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DOVER, Del. -- Martin Truex Jr.?endured season after empty season as other drivers hoisted trophies and celebrated championships, and he wondered if he was running out of time to become a winner.Bad cars, bad teams, bad luck.Whatever the cause, Truex was a journeyman driver seemingly doomed to a mediocre career. Now, what quantifies as a downer in Truexs career rebirth is that he failed to actually sweep the first round of the Chase -- but two of three is pretty dominant.Were not messing around, I guess, Truex said. We are here to get it done.Truexs late-season surge extended Sunday at Dover International Speedway, where he captured his second victory in the first three Chase races. Truex won for the fourth time this season in the No. 78 Toyota and paired this Chase win with his opening victory at Chicagoland.Kind of a bonus win, crew chief Cole Pearn said. We didnt need it all.Well, plenty of other Chase drivers did.Tony Stewart finished 13th, and the three-time NASCAR champion was knocked out of contention in the first elimination race of the Chase for the Sprint Cup championship.Chris Buescher and Chip Ganassi Racing teammates Kyle Larson and Jamie McMurray also dropped out of the Chase. The field was sliced from 16 drivers to 12.Austin Dillon finished eighth and moved from outside the points cutoff of the Chase to a transfer spot and advanced to the next round.Kevin Harvick, Kyle Busch, Brad Keselowski, Matt Kenseth, Joey Logano, Chase Elliott, Jimmie Johnson, Denny Hamlin, Carl Edwards and Kurt Busch joined Truex and Dillon in the next round that opens at Charlotte Motor Speedway.Kyle Busch was second, followed by Elliott, Keselowski, Kenseth and Logano -- the only five other cars that finished on the lead lap.Truex won his first career Cup race at Dover in 2007 and didnt win again until 2013. But his career took off in 2015, his second year at Furniture Row Racing, and he used a win at Pocono last year to make the Chase and become one of four drivers racing for the championship in the finale.His career absolutely exploded with FRR and Toyota this season. Truex led a stunning 392 laps in a Coca-Cola 600 victory and then won at Darlington just two races before the Chase opened. He has led at least 140 laps in three of the last four races.The last month has just been ridiculous, he said.Harvick won last week at New Hampshire and was the only other driver to earn an automatic berth in the second round.Here are other items of note from Dover:SMOKE OUTStewart, the 2002, 2005 and 2011 Cup champion, will retire at the end of the season without a fourth championship.Ill tell you one thing, this one race, whatever happens, is not going to define the season this team has, Stewart told his team over the radio.He fell just short of keeping a drive for four alive.We kept making it better all day. That is as good as we had, he said.GANASSI GAFFESGanassi went from two Chase drivers to none.Larsons race turned into a disaster early when the No. 42 Chevrolet lost power. His Chevy was pushed to pit road and a battery was changed. He then had to serve a pass-through penalty for having too many crew members over the wall during the pit stop.Larson, one of the top young drivers in the sport, had held the final transfer spot entering the race.Jamie McMurray saw his Chase end at Dover for the second straight season. He battled problems in the No. 1 Chevy for most of the race before his engine blew near the halfway point. McMurray was 13th and hoped to race his way into the next round. He held the final transfer spot heading into last years race and lost his spot to Dale Earnhardt Jr.FIRST TO (ALMOST) WORSTHarvick had to take a deep breath and be thankful that he won last week at New Hampshire, or he would have faced sure elimination. Harvicks No. 4 Chevrolet had a broken track bar early in the race that sent the car to the garage. Harvick returned more than 40 laps off the pace and finished 37th. Harvick, the 2014 Sprint Cup champion, has never finished last in a race in his career.JUNIOR AND JEFFEarnhardt watched the race from atop the pit box for the first time because his season ended in July (concussion). Jeff Gordon finished 10th in Juniors regular 88 Chevrolet ride. Gordon, who had retired at the end of last season, has one more race left subbing for Earnhardt later this month at Martinsville.DOUBLE DIPDaniel Suarez won the Xfinity Series, delayed a day by rain, to kick off 600 miles of racing. NASCAR ran its first Xfinity-Cup doubleheader since April 25, 2010, at Talladega Superspeedway.UP NEXTThe second round of the Chase opens at Charlotte and Logano is the defending race winner. Phillips Valdez Jersey . Duchene scored two goals and had an assist, helping the Colorado Avalanche beat the Carolina Hurricanes 4-2 on Friday night to match the best 10-game start in team history. Bartolo Colon Jersey . As he recorded his 23rd and 24th points of the evening, a segment of the sellout Air Canada Centre crowd expressed their appreciation for the Raptors point guard with a smattering of MVP