DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. -- As the halfway point of NASCARs grueling 9-month schedule approaches, Danica Patrick looks remarkably fresh. Yoga and an obsession for healthy eating are paying off for her. Patrick has always been fit, but at 34, she looks like shes found a way to trick the aging process.The question of whether that will translate to on-track success for her and new crew chief Billy Scott in 2016 will have to be answered over the final 19 races. So far, it has been a rough go, with the popular driver posting only one top-15 finish and sitting 26th in the Sprint Cup standings.Playful banter was the best Patrick could muster when asked what she wanted her midseason report to say. That I won a whole bunch of races, Patrick quipped outside her motor coach at Daytona before finishing 27th in Saturday nights Coke Zero 400.Honestly, it hasnt gone as well as I had hoped, she said. But if we could all plan our lives, that would be boring. When things go right and you get to a place where youre happy, its so much sweeter because of the hard work.A year ago, Patrick was mired in the uncertainty of a departing primary sponsor (GoDaddy) and expiring contract with championship-winning Stewart Haas Racing. The pressure was lifted in August when the race team signed her to a new contract and Natures Bakery came aboard as her primary sponsor for most of the races this year.Fans are still getting used to the blue and white livery on Patricks No. 10 Chevrolet, and Patrick is still getting used to her third crew chief in four seasons in Scott, a mechanical engineer and former driver with a reputation for patience. She had begun her NASCAR career in 2013 with savvy racing veteran Tony Gibson and was assigned engineer Daniel Knost for the final three races of 2014 and all of last year. With each new pairing comes a learning curve.I would have thought it wouldnt feel like youre starting over so much, Patrick said. But it does. And I think that some of that is Im only going to be able to drive the way Im going to be able drive, and my crew chief is only going to be able to logically think of the car in the way he has always thought of the car. So you have to find out how to mesh those two together.Scott agrees and says thats coming with Patrick.Every driver describes what theyre feeling in the car differently, and every crew chief has to communicate what theyre planning setup-wise, what youre changing and what your strategy is, Scott said. And it goes beyond just her and me. Shes familiar with most of the crew members, but I have to interact with them, too.A look at Patricks season thus far:By the numbers(Through 17 of 36 races)Average start: 25.6 (Career average: 25.8)Average finish: 23.4 (Career average: 24.6)Top 5s, top 10s, poles: 0, 0, 0 (Career: 0, 6, 1)Laps led: 8 (3 Talladega, 2 Kansas, 3 Sonoma) (Career: 35)Lead-lap finishes: 6 of 17, 35.3 percent (Career: 52 of 134, 38.5 percent)Running at finish: 14 of 17, 82.3 percent (Career: 117 of 135, 86.7 percent)Best racesThe AAA 400 Drive for Autism, May 15, Dover, Delaware: A misadventure that turned out well for Patrick. It began with a rear-end gear failure on her car five minutes into the opening practice. The No. 10 Chevy burst into flames and hit the inside and outside walls, dropping grease on the track that caused Tony Stewart and Jamie McMurray to crash. Patrick drove a backup car in the race and fell two laps down, but she and Scott never gave up. When a crash with 45 laps to go collected almost half of the field, Patrick was in position to seize the break and score a season-best 13th-place finish.Save Mart 350, June 26, Sonoma, California: Patrick qualified a season-best 11th, led three laps while the field was cycling through green flag pit stops and finished 19th. Bad luck on caution flags and questionable pit stop strategy kept her from a better finish on the California road course. I think from an overall weekend perspective, Sonoma was the most consistent we have been, Patrick said. We just were on the worst strategy for the yellows that you could possibly be on, and unfortunately, we still got about that about 20th-place finish.Low points and tough breaksDaytona 500, Feb. 21, Daytona Beach: After a strong first half to the season opening race, Patrick was undone by a pit road penalty that her team said was a bad call and a crash with 16 laps remaining. She finished 35th.Auto Club 400, March 20, Fontana, California: Patrick finished 38th after Kasey Kahne hooked her car and sent it