Subscribe to our RSS feed

NASCAR's Chase George Strait for the Nextel Cup playoff

Written by: admin

NASCAR's Chase surveys george strait number ones for the pure country strait uncovers Nextel Cup playoff heads this weekend to Talladega Superspeedway, an always turbulent race that requires a hefty dose of driver patience to survive and win. But after the wacky race at Kansas last Sunday, where several of the 12 Chase drivers tumbled in points, patience could be in short supply as the contenders press to get back in the hunt. That could lead to one of the multi-car crashes that are synonymous with Talladega, wrecks that often collect innocent drivers who happen to be in the wrong place at the wrong time. Moreover, NASCAR will use its new Car of Tomorrow at the Alabama track for the first time at Sunday's UAW-Ford 500 -- adding another unknown factor to the race. The result: The Chase standings "could be turned upside down again," said Kevin Harvick, the Bakersfield native who is fifth in the playoff, 126 points behind leader Jimmie Johnson. "Talladega is a place that's just so unpredictable," Harvick said Tuesday. Before the race at the Kansas Speedway, the third of the 10 Chase races, most of the 12 Chase drivers were bunched closely together in points. But their rankings were spread out after a race delayed twice by rain, shortened by darkness and marred by wrecks that involved several Chase contenders, including two-time Cup champion Tony Stewart. Johnson, the reigning series champ, now leads his Hendrick Motorsports teammate Jeff Gordon by only six points. The pressure is really on the drivers in the ninth through 12th spots -- Kurt Busch, Jeff Burton, Matt Kenseth and Denny Hamlin -- to do well Sunday if they hope to win the Cup. Talladega is the series' longest track at 2. 66 miles, and the high-banked course also is one of the fastest and most treacherous. It's one of two tracks -- Daytona International Speedway is the other -- where NASCAR requires the cars to use carburetor restrictor plates that keep a lid on speeds, for safety. The plates also typically keep the cars bunched in packs of 20 or more, like a freight train, with each driver "drafting" the others to jockey for position. But the packs worry everyone, because a slip by just one driver could start a crash that ends the day for several others. Dario Franchitti, this year's Indianapolis 500 winner and IndyCar Series champion, is expected to begin his shift to NASCAR at Talladega by driving a race Friday in the ARCA series, which is a level below NASCAR's Busch and top-tier Cup series. It would be the first step in Franchitti's plan to take over the No. 40 Dodge in the NASCAR Cup series next year for the team of Chip Ganassi Racing with Felix Sabates.

The announcement is expected to be made today at Ganassi's Cup headquarters in Concord, N. C. Franchitti is expected to drive in ARCA, Busch and Cup races in the final weeks of this season to prepare for the full-time Cup ride next year george strait number one . That's similar to the path taken a year ago by Juan Pablo Montoya, another former Indy 500 winner who now drives on the Cup circuit for Ganassi. Franchitti, a 34-year-old Scot married to actress Ashley Judd, is leading a wave of open-wheel racers who are following Montoya and migrating to NASCAR's top series george i cross my heart . Sam Hornish Jr. , a three-time IndyCar Series champ who won the Indy 500 last year, hopes to make his Cup debut Sunday by qualifying for the Talladega race i cross my heart" strait . So does former Indy 500 winner Jacques Villeneuve. james. peltz i hate everything strait . Before I get to Tom Lasorda, the dream world he lives in, his belly, the beard he's going to need to grow and the Angel-red garb he will be wearing, I have to admit, I almost gave up on the Choking Dogs. You go on vacation, your family -- who stopped listening to you long ago -- now no longer talks to you, even though it's probably time again for them to start asking for money. You did what you could to inspire them to get through Nebraska and Iowa, even allowing them to spend as much time as they liked in a Super Wal-Mart and stay in a Holiday Inn one night, only to have them mutiny and quit before the return trip through Kansas. Now it's back to work, returning to the Dodgers clubhouse to find another sorry group of mopes down on their luck, many of them probably better suited to being grocery store baggers, and you wonder, what are the chances it will be any different?Are they going to quit too?My job, of course, is to get the very best out of our local athletes, at times making a better hitter out of Shawn Green, a good three-point shooter out of The Tanker, a postseason team out of the Angels, an approachable person out of Garret Anderson, a sweetie out of Jeff Kent, a playoff team out of the Clippers and an ex-Laker out of Devean George. But where do you begin with the Dodgers? Well, I set out to aggravate J. D. Drew, taking on the toughest challenge of all -- trying to get a rise out of an athlete with no pulse. Then I broke a rule -- ordinarily I ignore the young players on the Dodgers roster because I have two daughters and I know how little they have to offer when I try to talk to them -- and spoke to Andre Ethier. I even began criticizing Grady Little, maybe the nicest guy to ever pull on a uniform, suggesting the manager with the talented players in Boston who averaged 94 wins a year might be clueless when it comes to working with a roster that's sitting in last place in the National League West. So what happens? Ethier responded immediately by hitting two home runs, and then another a couple days later. Drew needed a little more coaxing, walking past me without so much as a word while I teased him a second consecutive day for being lifeless.

