08/23/2008 - Sonoma, CA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Despite having to use their backup cars after their primary ones were damaged in transporter fire earlier this week, Team Penske drivers Helio Castroneves and Ryan Briscoe managed to capture the front starting row for Sunday's Grand Prix of Sonoma County at the Infineon Raceway. Castroneves won the pole after turning in a quick lap at the 1.99-mile, 11- turn road course in 1 minute, 16.9027 seconds (107.809 m.p.h.) during the third and final qualifying session.
It was Castroneves' third IndyCar Series pole of the season and the 26th of his career.
"I got to thank Team Penske," Castroneves said. "What a great rebound, showing they can put those issues behind and keep working as fast as they can. Attitude and speed, that is what makes the team what it is."
Briscoe secured the second starting position with a time of 1:16.9185 seconds
Castroneves' and Briscoe's primary cars sustained water, smoke and heat damage Wednesday morning when a Team Penske transporter caught fire while en route to Sonoma, CA.
Will Power (1:17.0875) and Tony Kanaan (1:17.1286) will start in row two.
Scott Dixon and Oriol Servia were the other drivers running in the final session. They will start fifth and sixth, respectively.
The 12 quickest drivers, the top-six from each of the first two qualifying groups, then competed for 15 minutes to eliminate six drivers for the final segment.
With three races remaining this season, Dixon could all but wrap up his second series title with a record-breaking seventh victory of the year at Sonoma. Earlier this month at Kentucky, Dixon tied the series record for most wins in a season, set by his Target Chip Ganassi Racing teammate Dan Wheldon in 2005.
Castroneves ran out of fuel on the last lap as Dixon passed him heading into the final turn at Kentucky. Dixon now holds a commanding 78-point lead over Castroneves, who has yet to win a race in 2008. He has finished in the runner- up spot seven times this year.
Dixon held off Castroneves in the final laps of last year's race to record his third-straight road-course victory and his fourth win of the season. He also grabbed the lead in the championship standings, leaving Sonoma with a four-point advantage over Dario Franchitti. Franchitti went on to defeat Dixon for the title in the season-finale at Chicagoland.
The green flag is scheduled to drop on Sunday around 5:30 p.m. (et).
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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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