Busch, Gibbs address sponsorship change

Autoracing Betting Lines

11/11/2011 - Avondale, AZ (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - NASCAR driver Kyle Busch continued to be apologetic for intentionally wrecking Ron Hornaday Jr. in last week's Camping World Truck Series race at Texas Motor Speedway.

Since NASCAR suspended him from last weekend's Nationwide and Sprint Cup Series races at Texas, Busch spoke with reporters for the first time on Friday at Phoenix International Raceway. The sanctioning body took further action on Monday by fining Busch $50,000 and placing him on probation for the remainder of the year.

Mars Inc. and its M&M's brand, which serves as the primary sponsor of Busch's No.18 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota team, announced this week that it would not sponsor Busch's efforts in Sunday's Sprint Cup race at Phoenix as well as the November 20 season-finale at Homestead, FL.

"As a proud member of the racing community, Mars and the M&M's brand strongly support the partnership we have with Joe Gibbs Racing and are committed to NASCAR. Yet, Kyle's recent actions are unacceptable and do not reflect the values of Mars," Debra A. Sandler, who is the chief consumer officer of Mars Chocolate North America, said in a statement released on Thursday. "While we do not condone Kyle's recent actions, we do believe that he has shown remorse and has expressed a desire to change. We believe our decision will have a positive impact on Kyle and will help him return next season ready to win."

JGR announced that its longtime sponsor, Interstate Batteries, will be featured on the No.18 car at Phoenix and Homestead. Mars will continue its sponsorship with Busch's team during the 2012 season.

After being parked at Texas, Busch dropped from seventh to 11th in the Chase for the Sprint Cup championship point standings. He has been mathematically eliminated from title contention, as he presently trails leader Carl Edwards by 100 points.

"Obviously, this has been quite a trying week for myself and my wife [Samantha] and everybody at M&M's, Joe Gibbs Racing, Kyle Busch Motorsports and Interstate Batteries, all of the above," Busch said. "I'm upmost apologetic to everybody that's been having to go through this situation, and there's no one to blame but myself."

Busch said he had a telephone conversation with Hornaday days after the truck race. He quipped that he "is still invited to [Hornaday's] house."

Team owner Joe Gibbs joined Busch during the press conference, which was held prior to the first Sprint Cup practice held on the newly repaved and reconfigured one-mile Phoenix track.

"Joe has been a huge supporter of mine through all of this, and I can't say enough about him, all the folks at JGR and all the guys on my M&M's team, and we're here to say that we want to learn from this and we'll move on," Busch added.

Gibbs noted that Busch is facing penalties from JGR, including a fine. He would not comment on the details of the forthcoming penalties. Busch will not be relieved from his driving duties with the team after this season concludes.

"Kyle's penalties are going to be substantial," Gibbs said. "We also have other actions that are going to be in place. There will be other financial penalties and stuff that we're working through, and we'll continue to do that as we go forward through this process."

Busch is not competing in Saturday's Nationwide race at Phoenix. Joey Logano was originally scheduled to drive JGR's No.18 car for that event. Busch will not run in the Nationwide season-ending race at Homestead as well.

There had been speculation that Z-Line Designs, the primary sponsor of Busch's Nationwide team, asked JGR to replace Busch with Denny Hamlin in the Homestead race.

"I take the responsibility for a lot of that, because we were kind of wanting to go for the next two races to let Kyle focus on Cup, and so a lot of that came from the race team," Gibbs said.

Wwwc2i Autoracing Betting News

<< Federer gets 800th win; Djokovic, Murray exit Paris Masters
Paris, France (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - World No. 1 Novak Djokovic withdrew from his scheduled quarterfinal match because of a nagging right shoulder injury, while former top-ranked great Roger Federer captured his 800th match win and second-seeded

<< Kickoff changed for Bethune-Cookman, Savannah State
Daytona Beach, FL (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The kickoff time for Saturday's football game between Savannah State and Bethune-Cookman has been pushed back by one hour to 4 p.m. ET. The Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference game will be played at Daytona B

<< Paterno never needed hindsight
Philadelphia, PA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - "With the benefit of hindsight, I wish I had done more." - Joe Paterno Hindsight makes most things perfectly clear. Disgraced Penn State football coach Joe Paterno hardly needed it, however. By looking the

