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06/07/2010 - Long Pond, PA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The next chapter in NASCAR's "boys, have at it" story of the season was written on Sunday at Pocono Raceway, with Joey Logano and Kevin Harvick re-igniting their feud.
While Logano's teammate, Denny Hamlin, drove into victory lane at Pocono for the fourth time in his career, Logano and Harvick faced off on pit road after the two tangled in the closing laps.
Harvick bumped Logano and put him into a spin while the two were battling for the fifth position with less than two laps remaining. The incident set up a green-white-checkered finish. Logano charged through the field during the two- lap overtime finish to salvage a 13th-place finish.
After Logano's pit crew tried to simmer down their 20-year-old driver during his cool-down lap, Logano parked his car right next to Harvick's ride and then proceeded to have a shouting match with the current Sprint Cup Series points leader.
Harvick's crew members blocked Logano from getting face to face with their driver, as NASCAR officials intervened to prevent a post-race brawl. Logano's father, Tom, also partook in the confrontation.
A generally calm and easy-going Logano expressed his ire towards Harvick during an interview with television network TNT.
"I don't know what his problem is with me, but it's probably not his fault; his wife wears the fire suit in the family and tells him what to do," Logano said.
Harvick finished fourth and left Pocono with a 19-point advantage over Kyle Busch, who also is Logano's teammate at Joe Gibbs Racing.
"I got into him there going into [turn] three, and he just races with not giving people any respect and not much room," Harvick said. "So we just wound up getting together. It's unfortunate, but that's the way it goes."
It's not the first time Logano and Harvick have butted heads. In March, Harvick bumped Logano on the final lap of the Nationwide Series race at Bristol. Logano, who ended up finishing 14th, tried to confront Harvick on pit road, but his JGR crew kept him distant from Harvick.
It's obvious that Logano and Harvick are not the best of friends these days.
I don't know what I ever did to [tick] him off, but he is apparently stupid," Logano added.
Following his argument with Harvick at Pocono, NASCAR officials summoned Logano and his father to the sanctioning body's hauler for a post-race chat.
"I think we probably missed the fire that's inside of Joey," team owner Joe Gibbs said. "You're talking about somebody we signed when he was 15, and we kind of watched him race at different places. I think he does have a real fire. Now, he controls himself. He's somebody that rarely gets out of control. But I definitely think he's got a real passion for what he does. It means a lot to him."
Tom Logano has been in trouble with NASCAR in the past. Logano had his NASCAR annual credential (hard card) taken away after his involvement in a post-race skirmish between Joey Logano and Greg Biffle in a Nationwide event last October in Fontana, CA.
Maybe it's time for daddy Logano to start letting his son - now out of his teens - handle his own problems. Makes you wonder who's wearing the younger Logano's fire suit, doesn't it?
<< Former UMass standout joins Toronto Argonauts
Mississauga, ON (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Former Massachusetts tailback Tony Nelson
signed with the Toronto Argonauts of the Canadian Football League in time for
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<< Culpepper signs with UFL's Sacramento club
Sacramento, CA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Former NFL quarterback Daunte Culpepper has
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<< La Salle agrees to multi-year contract with Giannini
Philadelphia, PA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - La Salle and head men's basketball coach
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Near perfect game gives Galarraga AL weekly honor >>
New York, NY (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Detroit Tigers pitcher Armando Galarraga,
who had a perfect game taken away on a blown call on what would have been the
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Martinez happy to see Cleveland >>
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BOSTON (AP) -The Celtics were able to hold on in Game 2 because they held onto the ball.Boston committed 12 turnovers in the first half and just two in the second in Sunday night's 103-94 victory over the Los Angeles Lakers. The win evened the best-
NEW YORK (AP) -By staying away from the cupcakes, Southern California earned itself a slim new ranking.
No. 1 always seems to fit USC.
Southern California jumped two spots to No. 1 in The Associated Press Top 25 on Tuesday, rewarded by voters for opening the season with a dominant performance on the road against a BCS conference opponent.
Georgia and Ohio State, the preseason Nos. 1 and 2, respectively, started their seasons with glorified scrimmages at home against FCS (formerly I-AA) teams. USC, however, traveled across country to face Virginia and could not have been more impressive in a 52-7 victory.