chants. https://www.cheaprangersbaseball.com/112h-jim-sundberg-jersey-rangers.html . Ronaldo produced a spectacular individual performance on Tuesday, scoring all three goals and guiding Portugal into the next years World Cup in Brazil with a 3-2 victory in Sweden. The Real Madrid forward has scored 66 goals in 2013, but the last three may be the boost he needs to upstage Messi after FIFA unexpectedly extended the voting period for the Ballon dOr to Nov. Prince Fielder Jersey . Deulofeu injured a muscle in his right leg in Evertons 4-1 win over Fulham in the English Premier League on Saturday. Barcelona says that its team doctors will "co-ordinate" with Evertons medical staff as Deulofeu recovers. Jesse Chavez Rangers Jersey .Y. - New York City has been selected to host the NBA All-Star weekend in 2015, with the game played at Madison Square Garden and the slam dunk contest and other skills events held at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn. SALT LAKE CITY -- The NBA is loaded with top-tier point guards, and talented players at the position will get good looks during Summer League play.Games begin Saturday in Orlando, on Monday in Salt Lake City, and on July 8 in Las Vegas. And though there are about 90 roster spots for point guards in the NBA, a strong pedigree is no longer enough: Players such as Marcus Paige, a McDonalds All-American who led North Carolina to the national championship game, face an uphill climb to make a team.The Utah Jazz havent reached the playoffs since 2012 and Paige still remains a long shot with six other point guards on the team.Its kind of a great era for point guards right now in the NBA, said Paige, the No. 55 overall pick. Theres no nights off. Youve got elite talent almost at every spot, especially in the West.You want to be a competitor. You want to accept that challenge. You know youre not on that level right away, but you can aspire to work every day and work to get to that level. Im just excited for the different challenges. Gone is the physical style in which the ball is mostly dumped into the post for centers to go to work. Now teams must deal with a Stephen Curry, Russell Westbrook, Damian Lillard, Chris Paul, John Wall, Kyrie Irving and a host of other skilled ballhandlers on a nightly basis.The Minnesota Timerbwolves drafted Providence point guard Kris Dunn with the third overall pick despite Ricky Rubio coming off his best year as a pro. General manager Scott Layden said its difficult finding a good point guard that also holds his own on the defensive end.In the NBA its so hard to find two-way players, Layden said. The other thing is, how hard it is to find a good point guard. ... Kris, when you watched him play, he made others better. When youre leading a team, thats so important. The toughness factor, when you get that from your point guard, it seems to resonate to the rest of the group. And the ability to defend, because often times youre defending the other teams best player.Teams are regularly carrying three point guards on a roster and continue to look for help at the position. Summer Leagues will featuure former college standouts such as Notre Dames Demetrius Jackson, Kentuckys Marquis Teague, Ohio States Aaron Craft, Oregons Joe Young, Louisvilles Terry Rozier and Arizonas T.ddddddddddddJ. McConnell -- all facing the same challenge as Paige.Jazz general manager Dennis Lindsey acknowledged a dearth of point guards on the roster and hopes to work with Paige and his agent on a way to keep him in the organization regardless of whether he makes the club.Its a very important time for me, Paige said of Summer League. Its a guard heavy roster, but Im trying to make it in the league. So I have to show what Im capable of and build on what I did in the combine and in workouts to show that Im somebody that can make a difference at the next level with my shooting. With my playmaking in the pick and roll. And with my competitiveness and leadership.Rule changes and shifts in playing style have given ball handlers an advantage in todays NBA. The lane has widened from its original 6 feet to the current 16, pushing big men farther from the basket. Hand-checking and arm-bars are now fouls, making it more difficult for defenders to stay in front ball handlers, particularly the likes of James Harden. The strategic emphasis on spacing and the pick-and-roll gives quicker players with handles more room to operate.But teams are specifically thirsty for point guards. The Pacers traded for Jeff Teague in a three-team deal that sent George Hill to the Jazz. The Hawks valued Dennis Schroder over Teague. Mike Conley is in for big pay day in free agency, and the Brooklyn Nets have agreed to a deal with free agent Jeremy Lin. The Knicks traded for former MVP Derrick Rose with hopes he can return to a top-tier level of play.Summer League rosters are full of point guards drafted in the second round with no guarantees, and others that signed as undrafted free agents. The odds are long, but the emphasis on the position has organizations searching for diamonds in the rough.It should be an intriguing 17 days of action. ' ' '