but had traffic on the bases in the second and fourth. "My last two o

DOVER, Del. - Jeff Gordon doused Team Penskes hot streak with a champagne bath in Victory Lane.Sticky and sweet, Gordon had secured an emphatic automatic spot in the next round of the Chase for the Sprint Cup championship.But Gordons entry in the field of 12 was all but guaranteed even before he dominated the closing laps Sunday at Dover International Speedway. What wasnt so sure was that Hendrick Motorsports teammate Kasey Kahne was coming along for the ride.Kahne survived a bumpy 400 miles, falling four laps back before rallying for a 20th-place finish to nab the 12th and final spot in the field.Kasey made it a pretty long day, owner Rick Hendrick said. We were watching the monitor at the end of the race hoping that we didnt have a caution and Jeff could win it and Kasey could get in. I didnt know exactly how close it was going to be until I watched that monitor.NASCAR tried to inject its 10-race Chase format with a revamped formula for crowning a champion this season. Under NASCARs elimination format, four drivers will be knocked out after every third race. Dover marked the third race.That meant plenty of nerves all around the track — and tons of scoreboard watching.Kurt Busch, AJ Allmendinger, Greg Biffle and Aric Almirola were eliminated from championship contention. Four more drivers will drop out following the next three-race segment that starts next week at Kansas Speedway.Gordon joined Chase winners Brad Keselowski and Joey Logano as the three drivers who were guaranteed a berth in the next Chase round with victories.I think it makes a statement of what type of team we are, Gordon said after his fourth win of the season and 92nd overall. I think that it makes a statement that were a team to beat for this championship.Kevin Harvick also advanced, along with the Hendrick duo of Jimmie Johnson and Dale Earnhardt Jr., and Kyle Busch, Matt Kenseth, Ryan Newman and Denny Hamlin.Hamlin was the lone driver of the bottom four entering Dover to race his way into the top 12. The points will reset for the Kansas, Charlotte and Talladega bracket.The tracks just keep getting better for us as the Chase goes on, Hamlin said. This is going to be a great comeback story.Gordon won for the fifth time at Dover and first since 2001, when he won the last of his four Cup championships.Im excited about our chances, not just these next three, but all the way to Homestead, Gordon said.With crew chief Kenny Francis steadying the course after rough pit stops on the No. 5, Kahne survived a scramble that saw him nudge out Allmendinger for the final spot. Allmendinger fell two points shy of the cutoff. Busch was six off, Biffle seven and Almirola 18.I never really got nervous at all and I just raced real hard the whole time, Kahne said. Kenny started telling me we were tied for 12th and this was with 30 to go. Then he would tell me we were one point in and then maybe two points in, and then he wasnt positive. Then I started getting a little bit worried, so it was intense inside the car.Team Penske was rolling, winning four of the last five races dating to Bristol, including the first two Chase races. Keselowski was second at Dover to continue his strong Chase effort through three races.Johnson, Logano and Kenseth completed the top five at Dover. Chase drivers took 10 of 13 spots. Kyle Larson was sixth for the best finish among non-Chase drivers. Tony Stewart was 14th in his first race since a grand jury decided he would not be charged in Kevin Ward Jr.s death.Harvick appeared to have the car to beat and led a whopping 223 laps from his seventh pole of the season until he suffered tire woes and finished 13th.We can beat every car on the race track. We just need some good luck, Harvick said. If we get some luck, well win races and have a shot at the championship.Kurt Busch, the 2004 Cup champion, failed to advance in his milestone 500th career start.If youre off, its hard to put the car up on your back and run it, Busch said.Gordon had the top car down the stretch and led the last 71 laps to lead a banner day for Hendrick. At 43, Gordon entered the season answering questions about retirement. After wins at Kansas, Indianapolis, Michigan and Dover for his first four-win season since he had six in 2007, Gordon is answering questions about championships and hitting the 100-victory mark.I dont think were going to get to 100 this year, Gordon said, but I hope we get past 93. That would be pretty awesome to get a couple more.Just enough to guarantee him a spot in the winner-takes-all championship race. Cheap Nike Dunk . Bouchard went down to a 1-6, 6-1, 6-2 defeat at the hands of Svitolina in her opening match at the Sony Open on Friday. Bouchard got the rivalry going two years ago when she won the junior Wimbledon title over Svitolina. Discount Nike Dunk . -- Canadian ski cross star Marielle Thompson accomplished two goals in one race Saturday. http://www.cheapnikedunk.net/ .ca look back at each of the Top 10 stories of 2013. Today, we look back at LeBron James and the Miami Heat winning their second straight NBA championship. Cheap Nike Dunk For Sale . General Manager Sam Presti said the three-time All-Star had knee swelling that would not subside, and the procedure was intended to solve the problem. He said doctors