Ankündigungen » . We had a great relationship with Top Rank

CHARLOTTE, N.C. -- The quarterfinal round -- or as NASCAR calls it, the Round of 12 -- of the Chase for the Sprint Cup could be called the half-and-half round.Half of the field of 12 are former champions: Matt Kenseth (2003), Kurt Busch (2004), Jimmie Johnson (2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2013), Brad Keselowski (2012), Kevin Harvick (2014) and Kyle Busch (2015).Half of the field of 12 have never won a title: Martin Truex Jr., Joey Logano, Chase Elliott, Denny Hamlin, Carl Edwards and Austin Dillon.Elliott and Dillon have never even won a Cup race. Johnson leads all drivers with 77 career wins.By manufacturer, its fairly even: Five Toyotas, five Chevrolets and two Fords.Heres a look at their chances of advancing to the Round of 8 as every driver left starts even with 3,000 points:1. Martin Truex Jr.Furniture Row Racing No. 78 ToyotaFirst-round wins: 2First-round points: 2,131 (1st)Why he will advance: Simple. Hes been the most dominant driver as of late, having won three of the past five races.Why he wont: Remember all those near-wins and bad luck he had in the first 24 races? It can return in an instant.2. Kevin HarvickStewart-Haas Racing No. 4 ChevroletFirst-round wins: 1First-round points: 2,075 (12th)Why he will advance: The closer knows how to get it done.Why he wont: This team certainly isnt immune to bad pit stops, mechanical failures and a fuel-mileage miscalculation.3. Kyle BuschJoe Gibbs Racing No. 18 ToyotaFirst-round wins: 0First-round points: 2,125 (2nd)Why he will advance: This team is quietly running well. Wait, that was last years comment at this time. Still works.Why he wont: There always is a chance of getting caught up in a mess at Talladega, and no one knows that better than Busch, who in 2014 seemed comfortably in the semifinal round only to get turned from behind while running in the back.4. Matt KensethJoe Gibbs Racing No. 20 ToyotaFirst-round wins: 0First-round points: 2,114 (4th)Why he will advance: Kenseth is determined not to have a repeat of 2015. And he has a better chance to win Talladega than a year ago.Why he wont: This team has been streaky this year with three or four top-10 races and then three-race stretches outside the top-10. He posted top-10 finishes in each race of the first round.5. Joey LoganoTeam Penske No. 22 FordFirst-round wins: 0First-round points: 2,108 (5th)Why he will advance: He wont do anything to beat himself.Why he wont: Ford is just not there this year.6. Chase ElliottHendrick Motorsports No. 24 ChevroletFirst-round wins: 0First-round points: 2,106 (6th)Why he will advance: He didnt crack under the pressure of the first round, so no reason to think he will this round. He had top-10s at Charlotte, Kansas and Talladega earlier this year.Why he wont: Sometimes experience matters, and in this situation, it does.7. Brad KeselowskiTeam Penske No. 2 FordFirst-round wins: 0First-round points: 2,125 (3rd)Why he will advance: He knows when to make the move he needs at the critical moment.Why he wont:?He thinks he knows when to make the move he needs at the critical moment -- and it costs him.8. Kurt BuschStewart-Haas Racing No. 41 ChevroletFirst-round wins: 0First-round points: 2,093 (10th)Why he will advance: Busch has a way of getting the job done when you dont think he will.Why he wont: This team has not seemed to capture the strength and speed that Harvick has.9. Denny HamlinJoe Gibbs Racing No. 11 ToyotaFirst-round wins: 0First-round points: 2,103 (8th)Why he will advance: Hes done it twice before.Why he wont: You might think the Daytona 500 winner would have an advantage at Talladega, but he finished 31st and 17th, respectively, in the two restrictor-plate races since that big win.10. Carl EdwardsJoe Gibbs Racing No. 19 ToyotaFirst-round wins: 0First-round points: 2,095 (9th)Why he will advance: Edwards and crew chief Dave Rogers have enough experience to rebound from a poor first round.Why he wont: Because of their experience, Edwards and Rogers will out-think themselves and tune themselves out of races.11. Jimmie JohnsonHendrick Motorsports No. 48 ChevroletFirst-round wins: 0First-round points: 2,105 (7th)Why he will advance: He has returned pretty much to form, having led 208 laps in the first round.Why he wont: The team beat itself twice in the first round and recovered. It wont be so easy in this round to overcome errors.12. Austin DillonRichard Childress Racing No. 3 ChevroletFirst-round wins: 0First-round points: 2,085 (11th)Why he will advance: Sometimes destiny just goes your way.Why he wont: Hasnt had the performance necessary to show he will be in the top eight.Cheap Air Jordan 1 . Coach Tom Thibodeau says the former MVP will probably start travelling with the team in the next few weeks. Rose tore the meniscus in his right knee at Portland in November and was ruled out for the remainder of the season by the Bulls. Wholesale Air Jordan 1 . Coach Mike Munchak says Fokou stretched ligaments in his left knee Oct. 13 against Seattle, which could keep out up to five weeks even though the linebacker didnt need surgery. http://www.cheapairjordan1.us/ . McPhee said that Ovechkins father Mikhail is in stable condition after having the surgery this week and is no longer in intensive care. "Weve told him to stay as long as necessary with your dad," he said. Ovechkin and his Russian national team were eliminated from the mens hockey tournament in Sochi on Wednesday with a 3-1 quarter-final loss to Finland. Cheap Air Jordan 1 For Sale . The team says the Spain international has a muscle pull in his right leg. Barcelona hosts third-division side Cartagena in the return leg of their round-of-32 tie after winning their first meeting 4-1. Air Jordan 1 For Sale Cheap . Its the second straight game Bell has scored in extra time for Kelowna, which beat the Brandon Wheat Kings 6-5 on Friday, and he now has four game-winning goals