Cuts » s. He used to bring in his own grass seed and grow

LOUDON, N.H. -- Matt Kenseth was always near the front of the pack. He stalked the leaders and waited for contenders to wilt.Kyle Busch and Martin Truex Jr. faded down the stretch. So did Denny Hamlin.It almost seemed like a repeat scenario for Kenseth.Just like last fall on the same track when Kevin Harvicks lead evaporated when he ran out of fuel, Kenseth pounced. He pulled away down the stretch to win the Sprint Cup race Sunday at New Hampshire Motor Speedway.Truex and Busch each led more than 120 laps before faltering over the final 75 laps, paving the way for Kenseth to win for the second time this season.Kenseth also won the New Hampshire race last September. He has 38th career victories.Last fall, we squeaked one out, a little more fuel than Kevin and a little different strategy, but not quite as good a car, Kenseth said. Today, I felt like we had the best car.NASCAR said Kenseths No. 20 Toyota failed the post-race laser inspection station and will be brought to the research and development center in Concord, North Carolina, for more evaluation. The penalty for that kind of failure has traditionally been a 15-point penalty. But this was the first time a race winner was busted since the lasers were instituted in 2013.Tony Stewart finished second and strengthened his spot inside the top 30 in the points standings. Stewart has a win this season and needs to secure a spot in the top 30 in points to clinch a spot in the Chase for the Sprint Cup championship. He inched from 30th to 28th in points.Joey Logano was third, followed by Harvick and Greg Biffle.Alex Bowman had a solid day ruined when he hit the wall late and finished 26th driving for Dale Earnhardt Jr. Earnhardt was sidelined because he suffered from symptoms of a concussion.Truex tumbled to 16th when his Toyota suffered a broken shifter and Busch dropped to eighth when he could never break free on late-race restarts.Were doing everything right, but were taking some on the chin here, Truex said.That allowed Kenseth, Buschs Joe Gibbs Racing teammate, to cruise to the top and snatch the lead with fellow JGR teammate Denny Hamlin with 30 laps He drove away on the final restart with 11 to go in the 301-mile race and soon the traditional lobster plopped on the hood of his Toyota.But this race could be the one remembered for truly solidifying Stewart in Chase contention. He snapped an 84-race losing streak last month at Sonoma and was fifth last week at Kentucky Speedway. Smoke is heating up this summer and could be racing for a fourth championship in his final NASCAR season.Everyone wants this last year to be good, Stewart said. Sonoma, I think really helped relax everybody.Kenseth became the first driver since Kurt Busch in 2004 to win consecutive starts at New Hampshire. He didnt win in his first 27 Cup starts at the track but has three wins in his last three races at the 1.058-mile track.It used to be one of my worst places and now I feel like its one of our better places, he said.Here are other items of note from Sundays race:---BOWMANS RUNBowman enjoyed perhaps the final race of his Sprint Cup career, running inside the top 10 and seemingly in position for his best finish in 72 starts.But Bowmans run in the No. 88 Chevrolet ended with a thud when a tire issue slammed his car into the wall and he finished 26th in his first Cup race of the season.Ive never got to actually race with guys like Jimmie Johnson, Tony Stewart, Kurt Busch, all those guys, he said. I had a lot of fun passing really good cars.With four-time champion Jeff Gordon set to take the wheel next week if Earnhardt isnt cleared, Bowman is out of options for the rest of the year.The result will not show what a great job (at)AlexBRacing and the (at)nationwide88 gang did this weekend. Proud of them guys, Earnhardt tweeted.Bowman had no top-10 finishes in 71 starts over the 2014-2015 seasons with BK Racing and Tommy Baldwin Racing.I dont think Ive gotten out of a Cup car with a smile on my face in a while, he said. Its just so much fun to be able to run up front like that. Ive spent two years of my career wondering if I can really do this at the Cup level and today I answered that for myself.-----UNHAPPY HARVICKHarvick was hardly happy over his top-five finish.He went on TV after the race and blasted his Stewart-Haas Racing No. 4 Chevrolet pit crew for continued poor stops that cost him a serious shot at the checkered flag.Im disgusted to tell you the truth. Its the same thing every week. We just make mistake after mistake and until we clean that up we dont have a chance to win races putting ourselves in a hole every time we make a mistake, Harvick said.He added, Its really going to have to come from the top. I mean, they are going to have to clamp down and there is no way we can win a championship like this unless they straighten some of this stuff out.Harvicks crew had problems with lug nuts and the air gun on two separate spots that sunk him from contention.We always do something wrong, he said.-----KEZS STREAKBrad Keselowski failed in his bid to win three races. He followed wins at Daytona International Speedway and Kentucky Speedway with a 15th-place finish on Sunday.-----JUNIOR UPDATETeam owner Rick Hendrick does not think the concussion symptoms that sidelined Earnhardt are career threatening. He hoped to have NASCARs most popular driver back in the car next week at the Brickyard.Four-time NASCAR champion Jeff Gordon will come out of retirement and drive the 88 next week at Indianapolis Motor Speedway if Earnhardt does not return. Hendrick says Gordon will likely remain in the car should Earnhardt need an extended absence.Earnhardt will have more tests early this week. Hendrick Motorsports will likely make a decision on Earnhardts availability on Wednesday.