Fort Worth Star-Telegram from Fort Worth, Texas • A9

www.star-telegram.comThursday,September24,2009 9D in it for the first time, but not enough for Juan Pablo Montoya. He figures as long as in the Sprint Cup Chase for the Championship, he might as well do his best to win it. Montoya is off to a good start toward that effort. He dominated practice and qualifying last weekend in New Hampshire before finishing thirdSunday in the Sylvania 300. head to Dover, this weekend fourthin points, just 55behind leader Mark Martin.

the Chase, you know, we have to bring our A-game, and we Montoya said during the weekly Sprint Cup teleconference. no holding back, nothing, we have to go. We have to try to go every week. Some weeks are going to be better than others, but time to Montoya, who drives the No. 42 Chevrolet, has arguably made the biggest leap in the Sprint Cup this year.

The former Indianapolis 500 champi- shown signs in his first two seasons that this would be his breakthrough year. He finished 20thin points in 2007, earning Sprint Cup Rookie of the Year honors. But he went winless last year and wound up 25th. This season got off to an interesting start after his Ganas- si Racing team merged with Dale Earnhardt Inc. The change to Earnhardt Ganassi Racing and a solid relationship with crew chief Brian Pattiehas served Montoya well.

He has kept his emotions in check and avoided the highs and lows that can doom a title chance. His calmer side showed this week, when he was upset with the way New Hampshire winner Martin raced him in the final laps Sunday. But by Tuesday, he was already thinking about Dover. Pattie, who took over as the crew chief early in 2008, has a lot to do with that. relationship with Brian has gotten a lot better, so we understand each other a lot said Montoya, who won this season but does have 13top-10 finishes.

I mention something to him, he understands better what I want out of the car, and likewise, you know, when he makes changes, a lot more comfortable when he makes changes now than I did before, and all that The changes gone unnoticed by Chase competitors. a team that you take driver Kurt Busch said. Montoya have enough experience? Does Brian Pattie? Does the whole program have what it takes to go through a 10-week stretch? yet to be Montoya knows true, too. are doing the best we can and hopefully we are going to be good enough to at least fight for he said. have the experience yet or anything.

our first Chase, and we just want to make sure we leave anything on the table. By the time Miami comes, we want to make surewe gave our best to make sure we gave ourselves a chance. all we can ANTHONY ANDRO, 817-390-7760 MOTORSPORTS REPORT INDICATOR LIGHT AS TITLE THREAT HAS COME ON Juan Pablo Montoya is out to make the most of his first Chase experience. ANTHONY ANDRO In his third Sprint Cup season, Juan Pablo Montoya finished third in his first Chase race and takes an in-it-to-win-it attitude. GETTY NASCAR Sprint Cup AAA 400 Site: Dover, Dover International Speedway (mile oval).

TV schedule: Friday, practice (Speed, 10 a.m.-11:30 a.m.), qualifying (ESPN2, p.m.); Saturday, practice (ESPN, 6-7 p.m.); Sunday, race (ABC, noon-5 p.m.) Race distance: 400 miles, 400 laps 2008 winner: Greg Biffle NASCAR Nationwide Dover 200 Site: Dover, Dover International Speedway (mile oval) TV schedule: Friday, practice (ESPN2, p.m.); Saturday, qualifying (ESPN2, a.m.), race (ESPN2, 2-5 p.m.) Race distance: 200 miles, 200 laps 2008 winner: Kyle Busch NASCAR Camping World Truck Las Vegas 350 Site: Las Vegas, Las Vegas Motor Speedway (oval, 1.5 miles) TV schedule: Saturday, race (Speed, p.m.) Race distance: 219 miles, 146 laps 2008 winner: Mike Skinner Formula One Singapore Grand Prix Site: Singapore, Marina Bay (road course, 3.148 miles) TV schedule: Friday, practice (Speed, a.m.); Saturday, practice, qualifying (Speed, 9-10 a.m.); Sunday, race, (Speed, a.m., p.m.) Race distance: 191.97 miles, 61 laps 2008 winner: Fernando Alonso NHRA Super Start Batteries NHRA Fall Nationals Site: Ennis, Texas Motorplex TV schedule: Qualifying (ESPN2, Sunday, 11:15 p.m.-1:15 a.m.); Sunday, final eliminations (ESPN2, 6-9 p.m.) 2008 winners: J.R. Todd (Top Fuel); Tim Wilkerson (Funny Car); Greg Stanfield (Pro Stock); Chris Rivas (Pro Stock Motorcycle) ON THE GRID COLLEGE STATION An oft-uprooted member of a military family, Sean Porter lived in five places before finally calling the San Antonio suburb of Schertz home the past six years. One of pit stops included Aggieland as a sixth-grader. But he never took in a Texas football game in that time. know too much about back Porter said.

