LONG POND, Pa. - Jimmie Johnson walked into the media centre holding his daughters hand, his pregnant wife right behind them. Their second child is due in September, right around the time of the final race before the Chase field is set. With an automatic berth in NASCARs playoffs secured, Johnson has permission to skip the race for the big birth. "If Chani goes into labour early, I dont have to worry about Richmond," Johnson said. A week after a late penalty denied his chance at a win, Johnson absolutely dominated Sunday at Pocono Raceway, leading 128 of 160 laps for his third victory of the season. "Jimmies switched on right now," crew chief Chad Knaus said. "Hes as good or better as Ive ever seen him." High praise for the five-time champion. Even during his championship run, Johnson rarely cruised like he did on the 2 1/2-mile triangle track. The Sprint Cup points leader, Johnson pulled away on both of the last two restarts over the final 10 laps to pull into Victory Lane at Pocono for the first time since he swept both races in 2004. Johnson was never seriously challenged a week after his run at a possible win at Dover International Speedway was taken away by a penalty off a restart. NASCAR penalized him for jumping leader Juan Pablo Montoya off the restart with 19 laps left and he finished 17th. It was a rare misstep for Johnson but he rebounded just fine at Pocono. "It would have been very easy to come in here with a chip on your shoulder or a grudge," Knaus said. "Jimmie is not that kind of guy." Johnson, though, briefly flirted with the idea of pulling some sort of restart stunt to send a message to NASCAR. He just couldnt bring himself to try and get one over on Hendrick Motorsports teammate Dale Earnhardt Jr. "I wanted to prove a point and show everyone what could happen in that restart zone," Johnson said. There was no need. The No. 48 Chevrolet was that dialed in. He pretty much only lost the lead because of pit stop cycles. After only one caution in the first 125 laps, they came in bunches over the last 35. Johnson held off Earnhardt with nine laps left and pulled away one more time with four to go. "Hes one of the best drivers this sport has ever seen," Earnhardt said. "Chad Knaus is probably one of the smartest crew chiefs the sport has ever seen." Johnson also won the Daytona 500 and at Martinsville Speedway this season. His 63rd career Cup victory helped stretch his points lead to 51 over Carl Edwards. Johnson won from the pole after rain washed out qualifying Friday. Odds are, Johnson wont really skip a race, especially with the due date in mid-September. But if he has that top seed locked up and is needed in a pinch, hell put family first. "Thats what Im working so hard for," Johnson said. Greg Biffle was second and Earnhardt. Dover winner Tony Stewart was fourth, followed by fellow Stewart-Haas Racing driver Ryan Newman. "I really didnt have anything for Jimmie," Biffle said. "Jimmie was in a league of his own." Earnhardt would love a repeat of last season when he was in contention at Pocono before settling for eighth, then won the next week at Michigan International Speedway. He wasnt won since — and Michigan is on deck. "We want to get a win, man," Earnhardt said. "I can see it right there in front of me. I really thought we got close." Kyle Busch, Kurt Busch, Denny Hamlin, Kevin Harvick and Joey Logano rounded out the top 10. Stewart and Newman continued a three-week resurgence for SHR, though Danica Patrick was 29th. Stewart jumped three spots to 13th in the standings and still has the No. 1 wild-card spot in the Chase for the Sprint Cup championship. The final race before the 12-driver field is set is Sept. 7. "Its not just one team, the whole organization is gaining momentum," Stewart said. Johnson had his ninth top-10 finish of 2013 and has now won at least three races in 11 of his 12 full-time seasons. His 128 laps led were the most of his career at Pocono — amazing since the race was shortened from 200 laps to 160 last season. Consider, in Johnsons first Pocono win in 2004, it was only the ninth of his career and he had yet to win a championship. For all his success, Johnson never takes it for granted. "There are no guarantees well win again, there really arent," he said. "The sport moves so fast." At Pocono, the No. 48 led the way. Adidas Superstar Dames Goedkoop .4 million title. Ryan Riess emerged with the title after a session in which he started behind, but used expert skill to gather the chips to his side amid the unpredictability of no-limit Texas Hold em. Riess put his final opponent Jay Farber all-in with an Ace-King. NMD_R1 Schoenen .S. hockey team after paying his dues as an NHL general manager for more than three decades and giving up a lot of his free time to help USA Hockey. http://www.nmdtekoop.com/falcon-sneakers.html . Howard Ganz, an MLB lawyer, said in a letter to U.S. District Judge Edgardo Ramos that Rodriguezs claims do not come "remotely close" to what is needed to overturn an arbitration decision in federal court. Adidas NMD Aanbieding . Mickelson barely made the cut but had the best round of the day with nine birdies and an eagle coupled with two bogeys to sit two shots behind leader Craig Lee of Scotland. Lee shot a 69 for a 12-under 204 total. "I just love the fact I am in contention