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  February 21, 2018 5:48 PM PST

  BIRMINGHAM, Ala. Kendrys Morales Royals Jersey . -- Ryan Hunter-Reay deftly guided his car around the rain-soaked track, stayed out of trouble and wound up with a much happier ending. Hunter-Reay coasted to his second straight victory at Barber Motorsports Park on Sunday when the rain-shortened IndyCar race finished under caution, with Andretti Autosport teammate Marco Andretti behind him. The win came two weeks after Hunter-Reay touched off what turned into a seven-car pileup with an ill-timed attempt to pass Josef Newgarden at Long Beach to end what had been a dominating performance. "The week after Long Beach was a pretty long one," Hunter-Reay said. "It was one where I just wanted to get back in a racecar as soon as I could. "We knew it would be tough here. When it came to race time, I had the car in the wet, I had the car in the dry. They gave me exactly what I needed. I knew it was going to be close to make it all work out because it was so easy to make a mistake today. Just thrilled. This victory feels real good." A full-course caution came out for the final seven minutes of the timed race after rookie Mikhail Aleshin lost control and went off the track. That left Hunter-Reay unchallenged. Scott Dixon was third, followed by Simon Pagenaud and pole-sitter Will Power, a two-time winner at Barber who had a slight but costly misjudgment on a slippery track in the tight Turn 5. "He was out there cutting the grass," Hunter-Reay said. "I had to take advantage of that. It was so easy to do that today. I almost lost this race three times." There was some slipping and sliding, especially in the minutes after the field switched from the wet tires with several drivers leaving the track. He passed Power on lap 16 when the Australian left the track and skirted by the tire barrier before pulling back on. "I kept creeping my braking point a little bit further and further, and I went too far," Power said. "Its tough to not push past the limits with wet patches everywhere. We really didnt have the pace in the dry anyway, but that sure didnt help our cause when I went off course." The turn is called "Charlottes Web" because of a huge spider sculpture stationed there. "I almost threw it away three or four times there myself," Hunter-Reay said. "It was just tiptoeing around. It was a very fine line between getting it all right or getting it all wrong. "Any guy thats been in an IndyCar on the Web will tell you thats how it is. Youve got to go up the risk side to the get the reward out of it, but its really easy to throw it all away." Its the 12th career win for Hunter-Reay, who was alone up front during the caution until Andretti pulled even at the finish line to savour the moment with his teammate. He led three times for a total of 40 laps. "Theyve given us great cars here, and a second win in a row for Ryan is awesome," said Andretti, whose radio worked only sporadically down the stretch. Dixon said running a time race was "kind of annoying" and Andretti said it removed some strategy from the formula. They wound up going 69 laps, and Hunter-Reay was up front for the final time starting on No. 52. "The race should be the full distance," Dixon said. "To have to shorten these races for TV, you know, I understand the difficult predicament that everybody is in, but these are championship races. They all pay the same amount of points. "You decide to take 30 laps off them ... I think it changes strategy a lot and youre constantly chasing that window. Then ultimately you finish on a caution, too, which is also a bit of a bummer for the fans. In the future, hopefully we can find a way around that." Drivers were focused on handling the track conditions, not payback from any lingering anger over Long Beach clashes. It ended badly for Aleshin, who walked back to pit road while the rest of the field finished. Earlier Sebastien Bourdais had spun the Russian from behind, leaving him stalled. Bourdais received a drive-through penalty for avoidable contact. The race was a change-up for Dixon, who finished second in each of the first four races at Barber. "We went the wrong way, but it was an interesting day," Dixon said. "Whenever you have a rain delay it sort of puts a strain on everybody trying to figure out what we need to do. "The cars were pretty good. The track suits wet conditions. There were a few troublesome areas with standing water and a few of the guys found those spots. But generally the race went fairly smoothly." Kansas City Royals Jersey . After seven wins in a row, they have to do it one more time to get into the playoffs. Yordano Ventura Jersey . -- The anointed starting quarterback for the Oakland Raiders is strengthening his hold on the position this training camp instead of losing it.MADRID, Spain -- Luis Aragones, the former Spain coach who shaped the teams rise from perennial underachiever