determined that a loose stitch was to blame for the swelling, that Westbrooks lateral meniscus has healed properly and the procedure was successful. Wholesale Nike Dunk China . The International Ice Hockey Federation says Pavlovs avoided a two-year sanction because he acted "without significant negligence in failing to verify the safety of the supplements he was taking.DUNEDIN, Fla. -- Jonathan Diaz, taking off from second base, beat a throw to the plate to complete a 10th-inning Toronto comeback as the Blue Jays rallied to defeat the Baltimore Orioles 4-3 in Grapefruit League play Sunday. Toronto needed a run in the ninth and two in the 10th to stave off the Orioles, who led 2-1 going into the bottom off the ninth and then went ahead 3-2 in the 10th thanks to Dariel Alvarezs solo homer off reliever Arik Sikula. Toronto pinch-hitter Erik Kratz doubled with one out in the 10th and moved to third on a wild pitch. Diaz walked and Dan Johnson singled in Kratz to tie it at 3-3. Josh Thole, who was three-for-17 at the plate, then grounded out to Buck Britton at second base but Diaz beat the throw to home from first baseman Michael Almanzar. Diaz said third base coach Luis Perez deserved kudos for the play "It was 3-1 (count) and we were just going on the pitch," said Diaz, a slick-fielding shortstop who had come on earlier as an outfield replacement. "I give all the credit to Luis. Hes the one that saw the play and sent me. "And I just put my head down and ran as hard as I could. Luckily I was the winning run. Thats exciting." The win snapped a four-game spring losing streak for the Jays (7-10), who had looked poised to end that slide in the ninth inning. Toronto outhit Baltimore 15-10 in a game that started slow but ramped up at the end. While hardly a classic -- the two teams combined to leave 20 men for base -- it had its moments. The game, played on a 26-degree day at Florida Auto Exchange Stadium with a stiff wind blowing in from right field, drew a crowd of 4,605. Sikula, a 23-year-old minor-leaguer, ended up with the win after looking like he was going to take the loss. Toronto sent it to extra innings with a run in the ninth after loading the bases with no outs off reliever Ryan Webb through singles from Johnson, Dioner Navarro and Chris Getz. Munenori Kawasaki then hit an RBI single to tie it at 2-2. But the promising rally ended all too quickly. Baltimore (10-6) brought in left-hander Kelvin De La Cruz, who retired Moises Sierra via a sharp lineout. Kevin Pillar then hit a double-play ball back to the pitcher to end the uprising. And the Orioles made the Jays pay -- at least briefly -- in the 10th with the homer. De La Cruz took the loss while Webb was tagged with a blown save. The Orioles went ahead 2-0 in the fourth on RBI doubles by Steve Clevenger and Ryan Flaherty after Adam Jones got on booard on an infield hit and moved to second on a Todd Redmond wild pitch.dddddddddddd. Toronto pulled one back in the bottom of the fourth. On the plus side, the Jays continued to display good defence with Brett Lawrie handling hot shots at third in the second and fourth innings and Colby Rasmus tracking down a high ball in the wind in the third. Melky Cabrera gunned down Almanzar from left field in the seventh as he tried to come home from second on a single. Chunky catcher Navarro, however, was thrown out at the plate to snuff out a Jays rally in the seventh. Redmond, the Jays starter, scattered four hits over five innings, giving up two runs. He struck out four and walked one. He gave way to 2010 first-round draft choice Aaron Sanchez, whose fastball hit 97 m.p.h. on the speed gun during a Houdini-like appearance that saw the 21-year-old live dangerously but somehow survive. Sanchez loaded the bases with no outs in the sixth but escaped with a double play that removed the lead runner and a groundout. In the seventh, he kept the Orioles from scoring after putting two men on base. Redmond came into the game having given up seven earned runs and 11 hits in four spring outings for an ERA of 7.00. The 28-year-old right-hander is out of options, meaning another club could pick him up if the Jays sent his down. Redmond had 1-2-3 innings in the first, third and fifth but had traffic on the bases in the second and fourth. "My last two outings (have been) definitely in the right direction," said Redmond, hoping to stick with the big league team. Orioles starter Miguel Gonzalez, who went 11-8 last season with a 3.78 ERA, retired 10 straight between first and fourth inning before running into some trouble. He exited after four innings, yielding one run on five hits with three strikeouts. Singles by Edwin Encarnacion, Adam Lind and Cabrera with two outs in the fourth produced a Jays run, with Jones throw from centre making it close at the plate. Lawrie made it four singles in a row to load the bases but the five-foot-nine 205-pound Navarro grounded out to end the rally. The Jays looked to do it again with two singles in the fifth against reliever Alfredo Aceves but second baseman Jemile Weeks snuffed out the charge with an acrobatic catch of an Encarnacion broken bat hit. The Jays have an off-day Monday before travelling to Lakeland to face a Detroit Tigers split squad on Tuesday. Ricky Romero is slated to start in his continued bid to win back a place in the Jays rotation. ' ' '