into the wall. She was later fined $20,000 by NASCAR for walking toward the racing surface to hold out her hands to Kahne in a gesture of displeasure.Geico 500, May 1, Talladega, Alabama: A potential top-10 finish ended with what Patrick called the worst crash of her career. Bumped from behind by Michael McDowell, Patricks car veered into Matt Kenseths and then shot into the inside backstretch wall. Besides the hard impact, the No. 10 Chevy burst into flames. Looking back now, Patrick said she always goes to Talladega and Daytona with mixed feelings. I still think theyre places for hope and potential, but over time you realize how many of them end badly, and thats not a great feeling, she said.Best exchangeDan Patrick on the Dan Patrick Show last week to promote the second half of the NASCAR season on NBC: You could take Kasey Kahne, right?Danica Patrick: Oh, definitely. Theres a lot of them I could take, but Kaseys definitely one of them. I shouldve probably taken care of that at Fontana when he right-reared me at 210 (mph), but I didnt. Instead he was a little scared for a while. I didnt say a lot of hellos. But I kind of wanted to keep him right there.Off of the trackNew sponsorship has led to a couple of Patricks favorite promotions. She showed media members just how difficult advanced yoga is at Daytona in February and climbed a rock wall with a couple of contest-winning fans at the U.S. National Whitewater Center in Charlotte, North Carolina, in May.Natures Bakery has been a really fun new primary sponsor for me, Patrick said. And just the general branding itself suits me so well. GoDaddy was incredible for me and they gave me tons of brand awareness, but when you get to the core of who I am and the things I enjoy to do on a day-to-day basis in my personal life, Natures Bakery is a really incredible fit and I think has brought heightened awareness to that other side of me -- or that main part that wasnt such a big deal before.So everything in the sort of health and wellness category is all very me.Looking aheadPatrick says the pieces are in place for a much better second half of the season.Weve just got to keep putting puzzle pieces together and keep putting entire weekends together, she said. I believe in all the people involved that we can all do it, and we can all make it happen, and we all have the ability. Its just finding out how to make it happen more often by streamlining setups and communication. Air Max 95 Neon 2018 . Vettel, who has already clinched his fourth straight F1 title, enters the finale with a chance to equal Michael Schumachers 13 victories in a year and match the record of nine consecutive wins by Alberto Ascari in the 1952 and 1953 seasons. Uomo Air Max 95 Deluxe Particle Rose Particle Rose . -- Nathan Pancel scored twice as the Sudbury Wolves defeated the North Bay Battalion 4-2 on Saturday in Ontario Hockey League action. http://www.epicreactflyknitsaldi.it/air-max-98-2018-italia.html .C. -- When North Carolina freshman Ryan Switzer reported to training camp in August he was a little miffed to learn he was third on the depth chart at punt returner. Air Max 97 Rosa . "Were just throwing s--- at the wall hoping something sticks," said Tortorella about the possible line combinations for Fridays game against Columbus. The Canucks have lost five straight games and six of their last seven, leaving them in a logjam in the Pacific Division, currently sitting fifth - good for ninth in the Western Conference. Air Max 270 Italia . - Connor McDavid scored 53 seconds into overtime as the Erie Otters came from behind to defeat the visiting Guelph Storm 4-3 on Saturday in Ontario Hockey League action. INDIANAPOLIS -- ?When the top four teams won this weekend, the College Football Playoff Selection Committee won a reprieve. The 12 representatives who will bask in the glow of their computer screens on Selection Day dont have to choose among equals.One can argue that No. 4 Washingtons 41-10 rout of No. 8 Colorado, coupled with No. 3 Clemsons 42-35 defeat of No. 23 Virginia Tech, means that the Huskies and Tigers should switch. But its hard to argue against rewarding the only four Power 5 teams that finished the season with one loss or fewer.No. 7 Penn State can make a compelling case, given that it won the Big Ten by a score of 38-31 over No. 6 Wisconsin on Saturday at Lucas Oil Stadium and defeated No. 2 Ohio State during the regular season. But the Buckeyes wont be the first team to lose and advance beyond a team that beat them.Florida State won the 