<< Flames send Hagman to minors
Calgary, AB (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Calgary Flames have assigned veteran left wing Niklas Hagman to their American Hockey League affiliate in Abbotsford. Hagman went unclaimed after being placed on waivers Thursday to make room on the 23

<< Rangers' Hamilton has sports hernia surgery
Arlington, TX (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Texas Rangers outfielder Josh Hamilton had successful surgery to repair a sports hernia. The procedure was performed Friday morning in Philadelphia by Dr. William Meyers. Hamilton was clearly bot

Federer gets 800th win; Murray falls at Paris Masters >>
Paris, France (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Former world No. 1 great Roger Federer captured his 800th match win, while second-seeded Andy Murray lost and reigning top-ranked star Novak Djokovic withdrew from his scheduled quarterfinal bout because of a

Giants RB Bradshaw to miss second straight game >>
East Rutherford, NJ (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The New York Giants will be without running back Ahmad Bradshaw for a second consecutive week on Sunday against the San Francisco 49ers. Bradshaw hasn't been able to practice since suffering a

Steelers LB Woodley ruled out >>
Pittsburgh, PA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Pittsburgh Steelers linebacker LaMarr Woodley will miss Sunday's game against the Cincinnati Bengals due to a hamstring injury. Woodley, who also missed last Sunday's contest against the R

Eagles' Allen, Mathis ruled out >>
Philadelphia, PA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Philadelphia Eagles safety Nate Allen and offensive guard Evan Mathis have been ruled out for Sunday's game against the Arizona Cardinals. Allen suffered a concussion in a loss to the Bears this past

J P's Gusto retired to Florida >>
Ocala, FL (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Multiple stakes winner J P's Gusto has been retired from racing and will enter stud service at Journeyman Stud beginning in 2012. Journeyman Stud is owned by Brent and Crystal Fernung. "J P's Gusto repre

Mayweather picked to beat De La Hoya
LAS VEGAS, NEVADA -- Golden Boy Oscar De La Hoya and his rival Floyd Mayweather Jr. arrived at the MGM Grand here Wednesday amid the pomp and pandemonium befitting two of the biggest stars in the sport who are about to duke it out for the WBC super welterweight crown this Saturday (Sunday in Manila).

As of Wednesday, MySportsbook.com closed its book with Mayweather a favorite to defeat De La Hoya at -170 (a $100 bet wins $70), while De La Hoya is a +140 underdog (a $100 bet wins $140).

Mayweather arrived at about 11:30 a.m. on a big truck with his face and a big "World's Best Pound-for-Pound" sign scribbled across the vehicle. He was accompanied by his entourage made up of rappers and his training team.

A crowd of close to 3,000 eager fans packed the MGM Grand lobby, with their cameras in tow, all trying to vie for position to get a good angle at Mayweather, who is acknowledged as the world's best fighter pound-for-pound.

Eric Gomez, Golden Boy Promotions vice-president, described the fan turnout as "amazing" and swore he had never seen anything quite like this event.

"The crowd was fantastic. Everybody was just too eager to see the two fighters," said ALA manager Michael Aldeguer, who was among those who waited at the lobby together with his ward Rey "Boom Boom" Bautista and AJ Banal.

De La Hoya made his own grand entrance at the hotel lobby at around 12:30 p.m. accompanied by GBP chief executive officer Richard Schaefer and trainer Freddie Roach.

The same group of fans who trooped to see Mayweather also lingered around to get a close look at De La Hoya, who has been secretly working out at a Las Vegas gym for days after arriving from his main training camp in Puerto Rico.

The golden boy then took part in a closed-door afternoon workout with Bautista and Banal. The two, along with Aldeguer and wife Christine, as well as an HBO crew were the only ones allowed inside the gym.

De La Hoya and Mayweather take part in today's final press conference before the official weigh-in this Friday.

Ring Magazine, the acknowledged bible of boxing, reported in its June 2007 issue that 12 out of 20 boxing experts it interviewed have favored Mayweather to defeat De la Hoya, with only 8 favoring the latter.

But Filipino ring icon Manny Pacquiao said in a recent interview with The Freeman's Emmanuel Villaruel that De La Hoya will win by unanimous decision over Mayweather.

To visit this online sportsbook got to MySportsbook.com for all your bet on boxing needs.