with Ujiri.dddddddddddd Casey said Ujiri and Leiweke operate differently

CHARLOTTE, N.C. -- Kevin Harvick has found himself against the ropes in NASCARs playoffs in each of the last two years. Tired of having to fight his way into the championship race, he is determined to leave nothing to chance.A win two weeks ago at New Hampshire earned him an automatic berth in the second round of the Chase for the Sprint Cup championship. Hed like a win Saturday night at Charlotte Motor Speedway to push him right into the third round.For this three-race segment, the 2014 NASCAR champion has eyed Charlotte as a track that gives him a good shot at a victory. The round also goes to Kansas next week before concluding at Talladega Superspeedway.Charlotte is probably the one Im looking forward to the most, Harvick said. Weve had so much success there. Weve run well there, really, every time weve been there with our Stewart-Haas Racing cars.Harvick has three career points victories at Charlotte, including the October race during his championship season. That victory pushed Harvick into the round of eight of the Chase.Hes also has had success racing at night, something Charlotte Motor Speedway President Marcus Smith noted this week. He dubbed Harvick Nighthawk because Harvick has not finished outside the top 10 at night in the last seven races. Hes only been outside the top-five twice in that span.Harvick has also won six times in night races on the NASCAR schedule since 2012.But with practice time during the daylight this weekend, hes not sure what to expect.Charlotte is a really finicky racetrack and, with the way we practice, most of the practice will be done during the day with the race being at night, he said. Temperature has a huge factor in how the racetrack changes, how the pace changes, so you have to try to guess a little bit on that. You have to try to plan and balance all those things to have a good plan, but you have to be ready to abort that plan and come up with a new one on the fly at any given point.CLAUSON-MOST POPULARThe late Bryan Clauson was honored as the fans favorite driver in the IndyCar Series during a remembrance for the three-time Indianapolis 500 starter.Clauson died from injuries suffered in a sprint car crash in Kansas in August. He was leading when he was involved in the accident, which came in his 116th race of the year. Popular throughout the paddock, Clauson was attempting to race in 200 events this year and was one of the most well-liked drivers in every series.He was remembered during IndyCars season-ending awards ceremony Tuesday night by Conor Daly, who was teammates with Clauson during this years Indianapolis 500 and, like Clauson, grew up in Noblesville, Indiana.You could always tell Bryan had such a strong positive impact on the racing world because everyone across the sport was happy to see him get a shot in the Indy 500, Daly said. It was a true pleasure getting to work with Bryan this year at Indy and to see the whole crowd and everyone around us support him and love seeing him there. He was and forever will be a driver to look up to, a person to strive to be like, and a hero.RACE OF CHAMPIONSJuan Pablo Montoya and Tony Kanaan will both compete in this years Race Of Champions all-star event, which will be held in their adopted hometown of Miami.Kanaan competed in the event in 2004, the year of his IndyCar championship, when it was held in France. The Brazilian partnered with Felipe Massa and the duo advanced to the semifinals.Having the race here in my backyard is the perfect opportunity to be part of it and to race against the biggest names from motorsport around the world, Kanaan said.Montoya will be making his Race of Champions debut. He and Kanaan bring the field to eight confirmed drivers for the event. Also committed to date for the January 21-22 race at Marlins Park Stadium are Ryan Hunter-Reay, Sebastian Vettel, nine-time Le Mans 24 Hours winner Tom Kristensen and Kurt Busch.Custom Patriots T-shirts . The Brazilian goalkeeper signed a loan deal with the Major League Soccer club on Friday as he looks to get playing time ahead of this summers World Cup in his home country. Cheap Patriots Jerseys . However, he did make them miss him a little less. Cundiff, who had the unenviable job of replacing Dawson last season, agreed Thursday to a one-year, $1. http://www.custompatriotsjersey.com/ . "Four now," Carl Gunnarsson told the Leaf Report proudly following a 5-2 victory over New York on Tuesday night, the clubs fifth straight at home. Cheap Custom Patriots Jersey . PETERSBURG, Fla. Custom Patriots Jersey China With a new management team in place and the addition of a couple of key role players, Raptors head coach Dwane Casey is hopeful his team can make the jump into a playoff position in 2013-14. Speaking on TSN 1050s Macko & Cauz show on Tuesday, the third-year bench boss is excited to see how his new pieces blend with the teams young core. “We needed toughness inside to go along with Jonas Valanciunas), Amir Johnson and Aaron Gray and we brought in Tyler Hansbrough, who I think our fans will be excited about.” To go along with the former Pacers power forward, the team addressed its perimeter shooting need via the Andrea Bargnani deal and in free agency. “We needed three-point shooting and we got Steve Novak and Austin Daye, who is a young untapped talented player who has three-point shooting ability.” Following a 17-32 start, the Raptors played the rest of the season one game over .500, in part because of a renewed emphasis on the defensive end. “We will get back to defence and let the offence take care of itself,” Casey said. “I thought Masai (Ujiri), Jeff (Weltman) and our management team did an excellent job of bringing in the type of players that will fit our needs.” Still, the team finished four games out of a playoff spot and new president and CEO Tim Leiweke decided to make a change in the basketball operations department, replacing former GM Bryan Colanagelo with Ujiri.dddddddddddd Casey said Ujiri and Leiweke operate differently than Coloangelo in that the former GM took a more hands-on approach than the current structure. “Bryans management style is more hands on. Hes there every day, hes involved…Theres nothing wrong with that, its just a different management style.” Casey is confident where the team is headed, but noted that the expectation of a playoff spot last season may have been too unrealistic. “I thought we put the cart before the horse last year in talking about the playoffs too soon, we were still building…Adding Rudy, adding some of the pieces we have now, weve accelerated that building.” Casey mentioned that while the team is positioned to make a playoff push this season, the overall focus is still on growing and developing the talented core they have in place. “We have good young talent thats getting better, but at the same time we want to win. We owe it to our fans, we owe it to our organization to put our best foot forward and go out to compete to win.” ' ' '