1993 wire-service national championship over Notre Dame, a result that will send former Irish head coach Lou Holtzs blood pressure off the chart to this day. Seven years later, the Seminoles lost to Miami yet finished ahead of the Hurricanes in the BCS standings. It didnt help the young BCS credibility when Oklahoma pounded Florida State in the national championship game.Now, in Year 3, the credibility of the College Football Playoff will be tested on Selection Day. Those of us who like sports because there are clear-cut winners and losers hoped for no upsets and hoped the committee wouldnt have to make an impossible decision. After Penn State won Saturday night, Big Ten commissioner Jim Delany refused the opportunity to pick among his constituents.I dont know what it means, Delany said. Is the Clemson game over?The Tigers had won.All the votes are in, Delany said. Ill be watching like everybody else.If No. 5 Michigan is mad about playing in the Capital One Orange Bowl, then the Wolverines should have done better than 2-2 on the road.Penn State could, like No. 10 USC, make a case that it is one of the four best teams in the country on Dec. 3. Picture a world, if you will, in which the roles this weekend were reversed. Penn State would be No. 2 and Wisconsin No. 5, and No. 6 Ohio State would play No. 7 Michigan for the Big Ten Championship. Does anyone think that Big Ten champion would be left out of the playoff?When the commissioners assembled the playoff four years ago, Delany pushed for the field to be the four best conference champions. He lost that argument. The College Football Playoff is trying to identify the four best teams based on -- all together now -- their entire body of work.That means games in September matter. Thats why Stanford didnt make the playoff a year ago, after it lost to Norrthwestern on Labor Day weekend.dddddddddddd Penn State lost to Pitt 39-36 in Week 2, which should bring a warm feeling to every Panther fan of a certain age who wants to resurrect the once-bitter annual rivalry with the Nittany Lions. Hey, Pitt, you just cost Penn State a shot at the national championship.The Nittany Lions mostly chose to not make their case for the playoff. The players did so with a smile. Junior middle linebacker Jason Cabinda, asked if he had any doubt that Penn State is one of the four best teams in the nation, said, Thats what I believe. We can hang with anybody in the country. No doubt.Thats where he stopped.Well hear whats announced, Cabinda said. Well be really appreciative of that opportunity. We cant wait to play that next game, regardless of who its against.The head coach spoke up a little more, which James Franklin does with the way he breathes. Its an involuntary muscular contraction.Every time I turn on the TV or read an article, people said this year the Big Ten Conference was by far the strongest conference in college football, Franklin said. Ive heard that over and over again. We just won the Big Ten Conference championship. ... So I think we can make a great case for ourselves.Barring a change of heart by the selection committee, Penn State will play in the Rose Bowl, the first prize among consolation prizes. It pains me to type that sentence.But there is, as Franklin went on to say, a lot to celebrate. Penn State won its first Big Ten championship since 2008 -- a lifetime ago if youre a Nittany Lion. Everyone in the Happy Valley was a lot younger then.The discord and travails of the past five years in State College might be why this team becomes as beloved as the 1992 Kentucky basketball team, the Unforgettables, the Wildcats who lost to Duke and Christian Laettners buzzer-beater in a regional final. All Kentucky had to overcome was NCAA probation.The Nittany Lions displayed a microcosm of their entire season: they started slow, falling behind the Badgers 28-7 in the second quarter. But once Penn State got a little momentum, the Nittany Lions couldnt be stopped. Quarterback Trace McSorley threw for 384 yards, a personal best and a Big Ten Championship Game record, and four touchdowns, also a game record.We dont want to be a second-half team, senior receiver DaeSean Hamilton said after the game. Thats just how things worked out for us all season. ... We never had a sense of panic. Thats what makes this team special.This year, that will have to be enough. This year, it just might be. Discount NFL Jerseys Wholesale Jerseys 2019 China Jerseys Wholesale Stitched Jerseys Wholesale Jerseys From China Wholesale NFL Jerseys Jerseys NFL China ' ' '