received an outpouring of support on Instagram since making his post.I just

TALLADEGA, Ala. -- You know what to watch for at Talladega.Crazy four-wide racing and too many nail-biting moments to count. Crashes, maybe lots of them. The Big One.But Im here to tell you that there will be more to the Hellmanns 500 than twisted sheet metal.OK, maybe not much more. Theres the intrigue of this years Chase for the Sprint Cup, and -- well, not much else.Talladega is known for close racing and crashes, and we can only hope we see more of the former than the latter on Sunday afternoon. But with this years fall Talladega race serving as the event that will cut the Chase field from 12 drivers to eight, there is a strong possibility that the crashes will come early and often.Still, theres got to be more to look forward to in a race than the wrecks, so heres an honest attempt to sort out what to watch for:1. A new restrictor-plate king?: Talladega will be the first restrictor-plate race run since 1999 that will not include the man considered the best plate racer of his generation -- Dale Earnhardt Jr.Junior is expected to be at the track Sunday, but he wont be behind the wheel of the No. 88 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet. This opens up a debate: Who is the heir apparent as the man to beat in the chess game of plate racing?Earnhardt says hes not done racing yet, but even if he does come back from his concussion symptoms next year, he wont have many more opportunities to add to his total of 10 restrictor-plate wins. Thats double the number of plate wins owned by his closest active pursuers, Jimmie Johnson and Brad Keselowski with five apiece.Keselowski is an obvious choice. BK scored his first Sprint Cup Series race win right here at Talladega back in 2009, and he is the two-time defending champion of the fall race. In all, Bad Brad has earned four Talladega wins, and the No. 2 Team Penske Ford is coming off a win in the July race at Daytona International Speedway.Johnson is a three-time winner at Daytona, including a sweep of the 2013 races. The most recent of his two Talladega wins came back in 2008.With a pair of wins each at both Talladega and Daytona, Jamie McMurray could also stake a claim to the title of Plate King. Kevin Harvick and Matt Kenseth can boast three plate wins apiece, while no other driver can claim more than two.With a win on Sunday, Keselowski or Johnson could distance themselves from this pack. Of the two, Keselowski needs it more: Hes below the cutoff line for the Round of Eight, which Johnson is already locked into.2. The chase for the Chase: Apparently even NASCAR agrees that scheduling Talladega as a Chase cutoff race was a cruel joke because thats one of the few changes to the 2017 Cup Series schedule.That will help ease the pressure next year, but it does nothing to change the fact that with Chase berths on the line, Sundays race has the potential to be even crazier than the usual Talladega fare.Heres how it lays out: Johnson and Harvick are already locked into the Round of Eight, thanks to their wins at Charlotte and Kansas, respectively. The other 10 remaining Chase drivers are chasing six transfer spots. Winning Sundays race is an automatic pass to the next round, and the remaining places will be determined by points.As of now, the six drivers above the cut line are Kenseth (+29 points over ninth place), Kyle Busch (+27), Carl Edwards (+24), Kurt Busch (+17) and Martin Truex Jr. (+13). Joey Logano and Austin Dillon are currently tied for eighth on points, but Logano holds the tiebreaker. The other drivers under the cut line are Denny Hamlin (-6 points), Keselowski (-7) and Chase Elliott (-25).Winning is pretty much Elliotts only chance to advance, while Dillon and the others on the outside looking in could still sneak in on points. The Joe Gibbs Racing trio of Kenseth, Kyle Busch and Edwards look to be in good shape, with top-20 finishes enough for them to advance. But no matter how strong the Toyotas have looked throughout 2016, thats not necessarily a given at Talladega.Even if you have a plan, man, they fall apart so easily here, said Edwards. Were hoping to qualify up front, race up front all day and try to get a victory, you know?Thered be nothing simpler than just winning the race and not worrying about anything else, he added. But I think you just have to really, really be conscious of the developing race and different circumstances.3. Carnage: Its a fact of life at Talladega. With horsepower-starved cars that cant create separation for the drivers, when accidents happen, they generally sweep in the pack. Everything is bigger at Talladega -- especially the accidents.With so much on the line Sunday, its unrealistic to think that there wont be some desperate driving. The question is how early it will start. Will the majority of the drivers be willing to cruise around and keep it clean until the closing laps? Or will the aggression start much earlier?Either way, there will be a small group of drivers keen to get to the front and stay there, whatever it takes.Look for Penske teammates Keselowski and Logano to try to control the pace of the race along with Elliott and Hamlin. Elliott can probably count on some help from his Hendrick Motorsports teammates, with