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05-03-2017, 02:54 AM | #1 |
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LONG POND, Pa. Tampa Bay Buccaneers Jerseys . -- Dale Earnhardt Jr. traded hats, waited for his cue, and flashed three fingers for the cameras. Thats one for every win. The beer baths, champagne toasts, selfies, and photo opps in Victory Lane are almost routine now for Junior. He added a new wrinkle at Pocono, a broom. Earnhardt hoisted the broom high over his head after he completed a season sweep at Pocono Raceway, the third win in a season that has served as a career renaissance for NASCARs most popular driver. Earnhardt now holds the No. 1 seed in the Chase for the Sprint Cup championship. Can he keep the momentum headed into NASCARs version of the playoffs? "Youre the broadcaster," Earnhardt teased crew chief Steve Letarte about that question. "You dont," the departing Letarte said. "Youre too far from the Chase." The legion of Junior Nation fans roared when Earnhardt stormed ahead of the pack off the final restart with three laps left for the lead. His third win, he also won the Daytona 500, tied him for the most in Sprint Cup this season. Earnhardt held off the hard-charging Kevin Harvick to become the first driver to sweep both races at the track since Denny Hamlin in 2006. He tweeted "Lookin for a broom" last week when he landed in Pocono. He found one in Victory Lane. "This group all really enjoys each other," Earnhardt said. "We want to see everybody happy." They had tons of fun inside the Pocono media centre. Letarte acted hurt when his nameplate didnt have the same three winners stickers that were on Earnhardts card. Earnhardt also brought a Make-A-Wish Foundation teen to the podium and made sure hed have his own namecard and stickers. "This is my buddy, Chris. Does he get one," Earnhardt said. They all got their stickers -- the same ones applied to the No. 88 Chevrolet. Earnhardt also became the fifth straight Hendrick Motorsports driver to win at Pocono. Owner Rick Hendrick was not at the race, though he did talk to his winning driver on the phone on pit road. "I told him thanks for believing in me and making my life better," Earnhardt said. Earnhardts sweep followed Kasey Kahne and Jimmie Johnson last year and Jeff Gordon in the August 2012 race. Earnhardt has his most wins since he won six times in 2004. His three wins are one shy of his combined total from 2005-2013. His win Sunday was the 22nd of a career still without a Cup championship. "We had a fast car all day," Earnhardt said. "Steves strategy was perfect at the end. I dont know if anyone knew what was going on there, but it was pretty awesome." Earnhardt said before the race his No. 88 Chevrolet was better than his winner in June. They were both fast enough to take the checkered flag. He had a bit of luck in his first win when debris slowed down race leader Brad Keselowski. On Sunday, no one could touch Earnhardt over the final 14 laps. "We were determined to go home from the last win and improve the car," he said. Earnhardt and Letarte are clicking in their final season together. Hendrick Motorsports named Greg Ives the crew chief for 2015 once Letarte heads to the broadcast booth. "I think hes going to make me look bad," Letarte said. "Mr. Hendrick has a remarkable talent of matching drivers with crew chiefs." Harvick, who clinched a spot in the Chase, was second, followed by Joey Logano, Clint Bowyer and Greg Biffle. Gordon finished sixth a week after he won the Brickyard 400. He led a race-high 63 laps and passed 24,000 career laps led in the No. 24 Chevrolet and 1,000 laps led at Pocono. He still holds a 17-point lead over Earnhardt in the standings. Earnhardt would have the No. 1 seed because he was one more win than Gordon. Earnhardt, who swept a track for the first time since Talladega in 2002, had few cars left to hold off on the lead lap after several potential contenders got knocked out. Hamlin triggered a 13-car wreck with 43 laps after he got sideways coming out of a turn. Brian Vickers tried to avoid Hamlin and slammed into Matt Kenseth to send cars all over the track. The pileup looked like a "Big One" straight out of Talladega or Daytona, with smoking, dented and destroyed cars littering the track. Tony Stewarts No. 14 Chevrolet rested atop Paul Menards No. 27 Chevy. "I cant drive it because my car is on top of the other car," Stewart said over the radio. Stewart, Vickers, Menard and Matt Kenseth all visited the NASCAR care centre. "Big wrecks are always frustrating when youre in it," Kenseth said. Aric Almirola said he slammed on the brakes as hard as he could, but still got "creamed from behind and pushed into the wreck." Hamlin was able to straighten himself out and stayed out. Kyle Busch topped the lengthy list of stars with an early exit when the No. 18 needed a push to the garage with a variety of issues. Six-time champion Jimmie Johnson finished outside the top 10 for the fourth straight race. He fell a lap down after his rear right tire smacked the wall, rebounded to run fifth, then a second blown tire forced him to the garage. "It wasnt the best weekend but we still gave ourselves a chance at a win, if not a top five, today and came up a little short," Johnson said. His teammate carried the Hendrick banner all the way to victory. "After last year, I thought the only thing were not doing is winning," Earnhardt said. Now, the good things come in threes. Jameis Winston Buccaneers Jersey . Kevin Martin and Kevin Love paced the Timberwolves like they do so often. Martin had 27 points with some key baskets