DAYTONA BEACH, Fla.
Tony Dorsett Youth Jersey . -- Its been 21 years since Joe Gibbs Racing celebrated its only Daytona 500 victory. Denny Hamlin and Matt Kenseth have the team in good position to end the drought. The JGR drivers swept the Daytona 500 qualifying races Thursday night. For Kenseth, it was redemption after a pair of wrecks during Speedweeks. Hamlins victory kept him undefeated on 2014. Hamlin also won last Saturdays exhibition Sprint Unlimited, and he goes into Sundays season-opening Daytona 500 trying to become the first driver in history to sweep Speedweeks. "Once that snowball starts to roll, its hard to stop it, and right now were just on a heck of a run," said Hamlin, who closed last year with a win in the season finale. After going so many years without winning a second Daytona 500, team owner Joe Gibbs wasnt looking ahead. His only win was with Dale Jarrett in 1993. "Weve come with great cars over the years. It shows you what a tough race this is, the 500," he said. "This race is extremely, extremely hard to win. That probably says it the best. That says it the best, over 21 years, thats a bunch." JGR had strong cars last season and seemed to be the team to beat during the race, but came up empty when Kenseths engine failed while leading. Minutes later, teammate Kyle Buschs engine also failed. Toyota is still looking for its first win in the "Great American Race." "The last Daytona was so far away, weve moved well beyond that," said Toyota Racing Development President David Wilson. "Were certainly not sweating the issues we had last year." The qualifying races make for an emotional day as drivers race their way into the Daytona 500, while others are sent home from the biggest event of the NASCAR season. Those left broken-hearted this year were Michael McDowell, Joe Nemechek, Ryan Truex, Eric McClure and Morgan Shepherd, who at 72 was trying to become the oldest driver in the field. Dave Blaney withdrew from the qualifying race after wrecking his only car in Wednesdays practice. But it was euphoria for the small teams of Swan Racing, which got both Cole Whitt and Parker Kligerman in the race a day after both drivers wrecked in practice, and Hillman Racing, which will be in the Daytona 500 with Landon Cassill, who was hit by a car Saturday while riding his bike in Daytona. "Ive been stressed out about this since July," Cassill said. "I think Ive played this race over in my head, what I think it could do, for months now. For a small team, this race kind of makes our whole season, just the prize money alone to start on Sunday gets us through the next six or seven weeks. Its just huge for us." For Swan Racing, getting rookies Whitt and Kligerman into the field erased the nightmare of Wednesday. Whitt wrecked moments into practice, and the team was forced to rebuild his car after Kligermans was totalled when he went airborne. It was the first time Kligerman was ever upside down. Because Swan has only one backup, Kligerman got it, and the team went to work rebuilding Whitts car. Whitt raced his way in, but Kligerman faded in the first race and had to nervously watch the second race unfold to see if he earned a spot in the Daytona 500. "I feel like in a lot of ways, you have the weight of an organization on your shoulders to get these two cars in the race," Kligerman said. "Its a growing organization, an organization that wants to be around for a long time to come." But the second race ended in chaos, making everyone unsure of anything as defending Daytona 500 winner Jimmie Johnson ran out of gas on the final lap to trigger a crash that caused Clint Bowyers car to flip. "I knew he was saving gas coming to the green. Its too bad to tear cars up like that," Bowyer said. "That was one of the wildest flips Ive ever had. I think we would have been just fine if I hadnt hit the grass right here." Johnson was apologetic. "I feel terrible. To tear up that many race cars ... to see (Bowyer) flip ... certainly want to apologize to everyone," he said. "I tried to get up out of the way. So much energy in the pack that I knew I was going to get run over if I ran out because guys warned me about it -- and it did." The first race was uneventful as Kenseth led two times for 31 of the 60 laps. Harvick pulled out on the final lap to make his bid for the victory. Then Kasey Kahne pulled out of line to make it three-wide. After the race, Harvick was informed while sitting in the Fox Sports 1 studio as an analyst for the second race that his Chevrolet, sponsored by Budweiser, had failed post-race inspection for the first Budweiser Duel. "Yeah, well, well, thats no good," Harvick said.
Connor McGovern Womens Jersey . Malone will become an unrestricted free-agent and as per the collective bargaining agreement, the Lightning will be responsible for two-thirds of the remainder of his contract over twice the length of the rest of the deal.
Bob Lilly Womens Jersey . -- Valentin Zykov scored in overtime as the Baie-Comeau Drakkar rallied to a 3-2 victory over the Blainville-Boisbriand Armada on Sunday in Quebec Major Junior Hockey League playoff action.If Buffalo Sabres general manager Tim Murray had to guess, goaltender Ryan Miller would prefer not to wear the only NHL jersey hes ever played in past the March 5 trade deadline. Speaking to reporters before the Sabres first game since the Olympic break on Tuesday, Murray said more than two teams, but "less than 10", have inquired about the goaltender and that Miller probably wouldnt mind a fresh start. "I dont think signing here is his first choice at his age, where were at," he said. "Were the 30th-place team." And although Murray says re-signing Miller is realistic, its the clubs current position at the bottom of the standings that appears to be forcing the rookie GMs hand. "Its not the route were looking at right now. The route were looking at is to get value for him," he said. After a 3-2 win over the Carolina Hurricanes in which Miller made 36 saves and had two assists, the goaltender didnt disagree with anything his general manager said. "The things that theyre going to have to do are probably going to come during the trade deadline, and maybe Im one of them," he said. "I dont want to close anything off right now, but I know theyre kind of looking around for opportunity. I think thats probably best for everybody." The 33-year-old was selected by the Sabres in the fifth round (138th overall) of the 1999 NHL Entry Draft. He has been the teams starter for the last nine seasons. Miller is the Sabres all-time leader among goaltenders in games played (540), wins (284) and trails only Dominik Hasek in shutouts (28). His tenure and accomplishments in Buffalo are not lost on Murray when he fields calls from other GMs. "Players that treat you right and have played hard for you over the years, you try to do whats best for them too, as long as it fits into what youre doing," he said.
Deion Sanders Jersey. "And by trading Ryan to a contender, a good team that maybe is lacking only his position, I think that weve certainly not done a disservice to him and weve helped the organization in our own right. Our goal, I think from both sides, is to pursue a proper trade." A proper trade, according to Murray in "a perfect world" would give the Sabres young players a few years into their development. Murray says he doesnt necessarily want to start from scratch with draft picks, but that he will if need be. "I dont think teams are going to bend over backwards to make life easier for us, so its going to be the determination to be made on what the best deal is offered and if its draft picks, its draft picks and well turn them into assets and players," he said. Another Sabre that Murray says is attracting a fair bit of attention is captain Steve Ott. Both Miller and Ott are impending unrestricted free agents. Once again, Buffalos dismal record has handcuffed Murray into making a decision on a player he feels could help any team. "The way (Ott) plays the game, the way he conducts himself, thats not the type of player that I want to trade away, thats the type of players I want to bring in, he said. "Its the type of player weve been trying to bring into the teams Ive been with and were not a playoff team so that changes the dynamic, obviously." Murray also confirmed hes had talks with interim head coach Ted Nolan about a contract extension. "Were along that path," Murray said. Nolan took over behind the bench in place of Ron Rolston last November. ' ' '