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Montoya would be the first driv

(2014-12-28 22:31:55) 下一个
MOORESVILLE, N. wholesale jerseys .C. -- Juan Pablo Montoya is turning Indianapolis into his own triple play. Roger Penskes team announced Wednesday that the Colombian driver will add two NASCAR races -- Indianapolis and Michigan -- to his full-time IndyCar schedule. Montoya already is scheduled to compete in the inaugural Grand Prix of Indianapolis on May 10. One week later, he will attempt to qualify for the Indianapolis 500. Now hell return to Indy for the Brickyard 400 in July, too, and if he qualifies for each one, Montoya would be the first driver to start three feature races at Indy in the same season. "Three chances gives me a better chance of winning one of them now," said Montoya, who will drive the No. 12 Ford Fusion for Penskes team at Indy and Michigan. No driver has won even two of the biggest feature races at the track -- the 500, the Brickyard, the U.S. Grand Prix or the MotoGP race. Montoya wants to be the first to have it on his already unique resume. The 38-year-old was dominant in his 2000 Indy win, becoming the first rookie winner in 34 years. He completed another first Wednesday -- becoming the first driver to experience every racing configuration at the historic Brickyard. In addition to competing on the 2.5-mile oval in IndyCars and Cup cars, he also has competed on the original road course in Formula One, did a two-seater ride on the MotoGP course and was one of about two dozen drivers testing Indys new road course Wednesday. This years return to open-wheel cars could help him prepare for the June 15 and July 27 Cup races. He has competed in that series for the previous eight years. "I think running Michigan and here are two tracks where running open-wheel helps you, especially Michigan, which is a lot like an open-wheel car because you dont slow down much and use momentum and lot of high speed," Montoya said. "Coming here to the Brickyard, its one of those places where I feel like I got robbed a few times. To be able to come here and be able to close that deal will be really, really nice."" Montoya has two wins, 24 top-five finishes and nine pole awards in his Cup career. He has one top-10 finish in three IndyCar races this year. He will join Penskes full-time Cup drivers, Brad Keselowski and Joey Logano, both of whom have already visited Victory Lane in 2014. Ryan Blaney will drive the same No. 12 car for NASCAR races in Kansas and Talladega. SKF will sponsor all the races except Indianapolis. Until moving back this season, Montoya hadnt driven IndyCars since 2000 when he was competing with Chip Ganassis team, Penkses biggest rival. Montoya won seven races in CART and the 500 in his two open-wheel seasons with Ganassi. Their run together also included the 1999 CART championship. He then moved to Formula One, where he spent six seasons before abruptly quitting to return to the United States to compete in NASCAR. He reunited with Ganassi, but the results never came. His last win in NASCAR was in 2010, a year after he made the Chase for the Sprint Cup championship and finished a career-best eighth in the standings. Montoya was in serious contention to win at least two Brickyard 400s, but both chances slipped away in the waning laps. Montoya led 116 laps in 2009 until a speeding penalty on his final pit stop cost him the win. He was also leading in 2010 with 20 laps to go before a late caution sent him to pit road, where he got four tires while everyone else took two. Stuck deep in traffic with little time to make up the ground, Montoya crashed and finished 32nd. Penskes team is willing to give him another chance. "It (the Brickyard) is one of the biggest races of the year and to go there with somebody that could have won the race a few of times already is something that were looking forward to," Team Penske President Tim Cindric said. "To just run the Brickyard would be a pretty big ask of our team and of Juan, without having spent much time in our cars or having been out in a Cup car for a while, so we felt like we needed to give him another shot at it prior to the Brickyard so he could get ready for us." nfl jerseys china .C. -- If this was Jabari Parkers last home game at Duke, what a farewell it was. cheap jerseys . The World Group first round series will now continue Monday with Spain leading 1-0. Earlier Sunday, Czech Klara Zakopalova led the second singles match against Maria Torro-Flor 6-3, 2-0.DUBAI, United Arab Emirates -- Top-seeded Serena Williams faced some early struggles before defeating Russias Ekaterina Makarova 7-6 (8), 6-0 in the second round of the Dubai Championships on Tuesday. Williams, playing in Dubai courtesy of a wild card, has been sidelined with a back injury since losing to Ana Ivanovic in the fourth round of the Australian Open last month. It took Williams the first set to adjust to the left-handed Makarovas ability to jam many of her shots into the top-ranked Americans body. "I felt a little rusty, but it was OK," Williams said. "Body is fine. I just had to get my feet moving, but it was OK." The 24th-ranked Makarova broke Williams serve in the first game of the match and was serving for the set at 5-4. Thats when the Russian played an error-riddled game to allow Williams to even the score to 5-5. Williams had one set point on Makarovas serve in the 12th game, but smacked a backhand return over the baseline. In the tiebreaker, Makarova had two set points at 6-4 and 6-5, but couldnt take advantage of the opportunities. Williams took the first set on her third set point in the tiebreaker when Makarova shipped a forehand long. "I was really telling myself to stay positive, because I was making a lot of errors that I normally dont make, and my serve just wasnt popping the way it normally is," Williams said. "It definitely got better in the second set." In the second set, the real Serena Williams showed up and raced to a 5-0 lead. However, she had trouble serving out the final game of the match -- facing three break points before winning on her second match point when Makarova made a forehand error. "She never gives up, and in that last game she started playing even better," Williams said. "I knew that I wanted to close it out there, because shed probably feel comfortablle with holding serve and it would have been a longer match. cheap jerseys from china. " Williams now plays Lucie Safarova of the Czech Republic or fifth-seeded Jelena Jankovic of Serbia in the quarter-finals. Earlier, Ivanovic sent sixth-seeded Angelique Kerber packing 3-6, 6-3, 7-6 (6). The former top-ranked Ivanovic had three match points on Kerbers serve in the 12th game but couldnt close it out against the German who reached last weeks Doha final. Ivanovic even faced a battle in the tiebreaker. The Serbian led 5-1, but Kerber battled back to where she even had a match point at 6-5. "The first two sets a little bit too many errors on my side and a little bit from her side," Ivanovic said. "Shes such a tough competitor and retrieves lots of balls. "Im just so happy to be through." Seventh-seeded Simona Halep, who won last weeks Qatar Open in Doha, retired with a right Achilles injury while trailing Alize Cornet of France 6-1, 1-1, in the first match of the day. Halep complained of an inflamed Achilles during her run to the Doha title. "I wanted to try because I like to try to fight for my chance, but here I couldnt," Halep said. "After one set I realized that it is dangerous to continue." Eighth-seeded Caroline Wozniacki had to overcome a one-set deficit to outmanoeuvr Sabine Lisicki of Germany 2-6, 6-3, 6-3 and move into the second round. "I knew she was going to come out hot and just go for her shots, and I felt like I was just a step behind," said Wozniacki, who sports an 8-carat diamond engagement ring from fiance, golfer Rory McIloy everywhere she goes except on court. "It was nice to win this one, and, you know, onwards and upwards, as they say." Wozniacki will face German qualifier Annika Beck in the second round. Beck defeated Samantha Stosur of Australia 1-6, 6-1, 6-4. cheap jerseys ' ' '
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