MARTINSVILLE, Va. -- Matt Kenseth will be right behind Jimmie Johnson when the green flag drops at Martinsville Speedway on Sunday. Johnson, the only man in front of him in the Sprint Cup championship points race, is starting second and Kenseth fourth. Kenseth would love to be that close at the finish, too. Johnson has found success at the tricky 0.526-mile track shaped like a paper clip, while Kenseth has been frustrated here throughout his career. Johnson, whose lead is four points, has eight wins at Martinsville in 23 starts. Kenseth? No wins in 27 starts, and his best finish -- second -- came back in 2002. But if theres hope for the 2003 series champion, it came in the spring when Kenseth passed Johnson for the lead at one point and led for 96 laps, more than the rest of his career here combined. He wound up 14th while Johnson won, but the early burst gave Kenseth a reason for optimism. "This spring, at least the first half of the race, we were really good and really competitive and (it) really, really helped me be better because we had the car good," he said. "I dont know. Some tracks feel natural to you and comes real easy, fits your style and other ones are just a lot more work. "This one has just been, in general, a lot more work for me than other tracks." Johnson has no such problem, at Martinsville or seemingly anywhere, in Kenseths eyes. "People always say, Man, its a great track for Jimmie, he said. "Is there a bad one?" Johnson laughed when told Kenseth said "you can almost pencil the 48 in" at Martinsville. Johnson said he only needs to look at the starting lineup to realize hes got plenty of competition. "We have had a good run over the years," he said, slipping into a businesslike tone. "I understand where that comes from based on past history, but again it doesnt guarantee anything for this weekend. "At most its flattering, but weve got to go out there and get to work." Besides, Kenseth has a crafty way of his own, as Johnson experienced at Charlotte this year. "I think he ran around the top five -- fifth, sixth, seventh -- somewhere throughout the night," Johnson said of the race two weeks ago. "We were up there dominating the race and I started to think that we might pick up a couple of points on him. Then when the checkered fell he was one spot ahead of me. "He is a great driver, great team, and there is no quit in those guys." Kenseth also will have something of an advantage at the start, with three teammates surrounding Johnson. Denny Hamlin is on the pole to Johnsons inside, with Kyle Busch and Kenseth behind him. Its not Kenseths style to pay attention to where Johnson or anyone else is during the race because it doesnt change the way he races. Kenseth says he just races as hard as he can every race. With four races to go, he likes his chances in the final three at Texas, Phoenix and Homstead, Fla. Theyre all tracks where he feels his team can hit something that gives him a chance to win. But first, theres Sunday. "Good news is we are still in it as of right now," he said before Fridays qualifying runs. "Hopefully, we can have a great race on Sunday and still be in it when we leave here." Jim Sundberg Jersey . The Kings paraded the Stanley Cup through downtown Los Angeles on Monday to celebrate their second NHL title in three seasons. Arnaldo Hernandez Jersey .500. The Jets have now won nine of their last 11, and five of their last six road games. With the win they moved to within two points of Vancouver in the west, the Canucks holding down the eighth spot. Vancouver lost in Boston, while the other big game saw Dallas win in Phoenix. https://www.cheaproyals.com/. Consider it received. Attacking on offence early and often, the Penguins topped the Columbus Blue Jackets 3-1 on Saturday night as Jussi Jokinen scored the go-ahead goal in the third period to help give Pittsburgh a 3-2 lead in the Eastern Conference playoff series. Nick Dini Jersey . Jamies number grades given are out of five, with five being the best mark. Jonathan Quick, Los Angeles Kings (3) - Early goal against was on the power play. Royals Jerseys China .com) - James Harden put the Houston Rockets on his back and willed them to an overtime victory on Thursday. ABBOTSFORD, B.C. -- Seven wins in a row, and the Abbotsford Heat are still looking for ways to improve. The Heat defeated the Toronto Marlies 6-3 Sunday night in American Hockey League action, which ties a franchise record for consecutive victories. The streak has included overtime, shootouts, comebacks, and on Sunday, a blown lead in the third period. "We look back at each game and know where we havent done so well in certain areas, and known that weve been lucky to win some in this streak as well," said Brett Olson, who scored the winning goal. "Were happy with where were at. But weve just got to keep it all in perspective and learn from each game, and maintain that confidence that when we get in tight situations like this, that we can win." After the Marlies rallied from a two-goal deficit to tie the game 3-3 in the third Olson converted a pass from Knight off a Tyler Wotherspoon rush while playing four-on-four at 12:21 of the third period. "Spooner made an unbelievable rush," said Olson of the rookie defenceman Wotherspoon. "He bought time and basically sucked the guy in and was able to kick it out to Knight. Knight fed it through a nice little hole, and I didnt have to do much, to be honest with you. It was right on my tape, and I just had to put it in the open net." It was just the second goal of the year for Olson but a coachs hunch matched him with the Heats leading scorer on that shift. "The big things is, they can get up and down the rink together and they both can share the puck pretty well," said Abbotsford head coach Troy Ward. "Theyve had some chemistry so it was kind of a gut feeling." Knight added a goal and Michael Ferland also had a goal and an assist for the Heat (11-4-1), while Chad Billins, Ben Street and Markus Granlund scored the others. "That was like a playoff-atmosphere game, for the most part," said Olson. "There were a lot of hits, there was a lot of hard work to the net, a lot of puck battles on the walls, just great plays overall." Joey MacDonald made 24 saves for Abbotsford and his most important may have been with four minutes to go when he came across to glove a T.J. Brennan slap shot, a quality save even the Toronto defenceman had to acknowledge with a stick tap.dddddddddddd Josh Leivo, Trevor Smith and Jerry DAmigo scored for the Marlies (6-5-1) while Spencer Abbott chipped in with two assists to extend his point streak to 11 games. Garret Sparks stopped 24 shots for Toronto. Leivo opened the scoring for the Marlies at 8:09 when he took a pass at full speed from Abbott and made a move around a defenceman to beat MacDonald through the five-hole. The Heat tied the game at 17:46 when Greg Nemisz blazed down the right wing and threw a puck to the net. Sparks couldnt corral it and, with Nemisz in the crease, Billins raced in to wrist it past the Marlies netminder for his team-leading sixth goal of the season. The Heat took the lead at 5:02 when Street converted a two-on-one rush with Ferland and Knight made it 3-1 two minutes and 31 seconds later. Ben Hanowski fed the puck to Knight in the high slot as Olson went to the net to provide traffic and Knight placed a hard wrist shot from the top of the circle past Sparks. Toronto cut into the deficit while on a five-on-three power play. Abbott found Smith open at the side of the net and the Marlies captain one-timed it past MacDonald at 11:49. The Marlies tied the game at 6:10 of the third period when DAmigo put one past MacDonald. After blocking a shot at his own blue line, Sam Carrick rushed down the ice and tried to centre for David Broll. The puck found its way to DAmigo at the side of the net with MacDonald sprawled. "They pushed pretty hard and we took a lot of penalties in a row," said Ward. "They scored a nice five-on-three goal. We seemed to be a little bit on edge. Theyre a good hockey team. We would expect that from them. Its 3-1 and with a couple of mistakes its 3-3." Despite giving up a two-goal cushion, the team didnt get flustered, going on to score three more times, including a penalty shot by Granlund and an empty netter by Ferland. The Heat now head on their longest road trip of the season. "Its going to be a long one," said Billins. "But you know, its fun too. Its a good time to really build up the team bonding. Its going to be a battle, but youve just got to take it one game at a time. Weve got to pull off some wins here." ' ' '