and have an opportunity in my first tournament of the year here in Abu Dhabi," Mickelson said. Adidas Stan Smith Goedkoop . Haas said he "felt a lot of pain" in his right shoulder when he slammed his racket to the ground in frustration after losing his serve at 3-3 in the first set. PHILADELPHIA -- Jonathan Lucroys bat and some good fortune helped the Milwaukee Brewers avoid their worst month ever. Lucroy went 5 for 5 with two home runs and four RBIs as the Brewers battered a struggling Cole Hamels to beat the Philadelphia Phillies 8-5 on Friday night, snapping their longest losing streak of the season at six games. "Im happy we won, thats the biggest thing," Lucroy said. Yovani Gallardo (4-5) overcame a shaky first inning to stop a four-game skid, the worst of his career. Yuniesky Betancourt added three hits and an RBI for the Brewers, who averted setting a dubious record for the worst month in franchise history. Milwaukee finished May with a .214 winning percentage (6-22) to tie the Seattle Pilots, who went 6-22 in August 1969 during their lone season before becoming the Milwaukee Brewers in 1970. "Weve had problems this month?" joked Brewers manager Ron Roenicke. "Yes, it was a big win." It was the third time in club history that a team won just six games in a month. Gallardo tossed 5 2-3 innings while allowing five runs on six hits with six strikeouts and three walks. Francisco Rodriguez pitched a scoreless ninth for his second save. "Its been tough but the guys are still battling," Gallardo said. Domonic Brown continued his power surge with a pair of homers and four RBIs for the Phillies. Brown has six home runs in his last five games and finished May with 12 homers. Jimmy Rollins also went deep for Philadelphia, which has lost four of six. Hamels (1-9) combined some bad luck and bad pitching into another defeat. The left-hander, who signed a $144 million, six-year contract last season, left to a mixture of boos and cheers after giving up seven runs (six earned) on a career-worst 12 hits with three strikeouts and no walks in five-plus innings. "I wouldve never figured he would have this much trouble winning a game," Phillies manager Charlie Manuel said. Hamels became the first Phillies pitcher to lose nine games before June since Kid Gleason in 1891. "No matter what the stats say, you want to try to win (for the team) and thats not happening," Hamels said. "Thats kind of the difficult part." The Brewers scored four runs on five hits in a third inning that was indicative of Hamels strange season. Norichika Aoki led off with a chopper over the mound that just eluded Hamels. Jean Segura reached on an error and Ryan Brauns weakly hit pop fly fell in short right between three charging Phillies to load the bases. Aramis Ramirez drove in Aoki with a broken-bat sinngle that found a hole on the right side of the infield.dddddddddddd Carlos Gomez followed with a sacrifice fly that was the first solidly hit ball of the inning, and the Brewers got another run on Lucroys solid single to right. Milwaukee went up 6-3 on Betancourts infield single that deflected off Hamels glove. "We got lucky in the third inning," Roenicke said. "Its about time we had some luck. Weve been coming up in key situations and hitting bullets to guys." Hamels, who has been plagued by shaky defence at times and a lack of run support much of the season, could use some good fortune. "Thats exactly how his seasons going," Manuel said of the third. There was nothing fluky, though, about Lucroys long homer to left that opened the fifth and put Milwaukee up 7-4. That was one of two mistakes Hamels said he made all night. "I felt really good, had all of my pitches working," Hamels said. "The game of baseball is very funny. I dont have a lot of control over certain aspects of the game. "All I can do is fight away and try to make the right pitches. You have to keep understanding that you can only control so much." Brown hit the second of his two homers, a long shot to right, leading off the sixth to pull Philadelphia to 7-5. But the Phillies didnt get a hit off four Brewers relievers in 3 1-3 scoreless innings. Philadelphia got off to a good start, taking a 3-0 lead in the first inning -- highlighted by Browns two-run homer to right -- to give Hamels his first lead in 62 innings since April 7. "Early on I was trying to be too perfect," Gallardo said. "I was falling behind, especially against Brown, and hes a hot hitter. I was trying to go down and away and they were over and up." Lucroy launched his second homer into the Phillies bullpen in centre off right-hander Mike Adams with two outs in the eighth. NOTES: Struggling Phillies slugger Ryan Howard attempted a rare bunt leading off the eighth against the Brewers overshifted defence. Howard fouled off the bunt before striking out to finish 0 for 3. ... The Phillies released right-handed reliever Chad Durbin and recalled left-hander Joe Savery from Triple-A Lehigh Valley. ... Philadelphia 76ers centre Andrew Bynum was in attendance. ... Phillies right-hander Tyler Cloyd (1-1, 5.74 ERA) is scheduled to face RHP Mike Fiers (1-3, 6.62) on Saturday. ... Combined with the five stolen bases allowed Thursday to Boston leadoff man Jacoby Ellsbury, the Phillies gave up eight straight steals before Gomez was caught in the ninth. ' ' '
