24th, and Penske drivers Brad Keselowski 25th and Joey Logano 28th. "I

JOLIET, Ill. - With rain in Fridays forecast at Chicagoland Speedway, the only time on track became a strategy session for the championship contenders. If qualifying was rained out, the field for Sundays opening round of the Chase for the Sprint Cup championship would be set by practice speeds and teams had to decide if they wanted to focus on simply posting a fast lap to grab a strong starting position. It worked out perfectly for Kyle Busch, Ryan Newman and Carl Edwards, who all shot to the top of the speed chart in practice and were rewarded with the top three starting spots in Sundays race when rain indeed washed out qualifying. "We definitely saw the radar and the forecast," said Newman, who will start second on Sunday. "Made one (practice) run and switched it over, spent the rest of the time doing mock qualifying runs, knowing we had a chance of that being our actual qualifying position." Edwards said crew chief Jimmy Fennig made one final adjustment late in practice that found him additional speed and moved him to third on the sheet. "We started the day thinking this might happen and Jimmy did a great job with a strategy," Edwards said. "I think thats what all of us are going to have to do thought the Chase — were just going to have to get every little bit you can every race weekend." The 10-race Chase opens at Chicago under a radically different format introduced this year by NASCAR. Using an elimination method for the expanded 16-driver field, four drivers will be knocked out of contention every three races. The first round of cuts comes Sept. 28 at Dover, and all 16 drivers came into Chicago just trying to make it through the first round. A victory earns an automatic advancement into the next round. Busch, who finished second in the Chase opener last year, will start from the pole and was buoyed by a strong practice session with his Joe Gibbs Racing team. The organization has lagged behind Hendrick Motorsports and Team Penske all season, and doesnt seem to have the same pace as the championship favourites. Hes hoping Gibbs has turned it up for the Chase, and his practice session was the sign of big things to come on Sunday. "Having a good (speed) there in practice means a lot, but theres obviously a lot of things that need to happen in the race this weekend for us and getting off to a good start and being able to carry that into the next 10 weeks," he said. Matt Kenseth, his Gibbs teammate, will start fifth, while defending champion Jimmie Johnson will start seventh, one spot ahead of Hendrick teammate Jeff Gordon. Kevin Harvick will start 12th, Dale Earnhardt Jr. 13th, Kurt Busch 14th, A.J. Allmendinger 17th, Kasey Kahne 19th, Greg Biffle 20th, Aric Almirola 23rd, Denny Hamlin 24th, and Penske drivers Brad Keselowski 25th and Joey Logano 28th. "I do have a lot of confidence that were going to figure this out," Logano said. Mike Piazza Jersey . The Canadians led for much of the game before Argentina forced overtime in the dying seconds of the fourth quarter. Canada weathered the storm after squandering a lead with a series of made shots. "Its a fantastic win for our country with 11 first-time Canadian national team members," said head coach Roy Rana. Justin Turner Jersey . Selected by the Titans in the 2007 NFL Draft, Johnson rejoined the club last season after a five-year stint with Indianapolis. http://www.dodgerssale.com/customized/ . Others describe it as taking the parrot for a walk. Chris Taylor Jersey . Nick Young scored 17 points for Los Angeles, which lost five of its last seven before trouncing the Pelicans, who beat them handily last week in New Orleans. Jodie Meeks and Xavier Henry scored 15 points apiece for the Lakers, who led by 20 points in the first half before coasting to their 12th win in their last 13 regular-season meetings with New Orleans. Clayton Kershaw Jersey . -- The Detroit Lions made it crystal clear to Golden Tate that he was their top target in free agency.INDIANAPOLIS -- No. 8 Michigan ended 15 years of Big Ten tournament frustration Saturday. Theres still some work to do before it can really celebrate. After blowing a 12-point second-half lead against its most bitter rival, Michigan closed the game with a 7-1 run and survived a potential tying 3-pointer in the closing seconds for its first tourney win over No. 24 Ohio State, 72-69. "We werent thinking about winning the Big Ten Conference