Danica Patrick suffered a cut tire and an early exit from Sunday’s NASCAR Nationwide Series race at Iowa Speedway.Patrick’s tire blew on lap 114 sending her into the wall and out of the race. She was credited with a 30th place finish.

Tortorella spoke a little at length, and stirred the pot. (Getty Images)

When the Eastern Conference final matchup was set between the New Jersey Devils and the Rangers, everybody expected we’d see a lot of hate. Hate and gamesmanship.
It took until Game 3 for us to see some of it, but now it’s flowing like water at a car wash.
Part of the reason why things had remained pretty quiet up to this point is the fact that Rangers coach John Tortorella has muzzled himself. We’ve discussed that one plenty this postseason. His gruff demeanor has been a big conversation while he wasn’t doing much conversing himself.
But Tortorella has been more willing to talk after wins. And now he’s talking with the Rangers up 2-1 and before Game 4. Perhaps this is why he had been as quiet as a mouse.
What has particularly drawn his ire is the play of the Devils. Oh, and of course the officiating. Torts has been fined plenty for talking about the officiating, it’s almost like it’s engrained in him. Now he’s finally letting it loose. A little bit.
What got him going on Sunday was a question about the hearing for and possible suspension of Brandon Prust. Of course being his coach, Tortorella wasn’t happy about it.
“Prust has played probably 300-plus games without any hearing, anything going on with him. He’s probably one of the most honest players. I look at Zubrus’ elbow to Stralman. I look at Parise launching himself at Del Zotto. Maybe if our players stayed down on the ice, we’ll get something.”
A subtle shot at the Devils. He continued, dropping some of the subtlety.
“We tell our players don’t stay down on the ice. Get up. I hope — I’ll leave it at that. Picking on the power play, set plays, picking on the power play. If we want to start discussing officials with the media, I have a long list here. That’s a set play by Jersey. Picking so we can’t get to Kovalchuk to block a shot.”
Now that’s all the further that he went on discussing the officiating. Still, it was enough to get people talking, including Devils coach Peter DeBoer. He took the role of Torts and turned in a one-word answer when asked about it on Sunday.
“Comical,” he said when asked for his thoughts on the matter.
I find it very interesting Tortorella would break his silence about this and now. Perhaps he’s doing this as a way to get the officials to look more closely for it. I don’t know. But his team hasn’t had much of a problem with getting in the way of shots so far and keeping the Devils off the score board. In three games the Devils have just three goals, including being blanked twice.
However it is nice to hear him open up and say something to put an extra jolt into this series.
Let the gamesmanship begin.
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The good news for the Coyotes? They finally found a way to beat the Los Angeles Kings in the Western Conference final. The bad news? They have to do it three more times in a row.
The Coyotes beat the Kings in Game 4 in Los Angeles on Sunday, avoiding elimination and forcing the Kings the put the brooms back in the closet, winning 2-0. It followed the same recipe we’ve seen from the Coyotes all postseason that brought them to this point.
They were doubled up in shots in the first period 10-5 yet they were up after one period 1-0 thanks to a Shane Doan goal. It came on the power play after what I can safely call a questionable interference call against L.A.’s Justin Williams. Seconds later Doan was walking the goal line and putting a nasty backhand shot top shelf.

