Pirate Galaxy » back.However,, that ploy didnt quite pay off for Ireland.

HOMESTEAD, Fla. -- Theres a changing of the guard occurring in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series, and Joey Logano is leading the charge.The 26-year-old Connecticut native has qualified among the final four drivers to compete for the Sprint Cup title in two of three years since NASCAR adopted an elimination playoff-style format to determine its annual champion.Logano is the youngest driver to reach the final four, and he is in position to become NASCARs youngest Cup Series champion since Jeff Gordon took the honors in 1995 at age 24. The only obstacle standing in his way is the Ford 400 at Homestead-Miami Speedway, where he needs to beat six-time Cup champion Jimmie Johnson, Carl Edwards and defending Cup Series titlist Kyle Busch in a straight fight.In a sport where longtime star Gordon retired (theoretically) at the end of the 2015 season and three-time champion Tony Stewart is ready to exit the big stage, the younger generation is taking over. Johnson and other top Cup stars like Kevin Harvick and Matt Kenseth are all over 40 and likely soon to be thinking about following Gordons and Stewarts lead.Meanwhile, Logano and a band of rising twenty-somethings who are trying to become NASCARs future champions and stars are trying to capitalize.For Logano, the time is now. Although hes just 26, hes wrapping up his eighth full season in the Cup Series and making his second serious run at the championship.No driver has won more Chase races (seven) than Logano in the elimination format era, and he knows that based on what has transpired the last two years at Homestead, he will probably need to take his first win at the Florida track if he wants to secure the crown.Coming off a crucial victory at Phoenix International Raceway certainly helps.Weve got momentum, he said.?Theres a lot of excitement.?I remember when we got through a couple years ago to Miami, I wasnt as excited. I was immediately nervous right after the race [at Phoenix]. This time the feeling is, Hey, weve got confidence. I know we can do it. I dont feel like its a long shot like it was last time because weve been here before.?Weve been in these situations.The fact that Logano ended up fourth among the four title contestants at Homestead in 2014 after a slow pit stop led to a disappointing finish doesnt faze the Team Penske driver.Everyone told me Youve got to lose one to win one, and I thought that was the biggest crock of crap Ive ever heard in my life, Logano related. But you know what, its not the fact that you have to lose one to win one, its the fact that maybe it really helped me to just live through it once. Since then, weve been in those situations where we had to win a race to stay in the championship. And Homestead [in 2014] was the first time we ever had to do that.?I think were approaching it like its a normal weekend, he added. We race to win every week; why should we race differently for a championship, right?? Were racing to win that race, and thats ultimately going to have a championship attached to that.?Weve got momentum. Weve won multiple races. Weve got on rolls before where youve got that momentum and that confidence and it just keeps stacking up like it did last year, and were in good position to do that again.As a backdrop to Loganos championship aspirations, team owner Roger Penske is celebrating his 50th anniversary in racing as a team owner. Simon Pagenaud already won the IndyCar Series championship for Penske in what has been a very successful season for the most successful team owner in American motorsports history. But he only has one Sprint Cup title on the list, 2012 with Brad Keselowski.With Logano, Penske has found the perfect blend of youth and experience that is necessary to contend in the sport today.I can tell you that hes a quality young man, Penske said.?He listens. He motivates his team. I mean, hes there at the shop day in and day out, and theres never been a time weve asked him to do something on or off the track he hasnt done it with a smile.?You look at how tight hes been running here the last year and a half or two years, he really pretty much stayed out of trouble, and I think hes earned a reputation in the garage area that you can race hard with him. To me, thats important.But more important, I think the person himself, he represents us in a first-class manner, and he can be with us a long time, working together with Brad, Penske added. Hes matured, and you have to say that if you go up and down the garage area, at his age, weve got a real winner.Crew chief Todd Gordon likes what he has seen from Logano throughout this season, and especially when the pressure has increased in the Chase.I think the peace that weve had success and weve had speed through the last five races kind of builds your confidence to feel like we just need to go forward and do the things that weve done, and we can be successful, Gordon said.?Hes focused on that and focused on making sure our weekend runs the way weve run our weekends and doesnt change anything up.???????????I feel a lot of calm from his feedback and what hes saying and what hes doing and the mannerisms, he continued.?Hes all over just making this another race, and I think in a great position.Any of the four drivers in Sundays championship finale would make a worthy 2016 champion for NASCAR. But Logano has the opportunity to make his mark on the sport at a much younger age than the others.For him and for the Cup Series, the future starts Sunday. Swell Marble Bottle Uk . Perez, 35, posted a 1-2 record with a 3.69 earned-run average in 19 relief appearances last season. His season ended Aug. 9 due to a torn ligament in his left elbow. Perez joins infielder Andy LaRoche and catcher Mike Nickeas with minor-league agreements for 2014 that include invitations to attend spring training. Swell Traveler Sale . It might not have mattered. While the Dodgers are preparing for the playoffs, the Padres showed their future has promise behind two rookies. http://www.swellbottleuk.com/sale-swell-bottle-uk.html . Fellow centre Pavel Datsyuk remains out because of a concussion. Zetterberg has 11 goals and 19 assists for a team-high 30 points, and Datsyuk has a team-high 12 goals and 11 assists. Swell Wood Bottle . Booth picked up 65 caps after making her national team debut in 2002 at the age of 17. She most recently played for Sky Blue FC of the National Womens Soccer League. "It just felt like it was my time to move on," she said in a phone interview from her hometown of Burlington, Ont. Swell Liberty Water Bottle . Woodson said during a radio interview Thursday that the Knicks Carmelo Anthony doesnt get the same calls as other superstars. Ireland Women 54 for 8 (Shillington 26, Tul Kubra 3-5) beat Bangladesh Women 48 for 6 (Hoque 24, OReilly 2-5) by six runsScorecard Ireland Women defended 54 against Bangladesh Women in a T20I that was reduced to 10 overs a side in Bready. Steady rain had delayed the start of the match by more than two hours, but a tightly contested match and a last-over finish made up for it. Lucy OReilly, the 16-year old seamer, had nine runs to defend and she did it in style, picking up two wickets and helping pull off a run-out as well. Irelands hard-fought six-run victory gave them a 1-0 lead in the two-match T20I series.The game had been shortened before the captains walked out to the toss. Bangladesh won it and put Ireland in, who had difficulty scoring boundaries on a slow outfield. Seamer Ritu Moni got rid of the 15-year old opener Gaby Lewis in the third over, but was also hit for two fours by Clare Shillington. With 10 batsmen to play 10 overs, there was no need to hold back.However,, that ploy didnt quite pay off for Ireland.dddddddddddd They put on 21 for 6 in the 32 balls after Shillingtons dismissal in the fifth over. Her 26 was the only double-digit score for the hosts as they finished on 54 for 8. Offspinner Khadija Tul Kubra picked up 3 for 5 in two overs.Bangladesh found batting equally tough, scoring 23 for 2 in the first six overs, each of which was delivered by a different bowler. This left them requiring 32 off the last four overs, 17 off two and finally 10 off the last six balls. Their hopes rested largely on Fargana Hoque, who was batting on 23 off 22 and had held the innings together up to that point.Fargana took a single off the first ball, before three wickets - one of them a run-out - fell in the next three. OReilly bowled a dot on the fifth ball and left Bangladesh an impossible nine runs off the final ball. ' ' '