had three top-five and 10 top-10 finishes in 69 races.AJ Allmendinger: The Dinger is a good example of a driver who tends to excel at one road course but n

Kyle Edmund came of age with victory over Serbias Dusan Lajovic to lead defending champions Great Britain into the semifinals of the Davis Cup.The 21-year-old was given the responsibility of being Britains number one player in only his second Davis Cup tie after Andy Murray pulled out.Edmund secured his first win in the competition in impressive fashion against Janko Tipsarevic on Friday and, after Jamie Murray and Dom Inglot put Britain 2-1 up in Belgrade on Saturday, found himself in the position of trying to win the tie.He played superbly until nerves kicked in when he served for the match in the third set but recovered his composure to win 6-3, 6-4, 7-6 (7/5).The victory extended Britains winning run in the competition to six ties and set up a semifinal against Argentina in September, probably in Glasgow.Andy Murray may well play in that one, making Britain firm favourites to reach the final once again.It was a rather different Sunday for the world number two, who seven days after winning Wimbledon found himself sitting in conditions more typical of a Scottish summer as he cheered on Edmund.But persistent drizzle did not prevent the match starting on time and Edmund, ranked 14 places above his opponent at 67 in the world, immediately took control.Lajovic is a solid player and a very good mover on clay but the 26-year-old does not have a shot to rival Edmunds forehand -- he hit 27 winners off that wing alone -- and it was soon doing plenty of damage.The result ended up as 3-2 to Britain after Tipsarevic defeated James Ward 6-2, 3-6, 7-5 in the dead rubber.Edmund broke serve for the first time in the sixth game and showed his confidence by serving out the set with two aces. The only real moments of danger for the Yorkshireman came in the middle of the second set.First he was distracted by noise from the crowd when he threatened another break at 2-2, and then he found himself facing a first break point. But he held, broke for 4-3 and then put behind him the disappointment of missing two set points on the Lajovic serve to clinch it confidently on his third chance.Lajovics only hope appeared to be for the occasion to get to Edmund, and that finally happened when he served for the match at 5-4 in the third set.The young Britons first serve deserted him and Lajovic broke for the first time.The Serbian then twice forced set point on Edmunds serve but could not take either.Lajovic led 4-2 in the tie-break but Edmund again used his forehand to fight back and brought up his first match point at 5-6.When Lajovic drove a backhand wide, Edmund dropped to the clay in celebration before being embraced by captain Leon Smith and the rest of the team.Although Serbia were severely weakened by the absence of Novak Djokovic and Viktor Troicki, this was Britains first win at World Group level without Murray since 1986 and, coming away from home on clay, represents another hugely notable achievement for Smiths men.Meanwhile, British number four Dan Evans has turned down the chance to represent Britain at the Olympics. The 26-year-old was the next in line following Tomas Berdychs withdrawal on Saturday but, given the late notice and the lack of ranking points on offer, has opted to stick to his planned schedule. Lamont Brightful Jersey . Detroit and Boston are deadlocked, 1-1, and Tigers manager Jim Leyland could be forgiven if he was caught rationalizing instead of dissecting how his club could blow a 5-1 lead late in Game 2. Lamar Jackson Jersey . Following a lopsided 5-2 loss against the New Jersey Devils on Wednesday night, Paul MacLean told reporters that "theres a lack of focus, theres a lack of leadership and theres a lack of preparation" with his struggling team. That came on the heels of Bryan Murray taking the unusual step of going into the locker room at the Prudential Center and addressing the players himself. http://www.customravensjersey.com/custom-orlando-brown-jr-jersey-large-1813d.html Joe Flacco Jersey . Brazilian national coach Luiz Felipe Scolari has confirmed that the veteran goalkeeper is set to join Toronto on loan, saying it will help him be ready for the World Cup. Authentic Custom Ravens Jersey . The Swede became the first golfer to win the PGA Tours FedEx Cup and European Tours Race to Dubai in the same season. "It is still taking a little time to sink in what Ive achieved this week as was the case when I won the FedEx Cup but then it just kept getting better and better as the days went on and I am sure this will be the same," he said. What an odd weekend for NASCAR. It was fun, but maybe not for your fantasy team.The top two points earners Monday at Pocono, Chris Buescher and Regan Smith, cost just $5,400 and $5,500, respectively. Weather really shook up the lineup and made for a fun race, as drivers were fighting to be up front at any point, not knowing when the rain (or fog in this case) would roll in and end the race immediately.My top pick for the weekend started as Matt Kenseth, but after practices and qualifying morphed into fellow Toyota driver Martin Truex Jr. He looked strong early on, but after falling back to third due to pit strategy, he cut a tire and hit the wall. He only lost one lap -- until he cut another tire and hit the wall.Joey Logano, not on my pick list, then looked like the class of the field, but he wrecked racing for position with Chase Elliott.Lets move on to this weeks race at Watkins Glen. Its a road course located in my homeland of Upstate New York. Its the second of two such races this season, and even though the courses reward different techniques (Watkins Glen favors more aggressive driving, Sonoma is more about smoothness), you can usually tie in performance at each because of how different these tracks are compared to traditional oval speedway racing.Drivers tend to lead laps in chunks at Watkins Glen, but because the smaller number of laps run at the road courses, laps led and fastest laps are minimized. So concentrate much more on your start-finish differential and finishing position this week.Keep an especially close eye on track performance. Car strength is not as important here as at a track where speed and horsepower is key. Handling is important, but certain drivers just excel more at the road courses than others.Here are my picks to get you started this week. But check back after qualifying for my final picks and fades.Im starting my team withCarl Edwards isnt the first name you think of with road course specialists, but he led 24 laps at Sonoma earlier this year, second-best in the field, and had a leading 15 fastest laps, finishing fourth after starting from the pole.Now were coming to a track where hes never finnished worse than 19th, and that was in his first race at the track.dddddddddddd Since then hes had nine-straight top-15 finishes and has been eighth or better in each of the past three. Going back to 2009, only Marcos Ambrose averages more fantasy points per race than Edwards, and Ambrose wont be in the field this weekend.Keep an eye on these fourKevin Harvick: Another driver youd consider having on your roster week-to-week, but dont ignore him on the road course. Harvick has finished seventh or better in the past four road course events, and actually hasnt finished one outside the top 20 since 2009. In the 13 road course events since then, hes only once been held under 30 points.Tony Stewart: I make this pick hoping Stewart is returning to the form that saw him finish in the top two seven times in an eight-race span at Watkins Glen from 2002 to 2009, with five wins. Since then, hes struggled, not running the race in 2013 or 2014. Last year, he had a mechanical failure and finished 43rd. This season, though, Stewart has four top-five and six top-10 finishes in 13 races. From 2014 to 2015, he had three top-five and 10 top-10 finishes in 69 races.AJ Allmendinger: The Dinger is a good example of a driver who tends to excel at one road course but not the other. Last year he led 21 laps at Watkins Glen but finished 24th. The year before that, he won here. Hes finished 37th in the past two Sonoma races. For his career, he averages 38.0 fantasy points per race at Watkins Glen, and 18.3 at Sonoma.Casey Mears: Make sure youre on a cheap option like Mears if he qualifies deep in the field. In the past eight Watkins Glen races, Mears has finished in the top-20 eight times, but in seven of those, he moved up from his starting position. Hes averaging a gain of 7.6 spots from his starting position in those races, giving him 35.5 points per race.Thats all I have for you this week. Since were traveling to my neck of the woods, make sure you get yourself some spiedies this weekend. Look it up, and thank me later. ' ' '