down the stretch, Love had his usual double-double, and the Timberwolves snapped a three-game losing streak with a 112-106 victory Saturday night over the suddenly slipping Dallas Mavericks. Cameron Brate Authentic Jersey . Even if he is shooting 38 per cent from the field overall this season, the Utah Jazz rookie always feels like his final shot is going in. Authentic Ronde Barber Buccaneers Jersey, Big & Tall Ronde Barber Womens Jerseys Sale . A-Rod is also disqualified from any post-season play. So at the tender age of 38, he will miss all of next season. As a result of missing the coming season, hes also out $25 million (which coincidentally is my hourly rate).CHICAGO -- Corey Crawford is playing so well right now that nothing seems to bother him. When the Chicago Blackhawks had a goal waved off in the second period Sunday, Crawford picked up the slack for his disappointed teammates. Crawford made 25 saves, Jonathan Toews had a big goal in the third and the Blackhawks beat the Los Angeles Kings 3-1 in Game 1 of the Western Conference final. "Confidence has always been there," Crawford said. "Really the first thing is being prepared, having that preparation to try and have my game at the highest level it can be each time I get out there." He is on quite a roll right now, allowing only one goal in each of the past three games. The 29-year-old Crawford leads the NHL with a 1.90 goals-against average and a .933 save percentage in the playoffs. "He does a good job of never getting too high or too low because tomorrows another day," teammate Brandon Saad said. "He did a great job tonight." Saad had a goal and an assist for defending Stanley Cup champion Chicago, which remained perfect in seven home playoff games this year. Duncan Keith had a tiebreaking score in the third period. Game 2 of the best-of-seven series is Wednesday night. Playing just two days after a Game 7 victory over Anaheim, the Kings got a second-period score from Tyler Toffoli and outshot the Blackhawks 26-20 in the opener of a rematch from last years Western Conference final. But Crawford made a couple of solid stops in another terrific performance. "I think we can do a better of getting in front of the net and make it harder on their goalie because we had some pretty good shots, but nobody was hanging around, so he was able to see everything," Kings centre Anze Kopitar said. With the Blackhawks clinging to a 2-1 lead in the third, Toews, Marian Hossa and Johnny Oduya got loose on a 3-on-1 break. Toews one-timed Oduyas pass right by Jonathan Quick for his sixth playoff goal at 16:10. Quick made 17 saves after he played a key role in Los Angeles rally from a 3-2 deficit in the series against the Ducks. The Kings also battled back from a 3-0 hole against San Jose in the first round. "We had a chance," Los Angeles forward Mike Richards said. "We shot ourselves in the foot a bit on their goals, and give them credit, theyre an opportunistic team. But we made a couple of mistakes and it ended up in our net." TToews 26th career playoff goal came after he had one waved off in a confusing stretch in the second period. Mike Evans Buccaneers Jersey. It looked as if Chicago had a 2-0 lead when Toews rush to the net resulted in the puck going off the skate of Kings defenceman Slava Voynov and into the goal. But it was waved off after a conference by the officials, prompting a round of boos from the crowd of 21,832 and a waving, yelling display from Blackhawks coach Joel Quenneville. According to the NHL, the original call of good goal was changed because the officials decided Toews made incidental contact with Quick before the puck crossed the goal line. The league said the ruling was not reviewable, so the call on the ice remained in place. The sequence seemed to wake up the Kings while deflating the Blackhawks. Los Angeles got its first goal about a minute later, with Tanner Pearson making a terrific pass to the middle to Toffoli for his fourth of the playoffs at 4:35. "I thought we lost a little momentum there," Quenneville said. The Kings then had a couple of chances to take the lead, but Crawford stepped up each time. He denied Kyle Clifford on a 2-on-1 break with 13:42 remaining, and stopped Marian Gaborik and Dustin Brown in rapid succession midway through the period. Crawfords solid play bought Chicago some time to shake off the disallowed goal, and it paid off when Keiths slap shot went off the stick of Kings forward Trevor Lewis and bounced past Quick for a 2-1 lead at 11:54. Crawford made another big save on Jeff Carter in the first minute of the third, and Toffoli had a backhander go off the outside of right post on a breakaway opportunity in the final period. The Blackhawks turned a bad roughing penalty by Kings defenceman Alec Martinez into Saads power-play goal with 5:14 left in the first. The Kings had a prime scoring chance with 2:42 to go in the period, but Nick Leddy tied up Richards at the end of a 2-on-1 break. NOTES: Kings D Willie Mitchell was active for the first time since Game 6 of Los Angeles first-round series against San Jose, but D Robyn Regehr remained out with an injury. He has missed the Kings last seven games. ... Chicago killed off two power-play chances and is 44 for 48 on the kill in the playoffs. ... Blackhawks D Michal Rozsival was active after he was a healthy scratch for the last two games of their second-round series against Minnesota. Cheap NFL Jerseys Wholesale Jerseys Wholesale NFL Jerseys Jerseys From China Wholesale NFL Jerseys Cheap NFL Jerseys Cheap Jerseys Cheap Jerseys ' ' '
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