championship, the tournament," Big Ten player of the year Nik Stauskas said. "We were thinking about just beating Ohio State. This is a rivalry game." For the Big Ten regular-season champs, it was a big moment. Michigan (25-7) hadnt won a semifinal game since 1998, when it won the inaugural tourney title only to vacate it because of NCAA rules violations. Since then, the Wolverines hadnt even won two straight games in the league tourney and had lost all six times it played the dreaded Buckeyes in Indianapolis or Chicago. Not this time. The top-seeded Wolverines started the game with an offensive flurry and ended it with a stout defensive stretch that ended with Buckeyes guard Aaron Craft losing control of the ball as he tried a 3-pointer that could have forced overtime. Instead, the Wolverines came up with the loose ball to eliminate the conferences defending tourney champion. Stauskas finished with 18 points. Ohio native Caris LeVert had 17 points and seven rebounds and Glenn Robinson III wound up with 11 points, including two free throws that gave Michigan the lead for good with 2:55 to play. The Wolverines won their seventh straight in large part because they were 12 of 23 on 3-pointers against the Big Tens top-rated 3-point defence and didnt allow a basket over the final four minutes. The only thing sweeter than beating the Buckeyes would be winning Sundays title game against No. 22 Michigan State. The Wolverines won both games against the third-seeded Spartans this season. Michigan State advanced with an 85-73 win over second-seeded Wisconsin in the second semifinal. "Those are the three best defensive teams in our league. Theyre just really difficult to score points on," coach John Beilein said, referring to thee Badgers, Buckeyes and Spartans.dddddddddddd. But getting to Sunday wasnt easy, either. Michigan blew a 13-point lead in Fridays quarterfinal victory, surviving a scare from ninth-seeded Illinois when Jordan Morgans layup rolled in with 7.9 seconds to go and Illinois guard Tracy Abrams missed a driving layup at the buzzer. It was more of the same Saturday. Michigan led by as much as 16 in the first half and 12 in the second and still needed another late miscue to seal the win. Ohio State (25-9) was led by LaQuinton Ross with 19 points and Shannon Scott with 18, nearly pulling off a second stunning comeback in two days. After digging out of an 18-point deficit to beat Nebraska in Fridays quarterfinals, the Buckeyes wound up losing for only the third time in 10 games. "I feel like as a team when our heads underwater, we start fighting more," Scott said. "We started doing that again today." Ohio State, which struggled to open both halves, just couldnt finish this one off. Michigan opened the game with three straight 3s and led 15-2 after its opening flurry. The Buckeyes clawed back late in the half, getting within 41-37. But Ohio State gave up three more 3s to open the second half, allowing the Spartans to push the lead to 54-42 with 16:02 left. Again the Buckeyes rallied, using a 10-2 spurt that ended with Sam Thompsons alley-oop dunk, giving Ohio State its first lead at 61-60. Thats when last years national runner-up buckled down defensively. Michigan cut the Ohio State lead to 68-67 on an 18-foot jumper from Stauskas and regained the lead when Robinson made the two free throws. The Buckeyes couldnt get anything to go over the final four minutes, missing five straight shots and three of four free throws before Craft said the ball slipped out of his hands at the end. "I feel so fortunate right now," Beilein said. "You look at so many of our games down the stretch here, theyve ended just like this and the ball keeps bouncing our way. You only can have that type of luck if you have guys like these guys sitting next to me. They make enough smart plays to keep you in the game, and some games the ball will just bounce your way." Wholesale USA Soccer Jerseys discount uswnt jersey Wholesale AC Milan Jerseys Wholesale Arsenal Jerseys Wholesale A.S. Roma Jerseys Wholesale Atletico Madrid Jerseys Wholesale Chelsea Jerseys Cheap Barcelona Jerseys Bayern Munich Jerseys For Sale Cheap Borussia Dortmund Jerseys Cheap Inter Milan Jerseys Juventus Jerseys From China Leicester City Jerseys For Sale Discount Liverpool Jerseys Wholesale Manchester City Jerseys Manchester United Jerseys For Sale Wholesale Paris Saint-Germain Jerseys Real Madrid Jerseys From China Cheap Sevilla Jerseys Authentic Tottenham Hotspur Jerseys ' ' '