lingzi
Age: 34
Joined: 30 Dec 2012
Posts: 105
Location: 南极洲
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FORT WORTH, Texas -- Matt Kenseth has led more laps than anybody in Texas. Michael Turner Jersey . Current points leader Greg Biffle has seven consecutive top-10 finishes here. Carl Edwards is the only three-time NASCAR Sprint Cup winner at the 1 1/2-mile, high-banked track. This place certainly brings out the best in the Roush Fenway drivers. "I dont really know why, but it has been a pretty good track for us in the past," said Kenseth, who has two wins and 13 top-10 finishes in 19 starts. "Whenever you come back to a track youve had success at, then I think you probably always look forward to coming back to it maybe a little bit more." Owner Jack Roush was winning races at Texas Motor Speedway even before his current trio of drivers. He has been to Victory Lane and gathered quite a collection of winning cowboy hats by taking eight of 22 races. Jeff Burton won the inaugural Texas race in 1997 driving for Roush, and Mark Martin won the following year when there was still only one Cup race a year at the track. "You feel like you need to capitalize when you come to this track," Kenseth said. "You feel like yourself or one of your team cars needs to have a shot to win, and you should all be running up toward the front." That is where the Roush drivers hope and expect to be Saturday in the first scheduled night race of the season. Remember, the Daytona 500 was postponed to Monday night. Martin Truex Jr. is on the pole for the race after a qualifying lap of 190.369 mph Friday in his Michael Waltrip-owned Toyota. Its his seventh career pole and second at Texas, where he finished third five years ago. Qualifying right behind Truex were the Fords driven by Kenseth and Biffle. Edwards qualified 20th. Owners Joe Gibbs and Rick Hendrick both have three victories in Texas, the closest to Roush. Hendrick Motorsports is still looking for its first win this season. The next one will be the owners 200th in a career that began in 1984 when Geoffrey Bodine won at Martinsville. "Were thinking about it all the time, and Rick reminds us all the time to get it out of the way," Jimmie Johnson said. "Man, weve been all around it, and have had a lot of shots at it this year. ... We had one through three locked up there at the end of Martinsville, and felt like that was the day for it to happen." But the special bookend for Hendricks 200th victory didnt happen after Clint Bowyers aggressive move on a late restart took out front-runners Johnson and Jeff Gordon. Ryan Newman won and Hendrick driver Dale Earnhardt Jr. finished third in that last race before the Easter weekend break. Kasey Kahne, the first-year Hendrick driver, starts fifth in Texas. Johnson qualified 10th, Earnhardt 16th and Gordon 34th. All three Roush drivers Saturday night had top-five finishes in both Texas races last year. "It is a fun race track for me and for our team," said Biffle, who had a win in 2005, three years before his stretch of top-10 finishes started. "It is nice to come to a track where if during practice you are slow or have trouble qualifying or are slow during the race, you know you can fix it and you can go out and win. We have that confidence. It is nice to sit in a race car and know that we can do this." Kenseth ended a two-year drought with a dominating victory last spring. He led 169 of 334 laps, upping his career laps led to 756 and his average finish to 8.73, both track bests. The Roush team is smaller this season, down from four teams to three. "We havent seen a huge impact," Biffle said. "Obviously wed like to be a four-car team but we understand economics, and right now were a three-car team and were working with that. It doesnt seem like its affecting us as a group." Roush also scaled back its Nationwide operation, running full-time only the No. 6 car of defending series champion Ricky Stenhouse Jr. Stenhouse won the Nationwide race on Friday night for Roushs ninth Texas victory in the second-tier series. But the No. 60 Roush Fenway car driven by Trevor Bayne that was fourth in the standings was parked because of a lack of sponsorship. Bayne is set for his third Cup start Saturday night, starting 19th for the Woods Brothers team he drove for last year when he won the Daytona 500. Biffle, the relaxed points leader coming off a Bahamas vacation last week, started this season finishing third in each of the first three races. He hasnt finished lower than 13th. But this will be Biffles 50th race since last winning in October 2010 at Kansas, where the series goes next week. The drought isnt bothersome for him yet, and not too surprising. "Considering how we ran last year, no. Considering we are only six (races) in this year, I am not too nervous about it yet," he said. "We get halfway through the season and we havent won, then I will be. Todd McClure Jersey . LOUIS -- The St. Atlanta Falcons Jersey . -- Right-handed reliever Pat Neshek and the Oakland Athletics reached agreement Wednesday on a $975,000, one-year contract, avoiding salary arbitration. http://www.theatlantafalconsgear.com/tyson-clabo-jerseys . -- Eddie Alvarez finished Patricky (Pitbull) Freire with a head-kick knockout on Friday in the main event of Bellator 76, the cap on a night of spectacular finishes. Elite Matt Ryan Jersey . -- The San Francisco 49ers have signed cornerback Darcel McBath to a one-year contract. Black Matt Ryan Jersey . Aaron Rodgers threw two touchdown passes, including a 22-yarder to Randall Cobb with 1:55 left, and the Packers pulled out a 24-20 win over Detroit Lions on Sunday for their fifth straight victory. Carolina released 15-year NFL veteran kicker Olindo Mare on Monday just one year after giving him a four-year, $12 million contract. They also parted ways with punter Nick Harris, an 11-year NFL veteran who was signed as a free agent earlier this off-season. Justin Medlock, a journeyman kicker who last played for the CFLs Hamilton Tiger-Cats, appears to have won the kicking job. The Panthers went with rookie sixth-round draft pick Brad Nortman as their new punter. "Both of those decisions at kicker were very difficult," Panthers general manager Marty Hurney said. "In both situations we felt like we had two young kickers with strong legs who had very good training camps. So did Olindo and Nick, but we made a decision to go with the younger guys based on their performances." The Panthers also placed cornerback Brandon Hogan on injured reserve for the second straight year after he underwent arthroscopic knee surgery last Friday. Wide receiver David Gettis, who has missed all of training camp with a hamstring injury, was placed on the physically unable to perform list with a hamstring injury. Gettis was hoping to battle for the No. 3 receiver spot after missing all of last season with a torn ACL. Gettis can be activated to the 53-man roster after the sixth week of the season. The team also waived wide receivers Darvin Adams, Rico Wallace, Brenton Bersin and Michael Avila, running backs Josh Vaughan and Lyndon Rowells, tight end Greg Smith, guards Will Blackwell and Roger Allen, and defensive end Eric Norwood, a former fourth-round draft pick from South Carolina. Mare had the unenviable task of replacing veteran kicker John Kasay, who was cut last season after spending all 16 years with the team. Mare connected on 22 of 28 on field goals attempts last year but had two key misses in losses to Atlanta and Minnesota. With a chance to send tthe game into overtime he pushed a 31-yard field goal wide left in the closing seconds resulting in a 24-21 loss to the Vikings. Julio Jones Jerseys. A few weeks later he missed a 36-yarder against the Falcons in another late-game situation. The Panthers still must pay Mare $3 million, the remaining portion of his signing bonus. But Medlock, who also played in the CFL with Edmonton and Toronto, is a much cheaper alternative in terms of base salary. Hes set to make the league minimum of $390,000. Mares base salary would have been $2.1 million this year. Mares departure doesnt come as a surprise. The kicking battle had been one of the most competitive in training camp and Medlock appeared to have edged ahead because of his ability to make longer field goals. Mare struggled on kicks around 50 yards out, while Medlock had plenty of leg to get it there. The big question for the Panthers was if Medlock could handle the pressure of kicking in a game. He was perfect during the preseason. Medlock was drafted in the fifth round in 2007 by the Kansas City Chiefs and was 1 of 2 on his field goal attempts before being waived. He hasnt attempted a field goal in the league since. However, hes performed well in the CFL. He earned a tryout with the Panthers after connecting on 49 of 55 field goals last season for the Tiger-Cats, including a 57-yarder. "That was one of the big things that attracted us to Justin is he had a strong leg," Hurney said. "He was a highly touted kicker coming out of UCLA. But sometimes it takes kickers awhile to gain some experience. He went to Canada and really did a nice job there and we decided to bring him in." Hurney said running back Jonathan Stewart will be listed as "day-to-day" after injuring his ankle during Sunday nights preseason game against the New York Jets. X-rays on the ankle were negative but its unlikely Stewart will play in Thursdays preseason finale at Pittsburgh. ' ' '
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