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 addressi

TALLADEGA, Ala. -- Drivers who are typically knocked out of the Chase for the Sprint Cup at Talladega Superspeedway often moan about getting caught up in a mess created by someone else.For the four drivers eliminated Sunday following the Hellmanns 500, they could only look at themselves to blame.With no big crash taking out competitors, the four eliminated drivers -- Austin Dillon, Martin Truex Jr., Chase Elliott and Brad Keselowski -- just didnt perform as well as needed to advance to the semifinal round of eight.Truex and Keselowski -- with four wins apiece this year -- were victims of engine failures. Keselowski, facing a nearly must-win situation, had led 90 laps before his engine went sour with 44 laps remaining.Im not an engine guy, but the car was really strong and we definitely kept finding debris, said Keselowski, whose car had debris covering air vents on the front bumper twice, including a few laps before his engine blew. I thought I got it cooled off and only got it slightly over, but I dont know. ... Thats racing.We just had a tremendous race going, but it wasnt meant to be.Truexs engine expired much earlier, just 41 laps into the race; he had started on the pole.This sport is tough, and we didnt perform at Kansas and Charlotte the way we were capable, and we had some issues there and that put us in the hole, and if we could have went there and done better and maybe got a win, then we wouldnt be talking about this right now, Truex said.We didnt get the job done.While Keselowski missed the cutoff by 35 points, Elliott (who finished 12th at Talladega) missed it by 28 and Truex by 25. Dillon missed a chance to advance on a tiebreaker.Denny Hamlin used a third-place finish, six spots ahead of Dillon, to tie Dillon with 78 points in the round. Hamlins third-place finish?was the best for either driver in the round.?With the result,?Hamlin earned the spot in the next round and eliminated Dillon.I guess it wasnt our day to do it, Dillon said. We tried. We didnt really have enough speed all day to do much. ... We just couldnt get another spot. We got a couple there at the end, but it didnt work out.Elliott, a rookie, faced a must-win situation. Both Elliott and Dillon still seek their first career wins.Theres no time to be?disappointed, Elliott said. Well just move on. ... The most important thing in this sport is winning, and we want to do that. I felt that we had a good enough car to compete with them.Once I fell out of the top 10 and got back there, it was just hard to make up those big chunks of ground in a hurry.Wholesale Custom Falcons Shirts .com) - The Montreal Canadiens embark on their first road trip of the season as they head out west to battle the Calgary Flames on Wednesday night. Authentic Custom Falcons 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.customfalconsjersey.com/ . -- New England Revolution goalkeeper Matt Reis is retiring after a 16-year career to become the goalie coach for the Los Angeles Galaxy. Custom Falcons Jersey China . -- Claudio Bieler hadnt scored since early September, and not from the run of play since mid-July. Custom Chris Lindstrom Jersey . -- The Sacramento Kings are set to become the first major professional sports franchise to accept Bitcoin virtual currency for ticket and merchandise purchases.DAVIE, Fla. -- Miami Dolphins defensive end Dion Jordan practiced Wednesday for the first time in nearly two years following a long suspension and knee surgery, but its uncertain whether hell play this season.Defensive coordinator Vance Joseph said expectations for Jordan are zero or none because the team wants to assess his health and avoid rushing him into action too soon.We just want to see him practice, and hopefully he can help us this year, Joseph said. If not, hell help us next year.Jordan, the No. 3 overall draft piick in 2013, has been rehabilitating from surgery since being reinstated by the NFL following a 15-month suspension for his latest violation of the leagues substance abuse policy.ddddddddddddIn addition to the suspension, Jordan has been hampered by injuries since being drafted. He has only three sacks in 26 games.---For more NFL coverage: http://www.pro32.ap.org and http://www.twitter.com/AP-NFL ' ' '