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TALLADEGA, Ala. Bobby Cox Braves Jersey . -- Denny Hamlin started his full-time career at Joe Gibbs Racing with an upset victory in an exhibition race at Daytona. Over the years, he added three more wins in races that didnt count, including a sweep this season in the buildup to the Daytona 500. But when it came to the restrictor-plate races that paid points, Hamlin came up empty time and again. Until now. Hamlin, who opened the season with two exhibition victories only to finish second in the Daytona 500, was again sitting second in the closing laps Sunday at Talladega Superspeedway. But he won a drag race with leader Kevin Harvick on a restart with two laps remaining, and was out front when NASCAR froze the field because of debris from an accident. Hamlin let out a deep sigh when the yellow flag waved. "Superspeedway win," he said on his radio. "With points! With points!" "I think Ive gotten better. Ive come close. When you drive as aggressive as I drove early in my career on superspeedways, youre going to have a huge risk, huge reward," he said after the win. "I was either wrecking or finishing in the top three every single superspeedway race and was wrecking most of the time. I think this way of driving and the way Im doing things now kind of lends itself to being a little bit more consistent on these type of race tracks, and really you learn from the guys that are good at it." Hamlin became the eighth winner in 10 races this season as drivers jockey to grab the 16 spots available in the Chase for the Sprint Cup championship. A victory conceivably gives a driver an automatic berth, and Joe Gibbs Racing now has both Hamlin and Kyle Busch eligible for the Chase. "I wasnt ever worried, but you get a little bit more panicked when its, Win a race and youre in Chase, " he said. "You see all these guys logging wins, wins, wins, and the next thing you know theyre running out of Chase spots. Now we can be a little bit more relaxed." The win came at the track where Hamlin made a brief return last year -- he ran just 23 laps before turning his car over to Brian Vickers -- after missing four races with a broken back. Hamlins return to the car briefly built some momentum for the No. 11 team, but as his back continued to ache, the season fell apart in late summer and it took until the season finale for Hamlin to score his first win of the year. He also missed the Chase for the first time in his career. It didnt appear that Hamlin had enough to beat Harvick, already a two-time winner this season, until the final restart. Harvick didnt get the help he needed from behind, was hung out without any drafting partners, and Hamlin pulled out to a comfortable lead. "We were in a good spot there at the end, and what you would want to put yourself in a position to win," Harvick said. "Our line just never formed up." As Hamlin pulled away, an accident deep in the pack scattered debris, and NASCAR was forced to throw the caution when a bumper was seen laying on the surface. The yellow prevented Greg Biffle, who led five times for a race-high 58 laps, from pulling out of line in an attempt to grab the victory away from Hamlin. "I just didnt want to pass too early. I was going to be the lone soldier on the outside lane," Biffle said. "So I was just waiting. I was setting up to go by him but just never had the chance." Clint Bowyer finished third and was followed by Michael Waltrip Racing teammate Brian Vickers as Toyota took the victory and three of the top four spots. AJ Allmendinger finished fifth in a Chevrolet, followed by Paul Menard and then Harvick, who faded to seventh. Kasey Kahne, Kyle Larson and Ricky Stenhouse Jr. rounded out the top 10. Daytona 500 winner Dale Earnhardt Jr. finished a disappointing 26th despite leading three times for 26 laps, second most in the race. Danica Patrick led two times for six laps, and the crowd roared its approval when she drove to the front early in the race. She finished 22nd. "It was nice to lead laps," she said. "It was a fast, fast car so well be happy to take this one to Daytona." It was a rough day for Brad Keselowski, a two-time Talladega winner, who darted to the lead on Lap 14 but appeared to not have cleared Patrick before squeezing in front of her car. She tapped the back of Keselowskis car, sending him for a spin through the grass that caused enough damage to drop him six laps off the pace. "We werent clear enough to make that," crew chief Paul Wolfe told his driver. "Ill just call it at that: We werent clear enough to make that move." Keselowski raced in the heart of the pack after the first incident in an attempt to get his laps back under caution periods. But he was heavily criticized for triggering a 14-car accident with 51 laps remaining. The accident began when Keselowski spun in front of Trevor Bayne, and among those collected were Jeff Gordon, Matt Kenseth, Tony Stewart and Jimmie Johnson. "Brad made a pretty bold move early, a mind-boggling move, in going in front of Danica and spun out in front of the field and got away with it," Kenseth said. "This time we werent so lucky. He was driving really, really, really aggressively to try to get back up there. "If it was the other way around and it was anybody else except for him, wed all be getting lectured." Gordon also chastised Keselowski. "I had seen him for several laps driving over his head being pretty aggressive," Gordon said. "I knew he was laps down, but he wasnt doing anybody any