Frankly, it wasn’t a good call — on the penalty to Williams, I mean. But the Coyotes made it a moot point as the game wore on.
That’s because the Coyotes hung tough and so did Mike Smith. Doan scored another goal in the second period that went in and out so quickly that play didn’t stop. That was all they would need as Smith was once again the goalie Nashville and Chicago grew to dread this postseason. He made 36 saves on the day while his counterpart Jonathan Quick stopped just 19.
It’s not a way that most would suggest a team plays, but that’s the Coyotes’ game. They got back to it for the most part on Sunday, doing a better job with the L.A. forecheck and allowing the Kings into the scoring zones too often. When they did Smith took care of the rest.
Of course you are probably thinking there’s a fine line between the recipe the Coyotes cook with and being dominated. There is. But the whole key is keeping the scoring chances down. Other than a short-handed breakaway for Trevor Lewis, the Kings didn’t have a tremendous amount of golden opportunities in the game. That makes life on a goaltender much easier, obviously.
The next question; is that sustainable? Phoenix has been winning on its heels all postseason but L.A. hasn’t allowed them to do that, well the Kings hadn’t allowed them do that until Sunday. It doesn’t seem like a sustainable way to play if they want to come back and make this a series.
You certainly don’t want to overstate what winning this game means. Yes, it means that they stay alive in the season but the challenge is still as tough as it was to look at the Coyotes’ future in Phoenix just a few months ago. They face a near impossible task here.
But this is the part where the players will spit out the clichés at you. Just take it one day at a game, only being focused on tomorrow, etc.
And you’ll remember the Kings have been here before. They won the first three games against the Canucks in the first round before dropping Game 5 at home. Los Angeles came back out and took Game 5 to advance. So the point is, all this win does for the Coyotes right now is put their foot in the door, not letting it slam.
At least it means that the Coyotes get to come home once again to play in front of their fans.
For more hockey news, rumors and analysis, follow @EyeOnHockey and @BrianStubitsNHL on Twitter and like us on Facebook.

Ricky Stenhouse Jr. won Sunday’s NASCAR Nationwide Series race at Iowa Speedway for his third consecutive series win at the short track.The Roush Fenway Racing driver added to his series point lead with a dominating performance, leading 209 of the 250 laps.

Upon leaving extended spring training in preparation to join the A’s, Manny Ramirez hasn’t exactly gotten off to a good start. One day after going 0-for-4 with three strikeouts in his season debut at Triple-A, Ramirez was scratched from the Sacramento River Cats’ lineup with a sore left wrist (MLB.com). He’s expected to rejoin the lineup Monday, but still, this seems like a nice little reminder that he’s 39 years old and missed all but five games last season. Ramirez is eligible to return to the A’s May 30, as his 50-game suspension will be completed by then. He’s currently on what was planned as a 10-game minor-league rehab stint. Once upon a time, Ramirez was one of the most feared sluggers in baseball. He has 555 career homers and over 1,800 career RBI. But he’s now had to serve suspensions for failed drug tests twice since 2008 and is almost over the proverbial hill (by baseball standards he already is). And now he’s hurt after one Triple-A game. From here, there’s little reason to believe he’ll help the A’s. For more baseball news, rumors and analysis, follow @EyeOnBaseball on Twitter, subscribe to the RSS feed and “like” us on Facebook.

Phillies starting pitcher Vance Worley was placed on the disabled list with what the team said was “elbow inflammation” this past week. He’s eligible to come off the DL May 27 and he may be ready to do so. Even if he does, Worley will be pitching with a bone chip in his elbow that will likely require offseason surgery (via Philly.com). In the meantime, he’ll fight through the pain for his team. “Man up,” Worley said, when asked his alternative to simply resting the elbow (Philly.com). “That’s the only thing I can do. I’ll just grit and grind out there.”According to the Philly.com story, Worley began feeling the pain in his elbow April 24 in a start against the Diamondbacks. Worley, 24, is 3-2 with a 3.07 ERA, 1.34 WHIP and 45 strikeouts in 44 innings this season.
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In his first season at the helm of the 49ers, Jim Harbaugh went all the way to the NFC Championship Game, but his current compensation doesn’t match with his production.

Jim Harbaugh has been letting loose with his comments about his players this week, with his latest praise going to newly acquired wide receiver Randy Moss, who he said was "like a coach."

Terrell Suggs partially tore his Achilles during an offseason working at home in Arizona leaving him open to the possibility the Ravens might dock his salary for the "non-football injury" but the team hasn’t even discussed it.

Ravens quarterback Joe Flacco says he welcomes a point-scoring mindset and the pressure to do so in Terrell Suggs’ absence due to an Achilles injury. This year the offense will carry the defense, not the other way around.