was the only driver guaranteed a spot entering the race Saturday at

Phil Brown is hoping his work as Southend United manager will reward him with a Premier League job in the future. The 55-year-old won promotion with the Shrimpers last season through the League Two play-offs and has continued that momentum in League One, taking the club to the cusp of the play-off places.Brown took Hull City to the Premier League for the first time in their 104-year history before successfully avoiding relegation in 2009 - but was sacked after a poor run of form in 2010. FL72 Podcast - Warnock, Brown and Holloway He was appointed Preston North End boss in January 2011 but was unable to save the club from relegation and was subsequently sacked. Brown spent nearly two years out of the game but is rebuilding his CV with Southend.When asked if the work hes doing at Southend is being noticed by clubs higher up the football pyramid, Brown told the FL72 Podcast: Youd hope so.You always try to put yourself in at the right level in terms of your ability. Having managed in the Premier League and achieved success at that level, you always want to get back there. FL72 Podcast - listen here Neil Warnock, Phil Brown, Alex Revell and Ian Holloway provide your Football League fix A couple of years ago, football had turned its back on me where management was concerned and the only place available to me was in the second division. I jumped at the chance and got my hands dirty again, working with players and trying to improve them individually.Hopefully Ive proved to a lot of people that management at every level is a difficult job. And if youre successful at a lower level, why not be given a crack at the higher levels? Its important you get rewarded somewhere along the line.Were trying to improve this football club and take it to the next level - if we can do that and its rewarded by people looking at that, then all well and good, but Ive got a job to do here. Southend have exceeded expectations in League One this season and despite losing their last two games are just three points off the play-off places. They welcome league leaders Burton Albion to Roots Hall on Monday night and Brown is hoping his team can bounce back to form in front of the Sky Sports cameras.He said: Were on the shirt tails of the play-offs. Its been a fairly successful season but weve been disappointed with our levels of consistency. Weve won a couple of games then weve lost three. I need to get a level of consistency to make a challenge.Our job as a management group is to focus on the next game and our next game is the league leaders with the Sky cameras in town. Hopefully it will be a turn on performance from both sides. Also See: Mersons predictions Ollies predictions FL72 Podcast Eric Oelschlagel Dortmund Jersey . -- Derrick Rose shook off poor shooting early to hit clutch shots late and Carlos Boozer had 20 points and 13 rebounds to lead the Chicago Bulls to a 104-95 preseason victory over the Oklahoma City Thunder on Wednesday night. Raphael Guerreiro Dortmund Jersey .ca looks back at the stories and moments that made the year memorable. http://www.footballdortmundpro.com/Kids-Marcel-Schmelzer-Jersey/ . 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. Axel Witsel Dortmund Jersey . Colin Wilson had two goals and an assist, and Mike Fisher scored a goal and helped set up two others in the Predators 6-4 victory over the Red Wings on Monday night. Shinji Kagawa Dortmund Jersey . The nimble-footed quarterback got his wish, dashing through the snow and a weary defence all the way into the NCAA record book. TALLADEGA, Ala. -- Last year, the ugly part of the Chase elimination-style format at Talladega came when Kevin Harvick stayed out with a sick car in the final laps, causing a wreck that ended the race.This year, the ugly came in a different fashion: with Matt Kenseth finishing 28th, Carl Edwards in 29th and Kyle Busch in 30th -- good enough to advance to the semifinal round of the Chase for the Sprint Cup. The three Joe Gibbs Racing drivers never made much of a move, dropping to the rear of the field before the green flag ever fell and staying there throughout the day. There were only four cars on the lead lap behind them.Kenseth finished with an eight-point cushion to advance, Busch finished with a six-point cushion and Edwards with a four-point spread.We accomplished all we need to accomplish, Busch said. Well take it and move on. We didnt get paid very well today, but well get paid very well in about four weeks when were hoisting a trophy.With a couple of engine failures taking out some contenders but no big wreck to thin the field, the Gibbs drivers opted to never make a real move throughout the race. There was a slight chance Austin Dillon and Denny Hamlin could have had such good finishes to knock out one of the Gibbs cars running around in the back, but they took their chances.For Busch, the defending Sprint Cup champion, it was the best 30th-place finish ever.There is no reward to go race and get wrecked so you try to be smart and do what you can do, Busch said. If youre guaranteed racing and everybody along with yourself is all crashed out, then the points would stay the same, [youd race] but you cant guarantee that.You have to be smart and you have to try to survive.Busch said he was hesitant to use the strategy, which was similar to what he tried in 2014 only to get hit from behind by Dillon as he slowed for an accident well up ahead of them.Anytime we were just kind of chilling, riding, kind of hanging out and we had a car behind us, I made sure to get out of that situation and made sure we were the last car, Busch said. I didnt want anybody behind me besides a teammate.The one driver who could have been hurt by strategy was their JGR teammate Hamlin, who had no one to rely on for a push up front. His third-place finish was good enough to tie Dillon for the final spot and win the tiebreaker with the best finish in the round. In other words, Hamlin advanced no thanks to his teammates.They had to do what they had to do to get in, Hamlin said. You cant sacrifice those three cars to try to get the last one in. Youve got to know youve got in your hand threee aces.dddddddddddd You cant try to get the fourth and risk it, so I knew I was going to be out there alone.One thing fans can be sure of -- they wont see this next year. Because Talladega is the middle race of the round, no one will use the strategy because drivers will need to get every point they can prior to the elimination race at Kansas.Next year, it will be a way better race and I think well have way more entertainment for the fans and everyone, with the schedule change putting Talladega back before Kansas, Busch said. Youll know what you have before you go into Kansas, so I feel like everyone is going to have to race and youre going to have to get as many points as you can through this track in order to have a safe day at Kansas.Thats good, because there hopefully wont be many more of these answers after the Talladega race next year.I dont think any of us had any fun and none of us enjoyed it, Kenseth said. But it was just what we had to do.Camping World Truck Series: Old and newThe truck championship hunt eliminated two young drivers in Daniel Hemric and John Hunter Nemechek, keeping a mix of veterans and newcomers in the mix.Series vets Timothy Peters, Matt Crafton and Johnny Sauter are among the six drivers to advance to the semifinal round. Ben Kennedy, in his third year in trucks, advanced, as did Kyle Busch Motorsports rookies William Byron and Christopher Bell.Byron was the only driver guaranteed a spot entering the race Saturday at Talladega, but the other five were ahead of the cutoff entering the race and held their positions as Nemechek blew an engine and Hemric got caught up in a couple melees. Grant Enfinger won the race driving for GMS Racing.Peters hopes that experience matters.I look forward to the next three, Peters said. Im not worried about [the rest]. Were going to race our own race. ... Im excited about going to Martinsville for sure. Well take it how it comes.Crafton and Sauter have two career wins at Martinsville, while Peters also has one. At Texas, Byron won in June, and Crafton and Sauter have two wins apiece. Peters is the defending winner at Phoenix.I felt like we had a truck that could win the race -- we definitely had enough speed, Sauter said. But youve got to be smart. I feel great [about our chances].Weve won at Martinsville a couple of times, weve won at Texas a couple of times. Theyre really good racetracks [for us]. Weve just got to go there and be aggressive and ultimately race for points. ' ' '