theres also the immediacy of the situation that takes over.Theres i

By Reid SpencerNASCAR Wire ServiceJimmie Johnson has been there before -- more than any other driver in the past two decades.But this trip to Homestead-Miami Speedway for Sundays Ford EcoBoost 400 (2:30 p.m. ET) is different. In the first place, Johnson has his first opportunity to win a NASCAR Sprint Cup Series championship under the 16-driver elimination format introduced by the sanctioning body in 2014.Beyond that, in what is the transcendent story of this years Chase, Johnson has a chance to win a seventh series title, one that would tie him for the all-time lead with NASCAR Hall of Fame inductees Richard Petty and Dale Earnhardt.And crew chief Chad Knaus has been with the driver of the No. 48 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet for every mile of the journey -- well, almost every mile, the occasional suspension notwithstanding.Yeah, its a little different for sure, Knaus said of the elimination format. Obviously weve been able to go down to Homestead and bid for the championship in a lot of different scenarios, with a points deficit, with a points lead, and this is definitely unique, starting at zero and just going out there for the best man to win. Im comfortable with it. Im looking forward to it.Quite honestly, I think the Lowes Chevrolet has been fast over the course of the last handful of weeks. Our pit crew has been performing very well. Jimmie is very comfortable and in a good state of mind. Im really excited about it. Im looking forward to getting down there for sure.Knaus could tie Richard Pettys long-time crew chief, Dale Inman (another NASCAR Hall of Famer) with seven titles with the same driver. In fact, continuity has been the hallmark of the No. 48 teams effort since day one.Whats really cool about it is, if we were able to pull this off, it would be seven titles with the same driver, same crew chief, same sponsor (Lowes) and same team, which would be even more phenomenal, Knaus said. Its been an honor to be able to work with Jimmie, Lowes and Hendrick Motorsports throughout this portion of my career. Looking forward to it extending a long time.But being able to represent this company and our associates the way that we have has been a lot of fun. To Jimmie personally, obviously he is by far one of my best friends, and to be able to have seen him grow and mature into the driver and the family man that he is has been awesome. Its been a great ride.A seventh title for Johnson, however, is far from a given. Joe Gibbs Racing has two entries with defending Sprint Cup champion Kyle Busch and Carl Edwards, and they have two sets of data to use in preparation for the Championship 4 race.Additionally, Edwards participated in a tire test at Homestead in October, and crew chief Dave Rogers feels that gives his driver a slight edge over his teammate.Yeah, I think testing there is an advantage, Rogers said. We talked early in the season about which teams want to test where, and then we all agreed on which teams would test at each track. It was important for Carl and I to test at Homestead because we do think its an advantage. Its absolutely open notebook. All of our teammates have every bit of data.I took my personal notes, what I thought, things I saw, when the clouds came in, when the rain showers came in, how I thought it affected the race car beyond what you see in the data, and I gave that to all of our crew chiefs, including Adam (Stevens, Buschs crew chief). So they have that information.But its the personal experience. Its living it. Its seeing the cars with your own eyes. Its seeing the expression in the drivers face. That live experience, theres something to it. I think our teammates are going to get 85 to 90 percent by looking at our notes and looking at our data, but that extra 10 percent is just being there and living through it.Stevens, on the other hand, feels he can rely on the data gather by Edwards and Rogers.With regard to the test, in my eyes theres really not much difference from my perspective of being at the test or having a teammate go, said Stevens, who won the title last year in his first year as Buschs Sprint Cup crew chief. The biggest benefit from acquiring the test data is literally getting the track data from the car and the driver to use to develop our simulation tools.We could have sent anybody down there to do that. Certainly Carl and Dave gathered that information for us and shared everything they could to help make our program as good as it can be. Would it have been nice to go? Yes. But that also takes away from preparing for that weeks event. As tight as the schedules are, you kind of have to balance that out and spread that workload out amongst the teams.Joey Logano didnt participate in the Homestead tire test, but he has performed admirably on tracks that have featured the same tire codes as the ones in use at Homestead this weekend. Logano was runner-up in the Chase opener at Chicagoland Speedway and finished second to Edwards at Texas.We led a lot at Texas, Loganos crew chief, Todd Gordon said. I felt like we were very strong there. Finished second to Carl on a rain-shortened race. Id have loved to have seen where that race went. But I feel very strong about our chances going forward here. I feel really good about the improvements weve made.I felt like at Charlotte we had speed, and we had a tire failure, but showed some of that. We finished well and were second at Chicago on the same tire. We were second at Texas on this tire that weve got at Homestead. I feel like weve been able to battle for it, and were continuing to make our stuff better. I love our chances going to Homestead. Stan Smith Store . Carey Price didnt, but he still came out on top against one of his rivals for the No. 1 job at the Sochi Games. The Anahim Lake, B.C., native was stellar in making 39 