y days were bleak in Salt Lake. The team went 5-22-5 with

CONCORD, N.C. -- Sprint Cup points leader Jeff Gordon cut short his practice because of back spasms and the No. 24 team has Regan Smith on standby should the four-time champion not be able to run the Coca-Cola 600 on Sunday night. Gordon went just 11 laps Saturday before he told his crew he couldnt continue. He left out of a side door of his hauler and was escorted out of the track to get treatment. Crew chief Alan Gustafson said the team would not run the car in the final practice session and instead will get it ready for Sundays race. "Ive had some spasms in the past, but this one, it was a little bit different," said the 42-year-old Gordon. "And so I just want to really be cautious and take care of it. It doesnt do me any good to be in the car right now." Gustafson said the plan was for Gordon to start the longest event in NASCAR. Should the pain be too much, then Smith would take over the Hendrick Motorsports car. Gustafson said Gordon felt back pain after qualifying Thursday night and had hoped things would improve before Saturdays practice sessions. But "after the first run, we talked about it and it was pretty detrimental to him physically to continue," Gustafson said. Gordon said on Twitter he planned to rest and "be ready for 600 miles 2moro." The four-time series champion is having one of the steadiest starts of his career with eight top-10 finishes in the first 11 races. Gordon moved into the points lead following a second-place finish at Texas Motor Speedway in early April and hes stayed out front ever since. He cemented his place in the Sprint Cups championship Chase two weeks ago with a victory at Kansas Speedway. Gordon will start 27th and hope his back holds out for 400 laps around the 1.5-mile race track. "Luckily, we had a good 11 laps there and weve got our teammates and information that were going to be able to gather from them," Gordon said. "Its all coming together very fast right now." Gordon has had back spasms in the past and even considered retiring because of the severe pain. Regular treatment has kept the pain mostly in check and Gustafson hopes that will be the case again for Sunday. Doctors "will get him in the best condition he can and get him ready to run tomorrow," Gustafson said. This weeks race marks the 20th anniversary of Gordons first Sprint Cup victory. His crew chief then, Ray Evernham, said Gordon is much tougher than some believe and has raced through illness and pain before. "We won the Southern 500 (at Darlington) when he started throwing up halfway" through the race, said Evernham, currently working for Hendrick Motorsports. Evernham said Gordon believes his car is ready and is being smart by not hurting himself further by practicing. "Hell do everything he needs to do to get to feeling good and I know him and tomorrow night in that car, he may need some help getting out of it, but when hes in it, hes going to be at 100 per cent," Evernham said. Paul Goldschmidt Diamondbacks Jersey .J. Barea during a three-game shooting slump that was getting him booed off his home court with regularity. Luis Gonzalez Jersey . Its the games against the leagues struggling franchises that have proved to be an issue. http://www.diamondbacksteamproshop.com/ ... ersey/.com) - The Eastern Conference-leading Toronto Raptors are back in the great white north for a brief moment and will host the Dallas Mavericks Friday night from Air Canada Centre. Nick Ahmed Diamondbacks Jersey . Every once in awhile, it seems like life lets dreams become real - and that is a gift. Alex Avila Jersey . -- Sami Salo joked that as the shootout went on and on, one thing went through his mind: "Youve got to tie up your skates.TORONTO -- In playing Real Salt Lake this weekend, Toronto FC is taking on the kind of team it aspires to be -- a perennial playoff side with a winning tradition and championship character. Now in its 10th season, Real Salt Lake has made the playoffs the last six years, winning the MLS Cup in 2009. Until overtaken in the MLS record books early last year, Real Salt Lake held the league mark for consecutive home wins at 29. Rio Tinto Stadium was an impregnable fortress from June 2009 to May 2011. Toronto (2-0-0 this season) has a 1-5-0 lifetime record in Sandy, Utah. RSL (1-0-2 this season) was also the first MLS team to reach the CONCACAF Champions League final, losing to Monterrey 3-2 on aggregate in 2011. Last season Real Salt Lake made it to two finals but lost both: beaten in the MLS Cup by Sporting Kansas City in an agonizing penalty shootout and 1-0 by D.C. United in the U.S. Open Cup. There has been stability on the sidelines with Jeff Cassar, who has been with the team since May 2007, moving up the ladder to head coach last December after Jason Kreis became the first head coach of New York City FC. Cassar is the third head coach in RSL history. Toronto was on coach No. 5 in Year 4 and is currently on its eighth manager in Ryan Nelsen. RSL captain Kyle Beckerman arrived in 2007 in a trade from the Colorado Rapids. The midfielder with the distinctive dreadlocks credits coaching and a little luck for the franchises success. "We were able to get players into this team that were ready to be coached by a coach like Jason and Jeff Cassar and Robin Fraser (a former RSL assistant coach who is now with the New York Red Bulls)," he said Thursday. "It just so happened that we were able to get a group of guys together that ... really just needed a good environment -- an ownership that cared, a coaching staff that did the right thing. A lot of the guys were coming from places that didnt do the game right. "A lot of us, that core group thats still here, it was a breath of fresh air that we really needed. And we just took full advantage because we knew exactly the opportunity that was in front of us, because wed had it the opposite way, where the owner doesnt care or the coach just doesnt get it. "So I think we lucked out a little bit that we had the core in the same place, here in Salt Lake, tthat was just absolutely ready to explode and take full advantage of what was in front of us.dddddddddddd And thats what we did." The 31-year-old Beckerman is joined on the team by fellow U.S. internationals Nick Rimando (a goalie who came on board in 2007) and Luis Gil (a midfielder who joined in 2010). Other veterans include defenders Nat Borchers (2008) and Chris Wingert (2007), midfielders Ned Grabavoy (2009) and Javier Morales (2007) and forwards Robbie Findley (two stints since 2007) and Alvaro Saborio (2010). Players want to come to winning clubs. And RSL does a good job checking out new talent. "They want to bring in not only good players but good people," said Beckerman. Toronto FC has followed the same road this off-season, with marquee signings Jermain Defoe, Michael Bradley, Gilberto and Julio Cesar all fitting in. Beckerman acknowledges that he respects Torontos search for success. "The thing that I really admire about Toronto is that they wont stop. Theyve kept at it. Theyve kept trying to fix and get the right recipe. And it doesnt seem like theyre going to stop any time soon. Theyre going to keep going and keep spending until they get the right recipe. "And I admire that. Thats something a lot of other teams would love to have that. With the fan base, theyve been loyal there and theyve stuck with them through tough times. The ownership and what theyre doing there, is kind of a reward to that loyalty and giving them a successful team. "Time will tell if this is the right one. But it seems so far that theyve brought in the right players so far. So I think its definitely on the up and up over there." Like Toronto, the early days were bleak in Salt Lake. The team went 5-22-5 with just 20 points in its inaugural season in 2005. In 2005-06, the fledgling franchise endured a league-record 18-game winless streak. But it didnt take long for Real Salt Lake to turn the corner. It had 39 points in Season 2 and 40 in Season 4, going 10-10-10 and reaching the 2008 playoff semifinals. In 2009, it was another 40-point season and the 11-12-7 team went on to win the title. Since then, RSL has collected 56, 53, 57 and 56 points. In contrast, Torontos points total since entering the league in 2007 is 25, 35, 39, 35, 33, 23, and 29. 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