Georgia fell to No. 2 and Ohio State to No 3.
"We realize that rankings so early in a season are certainly fluid. But rankings do help establish a pecking order for things later in the season," USC coach Pete Carroll said in a statement. "As for moving into the No. 1 spot, it's nice to know that people think highly of our team."
Since reaching No. 1 on Dec. 7, 2003, the final-regular season AP poll of that season, USC has been No. 1 in 39 polls, by far the most of any team during that time.
"Some have said the voters are taking our schedule into consideration," Carroll said. "Our philosophy has always been to schedule outstanding opponents. We need to play challenging games like we just did, traveling across the country to open the season at Virginia. Games like that bring out our best and make us stronger as a team."
The latest voting was close. USC received 21 first-place votes and 1,539 points from the 65-member media panel. Georgia had 20 first-place votes and 1,506 points. Ohio State got 15 first-place votes and 1,497 points.
"I'd say we've evolved as pollsters," said Stewart Mandel of SI.com, who moved USC up to No. 1. "In the past, voters just kind of automatically moved teams up and kept teams where they were if they won."
Georgia beat Georgia Southern 45-21 on Saturday and Ohio State opened with a 43-0 win over Youngstown State.
"There's a bit of a growing backlash for the amount of teams that open with I-AA cupcakes," said Mandel, whose book "Bowls, Polls and Tattered Souls" chronicles college football's controversies. "To see a team [USC] go on the road and play a New Year's Day bowl team from last season, and not only play them but destroy them, how could you not reward that team?"
USC also jumped past Georgia to No. 1 in the USA Today coaches' poll, which has the same top five as the AP poll.
"It's definitely a privilege to be No. 1. But it's not heartbreaking to me if we drop," Georgia offensive lineman Josh Davis said. "It doesn't matter right now what we're ranked. What matters is our next game and right now, that's Central Michigan. The only time the polls matter is in December. That's when the polls matter."
While the Bulldogs opened easy, their schedule ultimately should be as difficult as any team's. Georgia's big nonconference test is at No. 15 Arizona State on Sept. 20. The Bulldogs also face six Southeastern Conference rivals that've been ranked in the first two polls.
As for Ohio State, the Buckeyes play at USC on Sept. 13 before getting into the Big Ten schedule.
But of the teams in this week's top 10, USC and Texas are the only ones that don't play an FCS opponent, and the Trojans are the only team that doesn't play a team from a non-BCS conference.
Get the latest 2009 BCS Championship odds at MySportsbook.com.
The last team to drop from No. 1 after a victory was USC last season. LSU jumped from No. 2 to No. 1 when it beat Tulane 34-9, the same week the Trojans edged Washington 27-24 on the road.
The last preseason No. 1 team to lose the top spot after winning its opening game was Florida in 2001. The Gators beat Marshall 49-14, but preseason No. 2 Miami opened with a 33-7 victory over Penn State and the Hurricanes jumped to No. 1 with Florida slipping to second.
The next four teams in the new Top 25 stayed the same: No. 4 Oklahoma (two first-place votes), No. 5 Florida (five first-place votes), No. 6 Missouri (one first-place vote), No. 7 LSU (one first-place vote) and No. 8 West Virginia.
No. 9 Auburn and No. 10 Texas each moved up a spot, taking advantage of Clemson's big drop. Clemson, ninth in the preseason, fell out after losing 34-10 to Alabama on Saturday.
Also falling out after losses were Virginia Tech, Pittsburgh and Tennessee.
Moving into the rankings were No. 21 Fresno State, No. 22 Utah, No. 23 UCLA and No. 24 South Carolina.
Alabama moved up 11 spots after its big victory over Clemson.
The second 10 started with No. 11 Wisconsin, followed by Texas Tech, Alabama and Kansas. BYU and Arizona State were tied for 15th. Rivals BYU and Utah are both ranked for the first time since 1996.
South Florida was No. 17, ahead of Oregon, Penn State and Wake Forest at No. 20.
The final five were all the teams to move into the ranking, except for Illinois, which dropped four spots and tied South Carolina for No. 24.
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