saves in his home province and Lars Eller got credit for a bizarre short-handed winner as the Canadiens defeated the Canucks 4-1. Nike Basketball Shoes Store . Pence singled in the winning run with no outs in the ninth inning to give the Giants a 7-6 victory over the San Diego Padres on Sunday. http://www.cheapshoesstorewholesale.com/yeezy-boost-700-online-outlet.html . The return match will take place next Wednesday. Udinese leads Fiorentina 2-1 in the other semifinal. Napoli staged a second-half comeback from two goals down after Gervinhos opener and a stunning strike from Kevin Strootman. Discount Shoes Stores . With the first unit struggling of late and Amir Johnson - one of the teams iron men - hobbling on an injured right ankle, Patterson knew he could get the nod in a challenging matchup against one of the leagues up and coming players at his position. Wholesale Air Max 97 China .Y. -- Canadas Kaillie Humphries and Heather Moyse have another World Cup gold medal after winning the two-women bobsled race on Saturday in Lake Placid, N. WASHINGTON -- When it comes to the postseason, managers arent always saving their best for last.Closers have taken the mound for five-out saves, in non-save situations and even as early as the fifth inning so far in the 2016 playoffs. In one perplexing case, the best closer in baseball this season didnt take the mound at all.No longer is it easy for a manager to merely hand the ball to his closer for three outs in the ninth. Chicago Cubs skipper Joe Maddon considers managing the bullpen his biggest concern on a daily basis, and its all magnified in October when one decision backfiring can mean the end of the line.Thats what happened when Baltimore Orioles manager Buck Showalter used six other relievers in an 11-inning loss at the Toronto Blue Jays in the AL wild-card game, leaving Zach Britton in the bullpen despite the All-Star closers 47 for 47 save success rate and 0.54 ERA in the regular season. Showalter was immediately second-guessed by everyone except his fellow managers who know their next call to the bullpen could be scrutinized just as much.I never question what anyone else does because youve got to make tough decisions, said Blue Jays manager John Gibbons, who got a five-out save and a six-out win from closer Roberto Osuna in the AL Division Series against Texas. You know what, most people dont ever agree with your decisions regardless.Showalter said playing on the road and the course of the game affected the decision-making process, not his philosophy. Across the majors, traditional closer practices are being challenged.In Game 1 of the Indians ALDS against the Boston Red Sox, Clevelands Terry Francona brought Andrew Miller into the game in the fifth inning because hes really good. Miller threw two scoreless innings and got the victory, brushing off the idea that what he did was unprecedented.The playoffs are a different animal, Miller said. Theres 30 closers, and most teams have a setup man. Theres seven (relievers) for most teams. The other five guys have to pitch from the first inning to the ninth every day. ... Whenever Tito asks anybody to pitch, were all going to be ready to go.Maddon tends to be less tolerant in the playoffs than usual and everyone has a shorter leash. Rookie Los Angeles Dodgers manager Dave Roberts has learned quickly that this time of year, you act a little more aggressively.Francona going to Miller in the fifth was about as aggressive as it comes, though players wonder if its more the start of a trend than aan anomaly.ddddddddddddBullpens are being used a lot differently than they have in the past, as far as when youre going to use guys and when youre going to get your closer in the game for five outs, Dodgers third baseman Justin Turner said. The whole closer-pitches-the-ninth-inning thing, (it) doesnt mean those are always the biggest three outs of the game. Sometimes those three outs come in the eighth or the seventh.After preparing him with inning-plus saves during the season, Roberts wasnt afraid to use closer Kenley Jansen for two outs in the eighth and then three in the ninth in the Dodgers win over the Washington Nationals in Game 1 of the NLDS. That same night, the Nationals Dusty Baker put closer Mark Melancon in while trailing in the ninth to get important outs and give his team a better chance.Days off during the playoffs make it different than the regular season as far as bullpen usage, Baker said. Then theres also the immediacy of the situation that takes over.Theres in essence no tomorrow, Red Sox manager John Farrell said. So you may have the ability and the luxury to be a little bit quicker with some of your decisions, not balancing recovery or rest.Roberts bases decisions off his staff, his pitching coach and his gut. Sometimes a managers gut backfires, like when the New York Mets Terry Collins put closer Jeurys Familia into a tied NL wild-card game and watched as he allowed a three-run homer to the San Francisco Giants Conor Gillaspie.Hes got 51 saves and over 90 saves in two years? Ill take that, said Collins, while acknowledging Familias three blown saves against the Kansas City Royals in the 2015 World Series. He was the guy I wanted out there in the ninth inning, and well try to do a better job to make sure hes a little more rested going into the postseason.With no perfect recipe for relief, managers often resort to using top-tier starters out of the bullpen. The Blue Jays did it with David Price and the Mets with Noah Syndergaard last year, and over time that strategy has had mixed success.Managers generally want to put their players in the best positions to succeed. What pitchers want is the ball when it matters, no matter the situation.To me it doesnt matter -- sometimes it is in the seventh or the eighth, those might be the toughest times, Jansen said. Youve just got to put in your best pitcher. ' ' '