-----UP NEXTKyle Busch heads to the Brickyard as the defending winner at Indianapolis Motor Speedway. Reds Jerseys 2019 . The Celtics closed out their first preseason under Stevens on Wednesday night with a 101-97 victory over the Brooklyn Nets, who rested a lot of their lineup including former Celtics Kevin Garnett and Paul Pierce. Cincinnati Reds Store . Barcelonas entertaining victory ensured the defending Spanish champions retained their share of the league lead with Atletico Madrid two rounds ahead of their meeting in the capital. Real Madrid needed a late goal by substitute Jese Rodriguez to earn a 3-2 victory at Valencia to stay in third place and three points behind its title rivals. https://www.cheapredsjerseys.us/ . 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. Cincinnati Reds Gear . Tomas Berdych and Radek Stepanek defeated Nenad Zimonjic and Ilija Bozoljac 6-2, 6-4, 7-6 (4) on the indoor hard-court at Belgrade Arena. The victory improved the Czech pairs impressive cup doubles record to 14-1. Fake Reds Jerseys .Y. -- Syracuse has turned up the defence at the right time all season, and when High Point threatened to pull off a monumental upset the second-ranked Orange did what they do best with their quick hands and savvy play. Keaton Jennings prolific form last summer has earned him his first experience with England Lions but, even as he relishes his opportunities at the Loughborough national performance centre, he is wrestling with the dilemma of whether to abandon his career with crisis-ridden Durham. On one hand lies his natural sense of loyalty, on the other the notion that an England career is not too far away. He has some agonising ahead.Jennings has held several exploratory conversations with Durham about the possibility of captaining them in at least one limited-overs format, with Paul Collingwood, at 41, retaining the role in the Championship. There have been a couple of discussions about captaincy but nothing has been decided - not from Collys point of view either - but there have been discussions, he said.Jennings freely admits that his future remains uncertain following the enforced relegation of Durham to Division Two of the Championship, and the issue of points deductions, by the ECB as punishment for the bailout they required from central funds to avoid bankruptcy. Strict financial controls over forthcoming years question whether they can remain able to compete.It was a wholly different world when Jennings signed a four-year contract and he is adamant that the changed circumstances, in which Durham have also been reconstituted as a community interest company under the chairmanship of Sir Ian Botham, leave him entitled to leave should he so wish. The exact nature of that escape route has not yet been revealed.I was slightly worried when I signed the contract about players staying but at the time I had to make a call and put my head on the block, Jennings admitted. It has been a long summer and I have a lot of thinking to do over the next two or three weeks and a lot of conversations to have.Warwickshire and Yorkshire will be among a clutch of counties monitoring the situation, but they may have to wait a while longer. Jennings, preparing for a Lions trip to Dubai, has other matters on his mind.At the moment I am really excited to be here with the Lions and I really want to focus on that first. It is the first time I have been involved with the ECB in any format and mostly I am trying to enjoy the next couple of weeks. At the end of the day everything is open. I am not saying I would like to leave because I love Durham and I love the guys at Durham.It is a challenging time for him. Much as England seek to plan their international pathway, Jennings, who came close to selection for the Test tour to India - a surfeit of left-handers did not help his cause - has suddenly sprung to prominence, much as have Ben Duckett and Haseeb Hameed, whose international careers are already underway. Duckett has emerged, too, from Division Two of the Championship. Does Jennings think he could do that? Youd better ask the selectors, he said.Strikingly, Jennings negotiated his contract without the help of an agent, which makes him a rare individual in modern-day professional sport, especially as a player with realistic international ambitions.At first meeting he is a genial sort, not immediately recognisable as the son of Ray Jennings, a former South Africa wicketkeeper who gained a reputation as a hard disciplinarian during his coaching years. Clearly, though, he has a similar appetite for self-sufficiency and between them father and son negotiated the contract that might yet hold the key to his future. He has no regrets.I learned quite a lot about myself during the process. It was interesting to call up people and have some hard conversations: in terms of who is the coach going to be, who are the senior players going to be, what role would I play?If I had given that job to an agent I wouldnt have learned as much about myself and made the contacts and friends that I have made. It has been an interesting year in a lot of respects but at the time it was the right call definitely.I have had a few friends and members of the family say we think you are a little bit crazy but I enjoy being hands on. I think my Dad enjoyed it as well. It gave him a little hobby.News of Durhams plight broke in early October when he was back in South Africa, labouring through an accounting exam for which he knew, due to the daily grind of the county circuit, he was not remotely prepared.It was the day I walked into an auditing exam. Id walked into it having not finished my coursework - during the cricket season you tend to run out of time - and I think I failed the exam which didnt help but thats life. Then I walked out of the exam to the news. It is sad what has happened but at the end of the day the guys have got to face the facts I suppose and come back from there.As players we didnt have too much of an idea about the extent of what was going on. I suppose there were the previous years financial statements we could have looked at but I dont think we realised the extent it was at. At the end of the day I am not experienced enough to sit down and analyse those statements but those are the sanctions that have been given and unfortunately that is what we have to live with.During the season there was no talk. TThere were fears that it was not as financially stable as being said but at the end of the day we didnt think we werent going to get paid or the club was going to deteriorate as quickly as the media had perceived.dddddddddddd From a players point of view we thought that everything was alright. When you are in the changing room it was a bit of a bubble and you end up caught within your 15 guys and that is your bubble.Jennings is quick to give much of the credit for keeping spirits high while rumours swirled to Collingwood, who along with the head of the academy and former coach, Geoff Cook, has become symbolic of the good things in Durham cricket while mismanagement has happened all around them and the general economic difficulties pervading the northeast have done their worstCollingwood is a huge influence in terms of social aspects, of vision and of drive, Jennings said. At 40 years old now - he will be 41 next year - he is one of the hardest trainers. After a days play he goes in the gym and he sets a standard of what is expected of you as a professional but then he will go away from cricket and really enjoy his time as well and educate the guys away from cricket about how they got that balance.There is no sense that Jennings is now holding Durham to ransom over the captaincy that Collingwood has fulfilled with such vigour. He recoils at the notion. No, not at all. I have never been a guy to put a club under the pump, to say if you dont give me the captaincy I am going to leave. That is not who I am. For me whatever is right for the team must happen. If it is right for a team that I will captain I will captain. If it is not right then I am more than happy to play a supporting role.In his early years at Durham, watching Jennings bat could be a taxing duty. He was a stilted left-hander, wary of stroke, concentrating largely on survival, especially on the demanding pitches at Chester-le-Street. Last summer, though, something clicked. It was more than just the natural progression of a career. His 1548 Championship runs, with seven centuries, spoke of higher ambitions. His improvement had its roots in some prolonged self-analysis when he questioned whether his cricketing obsession was becoming self-destructive.It was a special year for a lot of respects, he said. I suppose it was down to a slight change of mindset. I had been chatting to my uncle, who was a sports psychologist, over the winter and he went through a process of trying to help be more positive and on the back of that finding happiness and thinking Am I really happy playing cricket or am I happy doing something else? I am generally too attention-to-detail for my own good sometimes.I sat down with my dad and got a bit of happiness outside cricket and I think off the back of that it kind of helped me out. I put a bit more energy into my studies - I am studying financial accounting - although I have deferred it another year and I will finish in 2018.Then within that I did a bit of coaching, spent a little time with my niece and nephew so outside of cricket I had a bit of balance in my life instead of just being all-out cricket: gym, train, go to the ground. I played a bit of golf, enjoyed a beer and I suppose had good downtime with family.Which neatly introduces the topic of his father. When he was coach of South Africa, Jennings was once called by the Telegraph this rabid disciplinarian with his bristling moustache. His perfectionism was taken as read, his demands high, his honesty searing. His son, eager to build a cricketing career, looks on it all with equanimity.My girlfriend says we have been watered down through the generations, he laughed. My dad is very - harsh is the wrong word - he is very stern, he is very firm. He is a huge professional and this is how he puts food on the table for the family.He tells a story of his fathers playing career when, as a wicketkeeper, he grew his own grass at the Wanderers. He used to bring in his own grass seed and grow it to practice on because he knew if he dived on the grass that was there he would hurt his arms. So he grew his own grass and told the guys not to cut it. He knew exactly how he wanted it.Jennings senior, 62 now, his moustache bristling in shades of grey, coaches cricket at Dainfern College, a private co-educational school in Northern Johannesburg. The family lives on a golf estate about 2km from the school. Most days, Ray drives his golf buggy up the road and runs the cricket for 5 to 18-year-olds in the afternoon. Keaton tries to help out when he visits.He has taught me the discipline and hard work aspect of anything in my life. I have never shied away from hard work or doing the hard graft at the right time. He is a character like that - he built his own garden. There was a big unlevelled piece of land where the house is built and he carried in chest-high stones and built this little garden the way he wanted it. He is a hard-working man and very disciplined and I suppose that is what I have taken from him. ' ' '