Reiseplan » decisive games played at home. Turner Field was the

CHARLOTTE, N.C. -- Well, this isnt the way anyone wanted to see Tony Stewart end his career. The driver went into NASCARs playoffs with a roar and is on the verge of exiting with a whimper.Stewart is in the bottom four of the Chase standings and will be eliminated Sunday at Dover International Speedway if he doesnt pull off some sort of miracle before the field is trimmed from 16 to 12 drivers. Hes retiring at the end of this season, and all his fans wanted to see a solid run toward a fourth NASCAR title.Instead, he opened the playoffs with a 16th-place finish at Chicago and he was 23rd on Sunday at New Hampshire. Chris Buescher is the only driver below him in the standings, and Stewart might just need to win at Dover to advance to the second round.Kevin Harvick, who won at New Hampshire to earn an automatic berth into the second round, isnt counting out his teammate. With Harvick secure and Kurt Busch 11th in the standings, Stewart-Haas Racing can put an emphasis on Stewarts performance at Dover.He can go to any racetrack and perform. He can go to any racetrack and win, Harvick said. Hes Tony Stewart. I wouldnt bet against him. Well do everything we can to help him get to the point where he needs to be to try to move on.This is hardly the position anyone thought Stewart would be in a month ago, when his fiery side began to emerge as the Chase approached. He wrecked Brian Scott at Darlington, wrecked Ryan Newman at Richmond and seemed to be in no mood to play around over the final 10 races of his NASCAR career.But hes not performing on the track, not at the level to race for a championship, at least, and thats got to change Sunday or he will close his career watching the playoffs go on without him. Stewart has not finished higher than 16th in the last six races, and his average finish is 26.3 over that span.He has three career wins at Dover, the last during his 2013 march to the title. But his average finish of 14.1 wont get it done.Who else could be eliminated on Sunday? A list:CHRIS BUESCHERIf you filled out a Chase bracket, you almost certainly had Buescher eliminated in the first round. He barely made the Chase, needing to cling to 30th in the standings to be eligible, and his Front Row Motorsports team just isnt equipped to compete with the big dogs. Buescher was 28th at Chicago, 30th at New Hampshire and is last in the 16-driver Chase field.If it rains on Sunday, and he uses strategy to stay out and inherit the lead before the race is canceled, then hes got a shot at avoiding elimination. That is, after all, how he won Pocono to get into the Chase.JAMIE MCMURRAYHe is 14th in the standings, and thats a bit of a surprise because the Chip Ganassi Racing cars had been strong headed into the Chase. McMurray was eliminated in the first round last year, and believed his team had learned enough to make it through this opening three-race stretch. But theres no room at all for error in the Chase, and a 19th-place finish at New Hampshire simply isnt good enough.Ganassi teammate Kyle Larson, who many thought would go deep into the playoffs, isnt secure, either. Hes 12th in the standings -- only five points ahead of the elimination spot.AUSTIN DILLONHe is tied with McMurray in the standings and trails Larson by five points for the transfer spot. Not because hes been bad in the Chase, but because hes been mediocre through the first two races.Dillon was 14th in the opener, 16th at New Hampshire and doesnt have a top-10 finish in six weeks. His New Hampshire race was a struggle, but Dillon felt his Richard Childress Racing team persevered and has hope for Dover.I never gave in, never gave up, our team never gave up, he said. We go to Dover and weve given ourselves a shot. Weve just got to go run good there.EVERYONE BESIDES HARVICK AND MARTIN TRUEX JRA win gets a driver an automatic berth to the second round, and Harvick and Truex have each punched those tickets.But the standings are so close throughout the rest of the field that a mechanical problem, a crash or simply ailed strategy could end the Chase for any driver. Only six points separate fifth-place Joey Logano from 11th-place Kurt Busch and no one is feeling all that safe. Chase Elliott is ninth in points and finished third at Chicago, but hes hardly breathing easy.When asked what he expects from Dover, he was blunt: I feel like its an upcoming race and we need to do a better job. Wholesale Shoes Ireland . The judges scored it 48-47, 48-47, 49-46 for Jones (19-1). It was the champions closest call. Despite the loss, it was a remarkable show by the confident Swedish challenger, who had the best of the early rounds and then hung on in the fourth and fifth. Cheap Shoes Ireland Online . The Cleveland Indians, Tampa Bay Rays, and Texas Rangers all won on Sunday meaning the Rangers will host the Rays in a play-in game on Monday. https://www.shoesirelandsale.com/ . It was the second consecutive win for the Pacers (2-5), who lost their first five preseason games. Jeff Teague led the Hawks (1-5) with 17 points and eight assists and Al Horford had 12 points and seven rebounds. Mike Scott scored 15 of his 17 points in the second half. Discount Shoes Ireland .05 million next season unless Graham and the Saints subsequently agree on a long-term deal. The designation was released Monday after the deadline passed for NFL teams to use franchise or transition tags on players becoming free agents. Shoes Ireland On Sale .C. -- Al Jefferson joked that he feels he can score from anywhere on the court. ATLANTA -- Turner Field has aged well. Its got all the expected amenities of a modern big league ballpark, from luxury boxes to a mammoth video board to the restaurant that hovers above right field to concession stands selling all manner of food and drink.Want a gourmet steak sandwich? Step right up. Craft beer? No problem. Hash browns from local favorite Waffle House? Make `em scattered and smothered.Of course, at 20 years old, its not exactly a baseball relic.But its time in the big leagues is over.The Braves are heading to the suburbs next