Johnson already qualified for the next round and Kasey Kahne and Alex Bowman not part of the Chase.Hamlin, meanwhile, knows that the Toyotas are capable of working well together, but the other JGR drivers and Front Rows Truex, a JGR ally, still need to prioritize their own pursuit of advancing.Brad and I need to have an understanding that, Hey, yeah, were gonna help each other as much as we can, but we both kind of have to win, Logano said.?Were gonna race each other, and were gonna help each other like we do every single week.4. The outsiders: Because there is so much potential for multicar accidents at Talladega, races here often dont produce predictable results.David Ragan won at Talladega in 2013 for Front Row Motorsports. Clint Bowyer is a two-time winner. Even McMurrays pair of Talladega wins would have to be considered upsets.So while the focus is on the 12 playoff drivers in the Chase -- especially the 10 whose championship fate will be decided by Sundays results -- there are 28 other drivers out there ready to make some noise.For example, Chip Ganassi Racing teammates McMurray and Kyle Larson have already been eliminated from this years Chase but are still hungry for victories. Driving the No. 88 in place of Earnhardt, Bowman is clearly in a car capable of winning.Everybody has one eye on the Chase, and Sundays race will determine who will put themselves in position to take home the season-long prize from Miami in November.Even without all that, theres a big trophy, a fat check, and a ton of pride on the line at Talladega. For those reasons alone, its worth watching.Not to mention the wrecks.Cheap Air Jordan 6 Wholesale . 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The New Westminster, B.C., native plowed three yards into the end zone for the last score of a heated, see-saw battle between the two teams with the best records in the CFL. Discount Air Jordan 6 Australia . 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.ENGLEWOOD, Colo. -- Denver Broncos?linebacker Brandon Marshall says it was extremely concerning to receive a letter filled with racial slurs and threatening language.Just so many racist, derogatory terms that were in it ... just a bunch of crazy things that was in it, Marshall said Friday. Thats what stood out to me, that somebody would have that much hate or malice toward me or put that much energy into writing something like that and send it to me. It takes so much energy to hate. I just dont understand it.Marshall posted photos of the handwritten letter -- which includes multiple threats and racial epithets -- on his Instagram account Friday. The writer told Marshall your time is coming, watch out, and we are channeling a devastating hard hit for you. Something to make you an invalid in a wheel chair.The letter was sent with a return address of Mrs. Jacksons sixth-grade class at?Martin Luther King Middle School, and We love you, Mr. Marshall was written on the envelope. Marshall called that a cover to make sure he received the letter.My first reaction was, I was taken aback, actually, Marshall said. I had to read it over again. Did somebody really say this to me?It said, Youre a great player, so I had a smile on my face, and then not. And Im like, whoa. I actually let Shane [Ray] read it after I read it. ... Disgusting, disheartening, deplorable -- you can use a bunch of words for it.The Broncos security staff is investigating the letter.Im not afraid. I turned it over to team security, and well see what happens, Marshall said. Its not going to spook me. Its not going to make me move any different than Ive moved. Its definitely eye-opening.Coach Gary Kubiak said after practice Friday that the organization is on top of it.ddddddddddddMarshall responded to the letter in his Instagram post, saying, The hatred by some against people of color is one of the reasons we are where were at in the world today, and they wonder why we feel the way we do and take the stances that we take. I received this letter at work.He said he has received an outpouring of support on Instagram since making his post.I just wanted to show that ... to expose that racism still does exist, Marshall said. A lot of people think, Oh, its over; its not out there, but it really is.I wanted to expose that and that there are people like that and we still have a long way to go as people. I wanted to expose that people still hate each other ... whether its because of your belief system or the color of your skin or just because Im not like you, youre not like me.Marshall took a knee during the national anthem before the Broncos first eight games this season as a response to social injustice, including several shootings of black people by police nationwide. He met with Denvers police chief and has donated money for every tackle he has made this season to organizations that work with youth.He said in November that he intended to stand for the anthem for the remainder of the season but would keep working for positive change.The letter is the second known instance of an NFL player being targeted with racial abuse this week. On Tuesday, New York Giants fullback Nikita Whitlock reported a break-in during which burglars drew a swastika and KKK, as well as the word Trump, on walls inside his home. ' ' '