on the season.Miguel Cotto the promoter has been busy with his promotional company signing young Puerto Rican boxing talent and making a foray into concert promoting.Cotto the future Hall of Fame boxer has been a lot less busy.At 35, Cotto is in the twilight of his career, during which he came out of the 2000 Olympics to become one of the sports biggest and most exciting stars as well as the first Puerto Rican fighter to win world titles in four weight divisions (junior welterweight, welterweight, junior middleweight and middleweight).In recent years, however, Cotto (40-5, 33 KOs) has picked his spots to fight. He boxed only once in 2013 (following a 10-month layoff), once in 2014 (when he knocked out Sergio Martinez to win the middleweight crown) and twice in 2015, returning from a year layoff to stop Daniel Geale in a middleweight title defense and then losing a decision and the title to Canelo Alvarez in their huge fight in November 2015.Since then there has been much discussion about Cottos next move. He and promoter Roc Nation Sports talked at length about a fight in the second half of this year. There were negotiations with Mexican star Juan Manuel Marquez, also a four-division titleholder, for a major pay-per-view fight, but Marquez is a smaller man and they could not agree on a catch weight acceptable to both fighters.Then there were conversations with HBO about a fight with former junior welterweight titlist and welterweight contender Lamont Peterson on Dec. 3 at Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York. But nothing was ever finalized with one issue being that the date was too close to the Nov. 19 fight Roc Nation Sports is co-promoting between its other star fighter, Andre Ward, and unified light heavyweight titleholder Sergey Kovalev.So for the first time since his 2001 pro debut, Cotto will go through a calendar year without a ring appearance.We have had several conversations with Roc Nation about where Miguel is at and what he wants to do. Everything is good but with different circumstances he decided not to fight in 2016, Bryan Perez, a Miguel Cotto Promotions executive and Cottos close friend, told ESPN. We had different conversations about fighting in December but we decided not to fight and do it in the first part of 2017, between February or March.According to Perez, Cottos next fight will be the last one of the three-fight deal he signed with Roc Nation Sports in March 2015. While many have speculated that would likely be the final fight of Cottos career -- he has said he is looking ahead to life after the boxing ring -- Perez said it probably wont be.The next fight is the last fight on the agreement we signed in 2015 but Miguel feels healthy and good and wants to continue fighting, Perez said. He has the last word and will decide what to do and what his plan will be but he says he wants to continue to fight and to explore facing the best names out there and getting the best guarantee (in terms of money). He will fight twice in 2017.Although Cotto won the middleweight titlle, he fought below the division limit of 160 in all three of his title fights (155 and 153 twice).dddddddddddd The mid-to-low 150s is where he intends to fight next.He will be comfortable fighting below 160, but whatever opportunities pop up and whatever fight is the best guarantee and benefits his career he will consider, Perez said. We will wait to see.Obviously, he is not going to go to welterweight.Perez said Peterson (34-3-1, 17 KOs), 32, of Washington, D.C., remains a possible opponent. Peterson has not fought since last October.Lamont Peterson is a former world champion, a great fighter and it would be a great fight but not a pay-per-view fight. But I think its a fight that could get done, Perez said, adding that even though Peterson is aligned with adviser Al Haymon it would not prevent a deal being made with Roc Nation Sports, which is owned by music star Jay Z, a longtime rival of Haymons.A far more intriguing bout would be against former welterweight and junior welterweight titleholder Timothy Bradley Jr. (33-2-1, 13 KOs), 33, of Palm Springs, California. Bradley has voiced interest in moving up to face Cotto.Thats one of the fights Tim would like before he is done with his career, Monica Bradley, his wife and manager told ESPN in August when he re-signed with promoter Top Rank.Said Perez: Bradley is a huge fight, a great fight to make. Its a great fight for the fans, a good style fight. Miguel is always willing to fight the best and if Bradley is there and available and we can agree on terms, we are more than happy to put them in the ring.That fight would entail Cottos camp co-promoting with Top Rank, which promoted Cotto for most of his career until he left to sign with Roc Nation Sports after saying he would never leave the company. It was a move that deeply disappointed Top Rank president Todd duBoef, who recruited Cotto out of the Olympics and grew very close to him through the years.We ended our business relationship with Top Rank but if theres a fight we can work on together we will work together, no problem, Perez said. We had a great relationship with Top Rank and we like and respect Bob [Arum] and Todd. I think Bradley would be a huge fight and a great fight.When asked for his view of the possible fight, duBoef was not overly enthusiastic and not anxious to go down that road. But he said he would acquiesce to his fighter.If its a fight that Tim Bradley and Monica want, I would discuss it, duBoef said.Regardless of when Cotto returns, at what weight and against which opponent, he will be back soon training with Hall of Famer Freddie Roach and looking for the biggest fight that can be made.This is the first time he had a layoff like this, Perez said. But at this point in his career its good for him. Hes been moving around in the gym to maintain his condition but its good for him to get the rest. But he is ready to fight again. ' ' '