennessee.
Moving into the rankings were No. 21 Fresno State, No. 22 Utah, No. 23 UCLA and No. 24 South Carolina.
Alabama moved up 11 spots after its big victory over Clemson.
The second 10 started with No. 11 Wisconsin, followed by Texas Tech, Alabama and Kansas. BYU and Arizona State were tied for 15th. Rivals BYU and Utah are both ranked for the first time since 1996.
South Florida was No. 17, ahead of Oregon, Penn State and Wake Forest at No. 20.
The final five were all the teams to move into the ranking, except for Illinois, which dropped four spots and tied South Carolina for No. 24.
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