Forum » Sock team in just 53 minutes,

MIAMI - Theres no Jeff, Jimmie or Junior. Bad Brad missed the cut and Smoke never contended.NASCARs biggest stars are all absent from this final field of four racing for the Sprint Cup championship at Homestead-Miami Speedway on Sunday.The new elimination format introduced by NASCAR this season was designed to emphasize wins over points and create a survival-of-the-fastest finale. Jeff Gordon and Brad Keselowski were eliminated last week. Six-time and defending champion Jimmie Johnson and Dale Earnhardt Jr., NASCARs most popular driver, were knocked out in the second round. Three-time series champion Tony Stewart didnt even make the 16-driver field.It was a startling development for NASCAR, particularly since Earnhardt, Gordon, Johnson and Keselowski combined to win 18 of 35 races this season. They will be racing only for pride and a trophy on Sunday while Kevin Harvick, Denny Hamlin, Joey Logano and Ryan Newman will be chasing the Sprint Cup championship.The quartet lacks star power. But it is a formidable field and all four drivers have their share of tangled histories and compelling journeys that have them within reach of what will be the first NASCAR title for one of them.Harvick spent 13 seasons driving for Richard Childress, who hastily called him up to the big leagues to drive Dale Earnhardts car just five days after the Hall of Famer was killed in the 2001 Daytona 500. He had raw talent to go with his hair-trigger temper.But Richard Childress Racing could never get him close enough — he finished a career-best third in the standings three times — and he began talking to good friend Stewart about his future in 2012. Stewart told Harvick if he left RCR to drive for Stewart-Haas Racing, he could get Harvick a title.Harvick joined SHR at the end of 2013 and this first season has been nothing short of magical. Harvick has four wins — including last weeks version of a walk-off home run to race his way into the finale — and his 2,083 laps led are tops in the series this season.These moments are what you live for when youre racing or a professional athlete, he said of his first true chance to win a championship. You want these moments.To make room for Harvick, Stewart had to jettison Newman, the driver he brought with him in 2009 when he became part-owner of Stewart-Haas.Newman got his pink slip last July and promptly won the Brickyard 400 the next race out. That victory raised his stock and Childress brought him on board. He drives Jeff Burtons old car, but in many senses it was a bit of a seat swap with Harvick.Newman, who won a Daytona 500 driving for Roger Penske and at Indianapolis Motor Speedway driving for Stewart, was the final seed in the 16-driver field after a steady if unspectacular run in the playoffs. Last week, he moved Kyle Larson out of his way to snag the last spot in the finale and bumped Gordon.Despite just 41 laps led all year and no wins, he has a chance to end the 20-year championship drought for Childress.Were in this hunt, Newman said. Just to have this opportunity, this is a chance for a dream to come true.Of the foursome, only Hamlin has been in this position before.He was the points leader headed into the finale under a different format in 2010. But his nerves were shaky before he even got in the car and he lost the championship to Johnson. Hamlin hasnt been the same driver since.Last season, Hamlin feuded for more than a month with Logano, his former Joe Gibbs Racing teammate. Things boiled over at California when they raced each other hard and contact sent Hamlin hard into the wall. He broke his back, missed five races and failed to make the Chase for the first time in his career.Logano, meanwhile, was on a career resurgence at Team Penske after failing to meet expectations in four seasons with Gibbs. The former 18-year-old phenom dubbed Sliced Bread was pushed into Stewarts ride before he was ready when Stewart left for SHR.Cast aside so Gibbs could add Matt Kenseth last year, the fit with Penske has been spectacular as Logano made the Chase for the first time last year, then held his own with five wins against the big dogs this season.Now 24 and the youngest of the title contenders, Logano is racing for a championship against his old team and two drivers he has clashed with in Hamlin and Harvick, who relentlessly picked on him when he first came into the series.Logano has never before been in such a high-stakes situation, but hes done it by listening to the advice of crew chief Todd Gordon.Todd said to me, Dont reinvent the wheel at this point. You just polish the wheel a little bit and just become a little better in every area, Logano said. Thats what weve been able to do. Its been a fun ride so far. China Jerseys Wholesale . - The Carolina Panthers believe Steve Smith lost "top-end" speed, a big reason the franchise parted ways with its all-time leading receiver. Cheap Jerseys From China . Tyrell appeared in seven games with the Lightning this year, he had no points in those appearances. The 24-year-old has seven goals and 17 assists in 132 career NHL games, all coming with the Lightning. He was selected in the second round, 47th overall, of the 2007 draft. https://www.chinajerseyscheap.us/. Thats 14 consecutive losses to the two-time defending champs, and most of them were over before they even began. Result notwithstanding, Sundays game had a very different feel to it. China Jerseys Cheap .ca presents a week long look at some of the teams and stories that will shape the up coming campaign. China Jerseys Stitched .com Tour title, closing with a 6-under 64 for a four-stroke victory. The 22-year-old former North Texas player finished at 12-under 268 at Panama Golf Club and earned $112,500 to jump from seventh to second on the money list with $171,500. MASON, Ohio -- The doubles win streak of Canadian Vasek Pospisil and Jack Sock came to an end on Sunday as the pair lost 6-3, 6-2 to Bob and Mike Bryan in the Western & Southern Open final. Now, the hottest team on the ATP are pointing their sights on qualifying for the eight-team season finals in London next November. Pospisil has now established the year-end World Tour Finals as the benchmark for a breakthrough season, with Pospisil and Sock provisionally standing ninth. "It was a great week for us. We have to continue with the solid results if we want to make the finals," Pospisil said. "This was a great step towards that. Hopefully we can keep working and make it." Pospisil, from Vancouver, and Sock had won 14 consecutive matches since getting together on the eve of Wimbledon and starting their collaboration with the Grand Slam title at the All England Club, where they beat the Bryans in the final. They followed up last month by winning in Atlanta in their second-ever outing. The partners set a record in modern tennis, surpassing the previous best start by a neew doubles team of 12-0 set in 1984-85 by Paul Annacone and Cristo Van Rensburg.dddddddddddd "We had a great run but you just cant feel incredible in every match," said Pospisil. "Weve played a lot of good matches this summer. "Today we struggled with timing. But the Bryans were playing great and they jumped on us. Our first serves let us down a bit, but thats normal considering how well weve ben doing for." The Bryans, ranked No. 1 in the world, dumped Pospisil and Sock team in just 53 minutes, breaking three times and saving the only break point they faced. Pospisil and Sock are now headed for the US Open where they will try to duplicate their rookie Grand Slam success. "It was obviously fun to play those guys again," said Mike Bryan. "Wimbledon was such a great match going down to the wire 7-5 in the fifth. "We werent look at it as a revenge thing. Just another shot to win a title here in Cincinnati against a great team, against a really hot team. Thats the first match theyve lost, so its a very impressive run by them." ' ' '