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DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. -- Its been 21 years since Joe Gibbs Racing celebrated its only Daytona 500 victory. Denny Hamlin and Matt Kenseth have the team in good position to end the drought. The JGR drivers swept the Daytona 500 qualifying races Thursday night. For Kenseth, it was redemption after a pair of wrecks during Speedweeks. Hamlins victory kept him undefeated on 2014. Hamlin also won last Saturdays exhibition Sprint Unlimited, and he goes into Sundays season-opening Daytona 500 trying to become the first driver in history to sweep Speedweeks. "Once that snowball starts to roll, its hard to stop it, and right now were just on a heck of a run," said Hamlin, who closed last year with a win in the season finale. After going so many years without winning a second Daytona 500, team owner Joe Gibbs wasnt looking ahead. His only win was with Dale Jarrett in 1993. "Weve come with great cars over the years. It shows you what a tough race this is, the 500," he said. "This race is extremely, extremely hard to win. That probably says it the best. That says it the best, over 21 years, thats a bunch." JGR had strong cars last season and seemed to be the team to beat during the race, but came up empty when Kenseths engine failed while leading. Minutes later, teammate Kyle Buschs engine also failed. Toyota is still looking for its first win in the "Great American Race." "The last Daytona was so far away, weve moved well beyond that," said Toyota Racing Development President David Wilson. "Were certainly not sweating the issues we had last year." The qualifying races make for an emotional day as drivers race their way into the Daytona 500, while others are sent home from the biggest event of the NASCAR season. Those left broken-hearted this year were Michael McDowell, Joe Nemechek, Ryan Truex, Eric McClure and Morgan Shepherd, who at 72 was trying to become the oldest driver in the field. Dave Blaney withdrew from the qualifying race after wrecking his only car in Wednesdays practice. But it was euphoria for the small teams of Swan Racing, which got both Cole Whitt and Parker Kligerman in the race a day after both drivers wrecked in practice, and Hillman Racing, which will be in the Daytona 500 with Landon Cassill, who was hit by a car Saturday while riding his bike in Daytona. "Ive been stressed out about this since July," Cassill said. "I think Ive played this race over in my head, what I think it could do, for months now. For a small team, this race kind of makes our whole season, just the prize money alone to start on Sunday gets us through the next six or seven weeks. Its just huge for us." For Swan Racing, getting rookies Whitt and Kligerman into the field erased the nightmare of Wednesday. Whitt wrecked moments into practice, and the team was forced to rebuild his car after Kligermans was totalled when he went airborne. It was the first time Kligerman was ever upside down. Because Swan has only one backup, Kligerman got it, and the team went to work rebuilding Whitts car. Whitt raced his way in, but Kligerman faded in the first race and had to nervously watch the second race unfold to see if he earned a spot in the Daytona 500. "I feel like in a lot of ways, you have the weight of an organization on your shoulders to get these two cars in the race," Kligerman said. "Its a growing organization, an organization that wants to be around for a long time to come." But the second race ended in chaos, making everyone unsure of anything as defending Daytona 500 winner Jimmie Johnson ran out of gas on the final lap to trigger a crash that caused Clint Bowyers car to flip. "I knew he was saving gas coming to the green. Its too bad to tear cars up like that," Bowyer said. "That was one of the wildest flips Ive ever had. I think we would have been just fine if I hadnt hit the grass right here." Johnson was apologetic. "I feel terrible. To tear up that many race cars ... to see (Bowyer) flip ... certainly want to apologize to everyone," he said. "I tried to get up out of the way. So much energy in the pack that I knew I was going to get run over if I ran out because guys warned me about it -- and it did." The first race was uneventful as Kenseth led two times for 31 of the 60 laps. Harvick pulled out on the final lap to make his bid for the victory. Then Kasey Kahne pulled out of line to make it three-wide. After the race, Harvick was informed while sitting in the Fox Sports 1 studio as an analyst for the second race that his Chevrolet, sponsored by Budweiser, had failed post-race inspection for the first Budweiser Duel. "Yeah, well, well, thats no good," Harvick said. Mecole Hardman Jersey . "Yeah, [I heard them]," he said. "They made me miss the free throw." A year ago, Lowrys post-game antics may not have been so well received but what was snide and snarky is now endearing quick wit. Len Dawson Youth Jersey . Brassard and Coyotes defenceman Derek Morris were battling for position in the crease when a nudge from Morris sent Brassard on top of Smith late in the third period. http://www.thechiefsshoponline.com/Youth-Marcus-Allen-Chiefs-Jersey/ . Others describe it as taking the parrot for a walk. Tyrann Mathieu Youth Jersey . After Andrew Romine served up two monster home runs in the inning, Tigers manager Brad Ausmus said he thought Romine was one of the bright spots on the night, showing just how bad the series opener against the last-place Minnesota Twins went for the Tigers. Patrick Mahomes Jersey . Not bad for a defenceman. The goal, that is. Although the shuffling dance steps werent bad, either. Barrie scored 55 seconds into overtime, Semyon Varlamov stopped 29 shots, and the Avalanche moved a step closer to their first playoff berth in four years with a 3-2 win over the Vancouver Canucks on Thursday night.(SportsNetwork.com) - Fans wearing bags on their heads isnt a good sign for the struggling New York Knicks, as they try to stop a franchise-record 14-game losing streak Saturday versus the Charlotte Hornets. The Knicks reached 14 consecutive losses with Thursdays 120-96 beatdown by the Houston Rockets. The Rockets were led by James Hardens 25 points and made 53.2 percent for the game, including 16-of-36 3-pointers. New York shot well, making 46.3 percent, and was led by Travis Wears 21 points. Langston Galloway and Cleanthony Early scored 19 and 16 points, respectively, and no starters scored in double figures. Galloway played in his first home game since being signed to a 10-day contract from New Yorks D-League affiliate. It was a lot of fun, said Galloway. Just pretty much cherishing the moment and doing what Ive been doing my whole career. Knicks high-priced superstar Carmelo Anthony continued to rest a sore knee and the team is 0-9 without him this season. Andrea Bargnani (calf) and Amare Stoudemire (knee) are questionable Saturday. The Knicks, who havent won since Dec. 12 at Boston, are winless in 11 straight at Madison Square Garden and have a 3-16 record as the host. They will play Milwaukee next on Thursday at The O2 in London. New York is 4-19 against Eastern conference opponents (2-11 at home). Charlotte will try to push its winning streak to a season-high five games tonight and recorded a 103-95 victory over the tough Toronto Raptors Thursday.dddddddddddd Gerald Henderson netted 20 of his 31 points in the second half, Kemba Walker added 29 and Marvin Williams posted 13 points and nine rebounds. Walker had scored 30 or more points in his previous three games and is averaging 30.8 ppg during the winning streak. Im just taking the opportunities that the defense gives me, Walker said. Michael Kidd-Gilchrist provided 10 points and 12 boards for the Hornets, who have won four in a row after losing five straight and shot 47.7 percent from the floor. The Hornets, who posted four straight wins from Dec. 19-23, have won three in a row on the road and pushed their road record to 6-12. After visiting the Big Apple, Charlotte will return home for four straight games versus San Antonio, Indiana, Minnesota and Miami. The Hornets edged the Knicks, 103-102, at home in early December on Walkers game-winning layup with 0.3 seconds on the clock. It was revenge for a 96-93 road setback on Nov. 2. Anthony, who reached 20,000 career points in the first meeting with the Hornets, scored a game-high 32 points in the second matchup for New York, which has won four of the last five home meetings with Charlotte. The two teams will close out the season series in Charlotte on Jan. 24. ' ' '