favours, nor himself." Keselowski took the blame for the late accident. "I just spun out in front of the whole field," he said. "I dont know why, if I just busted my butt on my own or lost a tire, but I feel bad for everyone that got torn up." Custom Braves Jersey . They did take one chance on a free agent-to-be however, and it didnt pay off. Rory Kohlert, selected by the Redblacks in the expansion draft from Winnipeg, has signed as a free agent with the Blue Bombers. Jason Heyward Jersey . -- One game. After a season featuring more losses than wins, thats all that separates the New York Knicks and the final post-season spot in the weak Eastern Conference standings.OTTAWA -- Milan Michalek hasnt scored much for the Ottawa Senators this season, but his first game-winning goal of the year couldnt have come at a better time. Michalek scored his second goal of the game and 10th of the season with 23 second left as Ottawa defeated the Buffalo Sabres 3-2 on Thursday. "We believe theres still lots of goals left in Milan, but its taken a long time to get them out this year," Senators coach Paul MacLean said. "With his work ethic and his play without the puck and his abilities on the penalty kill, theres never been a question about his contributions to the team. "We knew if he would just stay with it good things would happen for him." The Sabres had fought back to tie the game with two third-period goals, but Senators captain Jason Spezza found Michalek, who beat Jhonas Enroth over the shoulder for the winner. "Its all about winning and were not doing that right now," said Sabres defenceman Henrik Tallinder, who said the puck hit the referee and went right to Spezza on the winning goal. "Nothing you can do about it. We didnt go the right way that maybe we should have, but it hit the ref and bounces are going to happen but they just werent in our favour." Erik Karlsson also scored for the Senators (26-21-11) while Craig Anderson made 30 saves. Tyler Ennis and Drew Stafford scored for the Sabres (15-34-8), who lost for the fourth straight time. Enroth made 33 saves. Following two periods that saw the Senators build a 1-0 lead, things opened up in the third period with four goals off several good scoring opportunities. It started with Michalek doubling the Senators lead to 2-0 just 10 seconds into the period on a perfect pass from Spezza which allowed Michalek to redirect the puck in. The goal was the fastest in team history from the start of a period breaking the old record of 12 seconds set by Spezza back in 2009. "At least Im still involved in (the record) I guess. I would have shot it if I knew that," Spezza joked after the game, quickly getting serious when the Sabres comeback was brought up. "A two goal lead is a tricky lead. We give up the one goal to make it 2-1 and then really anything can happen with a bounce here or a bounce there. Hopefully we learn from it." Ottawa got into penalty trouble but was fortunate when Ennis hit the post on one power-play opportunity. The Sabres also had a five-on three advantage for 17 secoonds but were unable to get a shot on goal during that brief stretch. Tom Glavine Authentic Jersey. Ennis broke Andersons shutout bid at 10:25 of the third when the puck came to him in front off a failed wrap-around attempt by Stafford. The puck rolled off Staffords stick right to Ennis who had an empty net to shoot at. Stafford then tied the game at 15:46 when he grabbed a rebound and went around Anderson who was down and out on the play. "There were no excuses not to battle as hard as we could going into that third period and we did a really good job," Ennis said. "Its super disappointing to lose that one." Only seven goals, including one in a shootout, have been scored in the previous three matchups between the Sabres and Senators. Karlsson put the Senators on the board first with his shot from along the boards eluded Enroth just 3:12 into the second period. Neither team had many quality scoring chances despite seven power plays between them through the first two periods. But one scoring chance the Sabres did have though came late in the second when Stafford drove the Senators net from just above the goal line but he was unable to tip the puck through Anderson. The Senators stymied the Sabres on all seven of their power-play opportunities. "Weve been winning faceoffs and doing a much better job up the ice and on the initial entry into our zone weve contested it and been hard to play against," MacLean said. The Senators were 0-3 with the man advantage. NOTES: Forwards Linus Omark and Marcus Foligno along with defenceman Tyler Myers were scratches for the Sabres Thursday. Scratches for the Senators were defencemen Chris Phillips and Joe Corvo plus forward Matt Kassian. ... Senators forward Bobby Ryan has gone four consecutive games without a point, his longest such streak this season. ... The Senators are 10-0-3 in games this season when captain Jason Spezza has at least two points. ... Matt DAgostini played his 300th NHL game Thursday night and his 25th with the Sabres. ... While the Senators have a game in Boston Saturday, the game Thursday was the last for the Sabres until after the Olympic break. The team will be off until Feb. 25 except for Ryan Miller (USA), Jonas Enroth (Sweden), Henrik Tallinder (Sweden) and Zemgus Girgensons (Latvia) who will all represent their countries at the Sochi Olympics. ... Sabres coach Ted Nolan will also be the head coach of Team Latvia. wholesale jerseys cheap jerseys ' ' ' |
