JOLIET, Ill. -- Matt Kenseth pulled away from teammate Kyle Busch to win the opening race in the Chase for Sprint Cup championship. The steely win by the top seed in the Chase helped restore a sense of normalcy at the end of a week that saw NASCAR fighting the biggest credibility crisis in its history. Now the sport waits to see if its fans are still angry that several teams manipulated the race finish at Richmond. The ensuing scandal has raised questions about NASCARs integrity that winning team owner Joe Gibbs said hes seen before in sports. "Ive seen things like that happen on the NFL side," said Gibbs, a three-time Super Bowl winning coach with the Washington Redskins. "We tried to do the best we could in handling it, and hopefully weve got this behind us with the race. We all love our sport and nobody wants anything that would hurt or harm it or disappoint people." Kenseth slid into Chicago under the radar as all the attention centred squarely on NASCARs investigation into the schemes of at least three teams to alter the outcome of the previous week. It led to severe sanctions against Michael Waltrip Racing, and Martin Truex Jr. was replaced by Ryan Newman in the Chase field. NASCAR continued to review incidents long after cars began to practice for Sundays race. Chairman Brian France took the unprecedented step of expanding the field to 13 drivers to add Jeff Gordon. Then France held an ethics meeting for teams on the eve of the opening race to outline new "rules of the road," demanding drivers give 100 per cent going forward and banning any attempts to artificially affect the outcome of races. Kenseth said he was eager to help NASCAR move on. "I think the important thing is its behind us," Kenseth said. "I think its pretty clear what everybody expects and the things we should do or not do, though a lot of that is pretty obvious, anyway. Hopefully we can move on because I think its been a tough week -- not only for some of the teams involved, but I think its also been a tough week for NASCAR." A strong opener to the 10-race Chase would have gone a long way, but rain made it a difficult day. The start was delayed by mist for almost 90 minutes. Once the race did go off, it made it almost to the halfway point before the sky opened up again. In all, there were two stoppages totalling 6 hours, 30 minutes and Kenseth didnt cross the finish line until early Monday morning. It was worth the wait when he passed Busch on a restart with 27 laps remaining -- in part because of a push from Kevin Harvick -- then led Busch across the finish line for a 1-2 finish for Joe Gibbs Racing and Toyota. Hell take an eight-point lead over Busch into next weeks race at New Hampshire. Thats bad news for the rest of the Chase field: JGR drivers have won six of the seven races so far this season on 1.5-mile tracks, and four of the nine remaining races in the Chase are tracks covering the same distance. Kenseth, a six-time winner this season, has four wins on 1.5-mile tracks. "Were excited about that," crew chief Jason Ratcliff said. "I think our program has been pretty solid all the way around." This latest victory denied Busch a weekend sweep yet again. Hed won the Truck and Nationwide Series races this weekend, only to come up short in the main event. The same thing happened last month at Bristol, where Busch won the first two legs of the trifecta only to be denied the sweep by Kenseth. "Oh, yeah. I watched it slip right away," Busch said. "Nothing you can do about it. Certainly it would be nice if we could have won and brought home a trifecta. It was going to be cool." Harvick finished third, Kurt Busch was fourth and teammates Jimmie Johnson and Gordon were fourth and fifth as Chevrolet took spots three through six and Chase drivers swept the top six spots. Gordon, who only learned he made the Chase 48 hours before the race, was in great shape until he got a flat tire that forced him to pit and claw his way back for his finish. "That was an incredible accomplishment. It just shows how much fight this team has in them. They just never gave up," he said. "To think how far down we were with 40 laps to go -- I know we were 18th on one of those last restarts -- to be able to come up through there and get sixth, and have a shot at top-five, was a lot of fun. Thats what we needed to get this thing started off right." Defending series champion Brad Keselowski, who failed to qualify for the Chase