to global powerhouse with a long-awaited title at the 2008 European Championship, has died. He was 75. The Spanish football federation announced the death early Saturday, saying Aragones died at a Madrid hospital. He had been battling leukemia. Federation president Angel Maria Villar said Aragones would be remembered as "very special" -- both for his contributions to Spanish football and as a person. "With him we have lived the beginning of an extraordinary phase in football as well as for Spanish society," Villar said. "This has been a painful dawn for our football." Aragones had a successful playing career as a sharpshooting international forward who earned 11 caps for Spain, and then spent the rest of his life as a much-travelled coach. However, he will mostly be remembered for what happened on June 29, 2008, when his team beat Germany 1-0 in Vienna to claim its first major title in 44 years. "Luis Aragones changed the history of Spanish football," Spain captain and goalkeeper Iker Casillas said. "And for that we will always be thankful." The Euro 2008 triumph was the culmination of Aragones four-year reign as Spain coach, having taken over a team that for the last 20 years had earned a reputation for always coming up short in major tournaments. But Aragones instilled a new sense of belief in his players, even after losing to France in the second round of the 2006 World Cup. He also made the team adopt the quick-passing "tiki-taka" style of football made famous by Barcelona, and which his players came close to perfecting at Euro 2008. Led by Barcelona midfielders Xavi Hernandez and Andres Iniesta -- and the goalscoring of David Villa -- Spain went undefeated through the tournament, but needed a penalty shootout against Italy to advance from the quarterfinals. While Aragones stepped down after the tournament, the team went on to win its first World Cup two years later and then added an unprecedented third straight major title at Euro 2012 under his successor Vicente del Bosque. "Without a doubt, our current run of success is a result of his legacy," Del Bosque said on Saturday, after paying his respects to Aragones family. "He had a long history of coaching experience and he had a special appreciation for the game." But Aragones time in charge wasnt without controversy. He made a racist slur about France striker Thierry Henry -- who is black -- during a training session in October, 2004, and followed that remark with an outburst about Englands colonial past. Edinson Volquez Jersey. His comments were believed to have prompted ugly racist chants directed at Englands black players during a friendly against Spain in Madrid. The Spanish Football Federation refused to bow to pressure to fire Aragones, although it fined him 3,000 euros, a punishment which many felt was too lenient. Denying he was a racist, Aragones explained that his comment about Henry was an attempt to motivate forward Jose Antonio Reyes, and he received important backing from several black players he had coached previously. In February, 2007, Aragones won a legal appeal against the Spanish Committee for Sporting Disciplines ruling that his behaviour could have fostered "violent, racist or xenophobic acts." Spanish media also often complained about his grouchy demeanour and had regularly called for his dismissal during the two years before the teams triumph. There was another uproar toward the end of 2006 when he dropped the national teams all-time leading scorer and captain, Real Madrids Raul Gonzalez, arguing that he was past his prime. It proved a masterstroke. The team embarked on a 22-game unbeaten run which culminated with the 2008 title, making Aragones the oldest coach to win a European Championship title. Despite the victory, the Spanish federation made no attempt to persuade him to extend his contract and five days later he moved abroad for the first time to take charge of Turkish club Fenerbahce, a couple of weeks before his 70th birthday. "Im leaving because there wasnt more done for me to stay," Aragones said at the time. His playing career began 43 years earlier, when Aragones joined Atletico Madrid. He scored 123 times in 265 games for the team -- the second highest in its history -- and helped the club win three Spanish league titles and two Copa del Reys. It also reached the 1974 European Cup final, where it lost to Bayern Munich in a replay. Aragones, nicknamed "The Sage of Hortaleza" in reference to the Madrid suburb of his birth, was then appointed as Atletico coach and led the team to the 1975 World Club Championship, the 1976 Copa del Rey and the 1977 league title. He coached Atletico on a total of five occasions and he had two spells each at Mallorca and Real Betis. He was also in charge of Barcelona, Espanyol, Sevilla, Valencia and Oviedo in a career total of 757 games, a Spanish league record. Aragones is survived by his wife Pepa, five children and 11 grandchildren.        ' ' '