making up for it in his second go-round of College Station, as a freshman outside linebacker just three months removed from high school. make you a little nervous because so Aggies defensive coordinator Joe Kines said. a pleasure to coach. got quickness, acceleration, and the game is important to him. But hard to cram three or four years of experience into a guy who at this time last year was in se- nior Still, Porter is one of the first players off the bench.

fast all of our linebackers are tall, rangy and quarterback Jerrod Johnson said. Porter also is one of 14 underclassmen among the top 22 players heading into the 2-0 Saturday night home game against UAB (1-2). getting more used to each other all of the Porter said. going to be good in a few years when we all get older, bigger and more developed. Right now just kind of throwing us out The 6-foot-2 Porter, who collected 276 tackles over his last two years at Clemens High School, came to weighing 205 pounds.

since put on about 10 pounds, with the idea of topping out around 230. Porter know how to go Aggies coach Mike Sherman said. reminds me of players had here in the past. not the biggest or the strongest, but he has a quick burst, and he can tackle. not 100 percent sure of what doing just yet, but he goes fast, and I can live with While Porter is dubbed an outside linebacker, he and Sherman said not entirely accurate.

the defense we run, kind of like a roll-down Porter said. out there in coverage with the receivers a lot. But when a running play, expected to get in the picture Sherman said in the old days, a nickel back would occasionally replace the outside linebacker. No more. have to substitute and can still play a base Sherman said.

like Von Miller is kind of a hybrid end, this position is a hybrid He can run with a tight end, he can blitz, and he can chase down the screen Porter backs up sophomore Garrick Williams, a swift duo fans should soon come to know well. two guys complement each Sherman said. think going to be pretty good at that position when all TEXAS VS. UAB, 6 P.M. SATURDAY Speedy freshman makes an impact at linebacker Sean speed and desire made him too good to keep off the field.

By BRENT ZWERNEMAN Special to the Star-Telegram Ten players have caught passes from Andy Dalton in two games this season. Five receivers have four receptions or more. The equal distribution keeps defenses from zeroing in on any one receiver. Bart Johnson leads the team with 10 catches for 102 yardsafter a big night against Texas State in which he caught a career-high seven passes for 70 yards. Jimmy Young also has 102 yards receiving and two touchdowns on four receptions this season.

Johnson, a junior, says more fun to be a receiver in new, more streamlined offense. He credits maturation as a quarterback as one of the keys. a combination of everything the system, our said Johnson, who finished with 15 catches in 2008. maturing has a lot to do with it, too. worked together all summer and have had about three years together NO.

15 TCU AT CLEMSON, 2:30 P.M. SATURDAY QB Dalton spreading the love around By STEFAN STEVENSON Tim Tebow is the leader in the first installment of the Scripps Howard News weekly Heisman Trophy poll, released Wednesday. The poll, which began in 1987, solicits input from 10 Heisman voters including representatives from each of the five Heisman balloting regions and assigns voting points for each candidate listed by voters. Points are assigned on a sliding scale, similar to the point totals in the weekly Associated Press college football poll. The poll has correctly forecast the Heisman winner in 18 of the first 21 seasons of its existence.

This results: PlayerSchoolLast WeekPts. 1. QB Tim TebowFlorida24 carries, 76 yards, TD run, 14-of-19, 115 yards passing, int. 42 (5) 2. RB Jahvid BestCalifornia26 carries, 131 yards, 5 TDs 29 (3) 3.

QB Colt McCoyTexas24-of-34 passing, 205 yards, TD, 2 ints. 23 (1) 4. QB Jacory HarrisMiami20-of-25 passing, 270 yards, 3 TDs 13 5. QB Case KeenumHoustonDid not play Others receiving votes: Notre Dame QB Jimmy Clausen, Oklahoma State WR Dez Bryant, Washington QB Jake Locker, Cincinnati QB Tony Pike, 1. (Scripps Howard News Service Heisman Trophy poll voters: Kirk Bohls, Austin American-Statesman; Jimmy Burch, Fort Worth Star-Telegram; Dennis Dodd, CBSSports.com; Vahe Gregorian, St.

Louis Post-Dispatch; Mike Griffith, The Knoxville (Tenn.) News-Sentinel; Michael Lewis, Salt Lake Tribune; Bob Condotta, Seattle Times; John Lindsay, Scripps Howard News Service; Tom Luicci, The (Newark) Star-Ledger; John Rohde, The Oklahoman.) NOTE: Voting tabulations are made on a 5-4-3-2-1 basis, with five points for a first-place vote, four points for second, etc. First-place votes are in parentheses. Handicapping the Heisman Star-Telegram college football writer Jimmy Burch handicaps the front-runners in the race to win the 2009 Heisman Trophy: RB Jahvid Best, California: Game-breaker will be hard-pressed to top last five- touchdown effort against Minnesota. QB Tim Tebow, Florida: Proven commodity turned in workmanlike effort last week against Tennessee. WR Dez Bryant, Oklahoma State: best wide returner combination.