this year, was seventh. Keselowski was the defending race winner. Ricky Stenhouse Jr. was eighth. Clint Bowyer, the driver who first triggered all the trouble last week at Richmond when he spun with seven laps to go in an effort to help teammate Truex make the Chase, finished ninth. Newman was 10th, Carl Edwards 11th and Kasey Kahne 12th. Chase driver Greg Biffle was 16th. Dale Earnhardt Jr. (35th) and Joey Logano (37th) had the worst nights of the Chase drivers as both failed to finish because of engine issues. "I am pretty angry. That was such as fast race car we had," said Logano, the pole-sitter. "Unfortunately the motor blew up. You have these every once in a while. It is a bummer to have it in the Chase when you are running for a championship." Alan Quine Jersey . - A week after a late-game debacle on defence, the Pittsburgh Steelers showed they can finish. Mathew Barzal Jersey . Maria Silvia Bastos Marques, president of the EOM (Municipal Olympic Company), will be leaving her post but will remain as an advisor, a city hall statement said Tuesday. http://www.authentichockeyshopislanders....slanders+jersey. A 19-game winner with the New York Yankees in both 2006 and 2007, Wang spent most of this year at Triple-A for the Yankees and Blue Jays. The 33-year-old right-hander was 1-2 with a 7. Nick Leddy Jersey . The striker headed Spurs into a 35th-minute lead and tapped in their third in the 71st after Chico Flores own goal. Wilfried Bony hit the bar and had a good penalty appeal for a push by Tottenham captain Michael Dawson turned down in the first half, before getting Swanseas consolation late on. New York Islanders Jerseys . Fabio Fognini pulled off a surprise 6-3, 6-3, 6-4 victory over two-time Grand Slam champion Andy Murray to level the best-of-five quarterfinal at 2-2 before Andreas Seppi defeated James Ward 6-4, 6-3, 6-4 in the decisive match. Derek Fisher has agreed to become the next coach of the New York Knicks and will be introduced at a news conference Tuesday morning, a person familiar with the situation told The Associated Press. The Knicks did not confirm the hiring, other than saying they were planning a "major announcement." The person who confirmed the deal to AP spoke on condition of anonymity because neither side authorized the public disclosure of any information related to the deal. The 39-year-old Fisher just completed his 18th season, finishing his career with the Oklahoma City Thunder. He played under Knicks President Phil Jackson with the Los Angeles Lakers, and helped that franchise win five NBA titles. Fisher would have been an unrestricted free agent this summer, though it was widely known that this season would be his last as a player. And once the Knicks failed to close a deal with Steve Kerr -- who wound up accepting an offer from Golden State -- Fisher was believed to be the next target on Jacksons list. Jackson was fined $25,000 for the league last week for a tampering violation involving Fisher. He was still under contract with the Thunder when Jackson told New York reporters that Fisher was "on my list off guys that could be very good candidates" to replace Mike Woodson on the Knicks sideline.dddddddddddd Fisher surely could still play. He has just suspected for a while that his time has come to do something else. "Coaching allows for you to positively impact other peoples lives," Fisher told reporters during his exit interview after Oklahoma Citys season ended. "To help a group of people find success, whether they have or havent before, youre all working together for a common goal." Fishers hiring means that next season, both teams in New York will have former point guards barely removed from playing days at the helms. It worked for the Brooklyn Nets, who made the Eastern Conference semifinals this season with first-year coach Jason Kidd, and now the Knicks will hope that Fisher can have the same success. His hiring is the first significant step in whats expected to be a broad makeover of the team by Jackson, who was hired late in the regular season to turn around the fortunes of a franchise that has won just one playoff series in the past 14 years. Over that 14-year span, the Knicks have won a mere 10 playoff games. Fisher played in 134 playoff wins during that stretch. Wholesale Jerseys China Wholesale Black NFL Jerseys Wholesale Black NFL Jerseys Cheap NFL Womens Jerseys China NFL Jerseys Cheap Jerseys China Discount Jerseys ' ' '