season, trading the ballpark affectionately known as the Ted -- a nod to former owner and namesake Ted Turner -- for 41,500-seat SunTrust Park , hastily being assembled some 15 miles away as part of a mall-like complex that will generate even more money for the team.Its a little weird, Atlanta catcher Tyler Flowers said. But thats kind of the modern day. Everybody has the expectation of the newest and biggest and baddest and greatest thing.Even with a plethora of new facilities that have popped up around Major League Baseball, 13 of 29 ballparks are older.At least two teams -- Oakland and Tampa Bay -- would gladly take Turner Field over their current stadiums.I love this place, said Braves manager Brian Snitker, gazing out from the home dugout during the final week of the season. I think its one of the best ballparks in the National League.Not surprisingly, the move has sparked puzzled reactions around the country and plenty of debate in Atlanta, especially since it goes against the trend of teams moving closer to the inner city, not farther away. Turner Field is located just south of downtown, within site of the state Capitol at essentially the geographic center of the sprawling metropolitan area and the junction of three major highways, but the Braves say they will be closer to the bulk of their fan base in the mostly white suburbs north of the city.Cobb Countys decision to fork over some $400 million in public funding to help build the new stadium, with only minimal debate and no vote of the electorate, helped send its top official, Tim Lee, to defeat in his re-election bid. There are fears of hellish traffic, since Cobb has a limited bus system and isnt served by Atlantas rapid transit system, and concerns that the Braves are cutting themselves off from large portions of the gridlocked metro area.Theres no turning back now, though.Only 11 stadiums in the sports modern ballpark era hosted fewer major league seasons than Turner Field, and seven of those -- from still-in-use Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum to Houstons long-forgotten Colt Stadium -- were merely temporary homes for transplanted teams or expansion franchises. As for the others, Miamis newly renamed Hard Rock Stadium and Torontos Exhibition Stadium were more suited for football and quickly faced calls to be replaced, while Kansas Citys Municipal Stadium and Washingtons RFK Stadium both lost teams to other cities.None of those was an issue at Turner Field. But the Braves complained that promised development in the low-income neighborhood around the stadium never materialized, leading team officials to explore other options. Not long after the city of Atlanta reached a deal to build a new retractable-roof football stadium for the NFLs Falcons, the Braves stunningly announced in November 2013 they were moving to the `burbs, having pulled off seecret negotiations that caught nearly everyone off guard.ddddddddddddurner Field will apparently live on in some downsized form, thanks to an expected deal in which the city will sell the stadium and adjacent land to Georgia State University and a development company. The plan is to convert the Ted into a 30,000-seat football stadium for the Panthers fledgling program (perhaps with a new corporate name to help defray costs) and surround it with dormitories and athletic facilities, as well as private housing and retail space.In a way, the next phase will take the park back to its not-so-deep roots. Transformation was the plan all along.Turner Field began its life as Centennial Olympic Stadium, an 85,000-seat facility that hosted track and field as well as the opening and closing ceremonies at the 1996 Summer Games. Muhammad Ali -- stricken with Parkinsons disease, his hands trembling as he held the torch -- memorably lit the cauldron to start the games. Michael Johnson ran to a world record in golden shoes. Carl Lewis capped his brilliant career with the last of nine gold medals.But the stadium was designed with baseball in mind, in hopes of avoiding the sort of white elephants that have plagued Olympic cities before and since. As soon as the games ended, work began to convert Turner Field into the 50,000-seat home of the Braves. By the following spring, it carried a new name and was ready for opening day.In contrast to todays 90-plus-loss team, those Braves had been to four of the previous five World Series, winning it all in 1995 at Atlanta-Fulton County Stadium. They would never reach those heights in their new digs, even while winning nine more NL East titles through 2005 to extend their unprecedented streak of division championships to 14 in a row.The Braves played only one World Series at the Ted, getting swept by the New York Yankees in 1999. Bitter disappointment became par for the course in October, along with a reputation for not selling out playoff games. They lost 12 of 17 postseason series, including the last eight. Their playoff record was 15-23, including 2-9 in decisive games played at home. Turner Field was the place where other teams came to celebrate, including the Chicago Cubs in 2003 after clinching their first postseason triumph in 95 years.There were a few highlights for the home team. Most notably, Game 6 of the 1999 NL Championship Series.After going up 3-0 on the New York Mets, the Braves lost two straight games at Shea Stadium and returned home suddenly on the ropes. The pressure only intensified when they blew an early 5-0 lead, falling behind in the eighth and 10th innings. But Atlanta rallied both times, and won in the 11th when Kenny Rogers walked Andruw Jones with the bases loaded for a series-clinching 10-9 victory.Chipper Jones will always remember getting the first hit at Turner Field.That ball is still on my mantel, said Jones, who retired in 2012 after a career spent entirely with the Braves.Now, its time for the final hit.After Sundays last game against Detroit, the Ted will be nothing but a memory.Far sooner than anyone wouldve expected.---Follow Paul Newberry on Twitter at www.twitter.com/pnewberry1963 . His work can be found at http://bigstory.ap.org/content/paul-newberry . ' ' '