Then the dead man hit a grand slam -- his first home run since June 1. Little, meanwhile, began talking before Saturday's game about the number of wins the team will need to make the playoffs, at a time when you'd expect to hear him do his Jim Mora "Playoffs?" imitation. "I think it will take 86 to 88 wins," Little said george strait award . "We can do that. "Based on what?"I have this belief," he said. I'd be more optimistic if he had better players, but the Dodgers have a two-game winning streak, which feels right now like a franchise record. And that brings me to Lasorda, who claimed to have stopped eating Wednesday, promising not to eat until the Dodgers won again strait 50 . They did that Friday, the Dodgers' cook telling me, though, that Lasorda's mouth was full as soon as the Dodgers took the lead, long before the game was over. He's always been optimistic like that, of course, making him an easy mark for someone working Page 2 and trying to find someone who won't quit no matter what. "We're going to win the division," Lasorda said. "If you're so confident," I said, "then promise if the Dodgers don't win, you'll dress as Santa Claus, buy $1,000 worth of toys and distribute them to the kids at the Mattel Children's Hospital at UCLA Christmas party. ""Put me down for $1,000, too," said Brad Penny, and I'm sure the kids will get a kick out of someone who at times acts their age being so generous. "I'll play Santa," said Lasorda, and that's the old Winnebago spirit I wish some people had george tour . "But if we win, then I get to write your column in The Times and tell everyone about you. "After we agreed certain words can't be printed in the paper, we had a deal, even though I'll have to take another day off so Lasorda can take my place on Page 2, which might mean spending time with the family george concert . Won't that be fun. *THE DODGERS' future, and we're probably going to see a lot more of that than a serious attempt to win the division, was on display in the ninth. Jonathan Broxton, most likely next year's closer, recorded his first major league save. Catcher Russell Martin said hitters have to "sit on one pitch" when facing Broxton, because if they try to hit the whole assortment, they're goners. Eric Gagne offered the same dilemma, and to show you how smart Martin already is as a rookie with 65 starts under his face mask, he said he's not about to start comparing the two -- now that Broxton is only 160 saves behind Gagne. "No way I'm going there," Martin said. *JOHN AND Ashley Force are featured on the reality TV show "Driving Force," and while that might not be must-see TV, they'll be guests on the father/daughter gabfest today on 570 at 9 a. m. , because they're drag racers living in Yorba Linda, and if you had neighbors capable of going 330 mph down the road, you'd want to keep tabs on their whereabouts too. *TODAY'S LAST word comes in e-mail from Rita Esquivel: "Hopefully the owners of the Dodgers will give [a blind] Loren DePhillips season tickets. " I don't think Dodgers management sees things as you do. .

SANTA BARBARA -- Cuttino Mobley, in the pool with his son, quickly hopped out george strait show . Sam Cassell pulled the car he was driving to the side of the road george concerts . Corey Maggette, fresh off a long airplane ride, stood frozen in the terminal George Strait - georgestrait . In August, as word that Elton Brand -- the Clippers' unequivocal leader -- had torn his Achilles' tendon, a mixture of bewilderment and shock filtered among his teammates scattered across the country. For a franchise seemingly on the verge of overcoming its futility in 2005-06 with an inspired playoff run, but followed it by missing the playoffs last season while losing point guard Shaun Livingston to a devastating knee injury, the news about Brand seemed surreal. That Brand suffered the injury while undergoing his trademark strenuous off-season workouts made it insufferable. As the Clippers training camp opened Tuesday at Santa Barbara City College, several players said the team isn't looking to just tread water until Brand and Livingston return, but to come out of the gate winning ballgames George Strait - georgestrait . "You can't wait for it to come," Mobley said "You have to be aggressive I'm all for it lyrics strait . I'm super ready and you've got to hold it on your shoulders. "Tim Thomas, who probably will slide into Brand's starting role, said when he first heard about Brand's injury he immediately called trainer Jasen Powell but got his voicemail. "I kind of knew at that point that something could have been up," Thomas said george song . "If anybody was to seriously get hurt at the practice site, he would be on the job. Knowing I couldn't reach him, I thought there was a possibility it could be serious. "Brand, who is now in a walking boot and cleared to ride a stationary bike, is confident his team and the veterans it acquired will keep the team afloat. "We'll take care of it," Brand said "We'll do what we have to do I think they did a great job with what they could do.

They got some active players and some veteran talent. "General Manager Elgin Baylor, who tore his Achilles' and fully recovered late in his own Hall of Fame career, agreed "Elton is going to be back see you on the other side george strait . He's not going to be out all season. "Point guard Dan Dickau, waived Tuesday by the New York Knicks after a buyout of his contract, is expected to undergo a physical examination for the Clippers today george tickets . Pending the results, he could be in camp by tonight's second team practice, a source said. Mobley, who strained his left calf in a workout last week, is expected to miss this week's training camp He did pool therapy and rode a stationary bike instead run strait . George Strait tickets Chris Kaman tweaked his lower back and sat out the remainder of Tuesday's practice strait country George Strait . The Clippers signed free-agent forward Yaroslav Korolev, a longshot to make the team, and the third-year player reported to camp Tuesday. They also signed point guard Donell Williams, who played at Los Angeles Fairfax High Individual game tickets go on sale Saturday at 10 a. m.

They can be purchased through Clippers , ticketmaster and at the Staples Center box office, ranging from $15 to $175. jonathan. abrams george strait go on . COOPERSTOWN, N. Y george striat . — Thirty-three years after his career appeared to be over almost before it had begun, Bruce Sutter will receive the ultimate tribute -- induction into the Baseball Hall of Fame. When he's enshrined today, Sutter will become the first honoree whose name never appeared on a starting lineup card goerge strait . And the former ace reliever can thank an injury to his pitching arm for his good fortune . He was signed as a free agent by the Chicago Cubs and was desperate to make it to the majors jennifer strait. Before the start of the 1973 season, he scheduled -- and paid for with his bonus money -- surgery on his right arm for a pinched nerve incurred while trying to learn how to throw a slider. "I didn't think they would pay for the operation," he said. "I thought if I told them I was hurt, I was gone. "He was unable to keep the operation a secret for long.