QB Colt McCoy, Texas: Finishes strong but needs better first-half production. QB Jacory Harris, Miami: Rising star could pass them all if the Hurricanes keep winning. HEISMAN TROPHY POLL Tebow leads early Heisman polling By JIMMY BURCH hot Robert Hight: Two weeks ago, Hight was on the outside looking in for the Countdown to One playoffs. But he moved from 12th to 10th place to claim the final playoff spot. Then he won the Carolina Nationals last week and heads to Texas Motorplex in Ennis this weekend thirdin Funny Car points, with his Auto Club of Southern California Ford Mustang just 28points behind leader Tony Pedregon.

not Kyle Busch: An awful season for a preseason favorite end soon enough. Busch finished fifth Sunday in the Toyota in New Hampshire. But Tuesday he was docked 25 points for a rules infraction. A left front spring became dislodged, forcing the team to change the handling during the race. It failed a post-race inspection.

Owner Joe Gibbs was also docked 25 points and crew chief Steve Addington was fined $25,000. PIT NOTES Notes Testing ban in place for 2010: NASCAR will again prohibit national series teams from testing at tracks that host a national event for the 2010 season. In 2010, however, testing will be allowed at NASCAR-sanctioned tracks that host a regional touring event but do not host a national series event. Busch a member of the media: Kurt Busch, who has had an interesting relationship with the media, is now part of it. He will have a weekly blog on the Chicago Tribune Web site for the remainder of the Chase.

blog will appear every Wednesday. Hot rods headed to TMS: The Goodguys Rod Custom Association returns to the Texas Motor Speedway on Oct. 2-4 for the Goodguys Lone Star Nationals. It features more than 2,000 hot rods, customs and classics, plus exhibits, swap meet, cars for sale and a model car show. Tickets can be purchased online at www.good-guys.com.

For information, call 925-8389876 or visit www.good-guys.com. Countdown to Dickies 500 44 days: Fans can drive their cars on the Texas Motor Speedway track Saturday during the Laps for Charity II. For a $30 donation, fans can take three laps around the track from 7-10 p.m. For $10 they can get their picture taken with their car in Victory Lane. VIP packages ($250) include five-lapsessions with reserved times, a photo, two T-shirts, a two-week trial membership to the Speedway Club and dinner for two at the club.

For more information, call 817-215-8421. By the number 750 Career Sprint Cup starts for Mark Martin after this AAA 400 at Dover International Speedway Quotable All in all, optimistic and I feel that a stretch of tracks that are really good for the 48 coming up. Looking forward to separating the Chase group out a little more and gaining ground on Mark and trying to get ahead and be the leader here sometime in the next couple Three-time Sprint Cup champion Jimmie Johnson, who heads to Dover in second place, 35 points behind Martin Handicapping the Star-Telegram college football writer Jimmy Burch handicaps the front-runners in the race to win the 2009 Davey National Quarterback Award: Tim Tebow, Florida: Dual threat can win games in lots of different ways. Colt McCoy, Texas: Accurate passer (68.2 pct.) leads an offense that averages 44.7 points per game. Case Keenum, Houston: Ranks fourth nationally in passing efficiency (180.26).

Jimmy Clausen, Notre Dame: hard to top his touchdowns-to- interceptions ratio (9-0). Jacory Harris, Miami: Could crowd the leaders with a strong effort this week against Virginia Tech. Kickoff change Coach Gary Patterson said Ross Evans would probably handle kickoffs against Clemson. Evans, who has made all threefield-goal attempts, had one kickoff in the third quarter against Texas State. Kevin Sharples has kicked 13 times in two gamescompared with three.

gets more hang time and he got more distance Texas Patterson said. gets down the field faster and you take up more space and you can pin them down Watching party Fans are invited to watch TCU-Clemson game at Daniel-Meyer Coliseum. The game is not on broadcast television, but can be seen live online at ESPN 360. TCU athletics will show the game on the arena scoreboard screens. Daniel- Meyer will open at 2 p.m.

and concession stands will be available throughout the game. Key stat 26 Combined career interceptions for Clemson cornerbacks Crezdon Butler (10)and Chris Chancellor (9), and strong safety DeAndre McDaniel (7). McDaniel, a junior, has four in three games this yearto lead the Tigers, who are tied for second in the nation with eight interceptions. Injury update Strong safety Colin Jones has worked out with the first-team defense this week and might start Saturday at Clemson. Jones, who injured his hamstring early in August camp, did not play against Virginia and only saw limited action on special teams against Texas State.

He was the starting strong safety when he was injured. Defensive end Ross Forrest will not play at Clemson and his availability is questionable next week against SMU. He injured his left arm in the fourth quarter at Virginia and did not play against Texas State. STEFAN STEVENSON, 817-390-7760.