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AVONDALE, Ariz. Ernie Banks Jersey . -- A few drivers, like Brad Keselowski and Joey Logano, raced onto the track to get in their qualifying sessions. Others waited, some nearly 10 minutes, before heading out for the first time. There were long stretches with almost no activity followed by mad scrambles to get runs in before time ran out. Cars raced past each other at close to a 100 mph difference. No doubt, this first round of NASCARs new knockout qualifying was a little strange and will take some getting used to. Brad Keselowski earned the first Sprint Cup pole under NASCARs new format, edging Joey Logano with a track-record top speed of 139.384 mph at Phoenix International Raceway on Friday. "Its a lot more nerve-racking," Keselowski said. "Usually a pretty good rule of thumb is that If its more nerve-racking for the drivers, its a lot more fun for our fans and partners and all those things, and thats a good thing. Im more interested in feedback from our fans to see if they liked it." Keselowski was one of the first drivers to go out in the first session and finished behind Logano. He trumped his teammate in the shorter, second session to earn his fourth career pole and a spot on the front row for Sundays 312-mile race. Jamie McMurray qualified third, defending Sprint Cup champion Jimmie Johnson was fourth and Daytona 500 champion Dale Earnhardt Jr. will start fifth, next to Greg Biffle. "The qualifying format was before because I felt like I was one of those guys it was exciting for me because I wasnt in, I made another run, I got in," McMurray said. "The excitement was there." NASCAR made numerous changes for this season, including a tweaked qualifying process in an effort to liven up what had become a monotonous part of race weekend. Instead of going out one at a time, the entire field gets a 30-minute session to post their fastest lap, with the top 12 moving on to a 10-minute second round. On bigger tracks, the qualifying will have three sessions, with the field cut to 24 then 12. NASCAR got a glimpse of the new system at Daytona last week, but it didnt last long; the Nationwide series was able to get in one round before rain washed out the rest of the qualifying and for the Truck Series. The Daytona 500 didnt use the new qualifying process, so Phoenix was the inaugural go-round. No one knew quite what to expect and there was a bit of concern about drivers intentionally blocking each other to prevent fast lap times, something NASCAR officials planned to keep an eye on. Instead, the action on the track was sparse for long stretches, with some drivers racing out to get qualifying laps in right away while several others waited several minutes to get their first lap in. One issue while there were multiple cars on the track were the speeds. NASCAR decided against allowing teams to have cool down units in their pit stalls, so most of the drivers in the field put in one fast lap and one that was much slower to cool their engines, creating differences of up to 100 mph between the cars. "Weve got a really good dialogue with all of our competitors," said Robin Pemberton, NASCARs vice-president for competition and racing development. "They dont want to force us to do something thats wrong. They weigh in because they think things can be better. Its our job to take and balance all that out and remove the agenda part of that a team may or may not have. Right now, its working pretty good." For the first session, Logano and Keselowski were at the front of the pack along pit road -- by random drawing -- and raced to get out in front on the track so theyd have a clear path. Logano put up the fastest time early and Keselowski was right behind him in second. Despite teams coming in for adjustments -- one crewmember was allowed to come over the wall to make minor changes -- those two stayed out front for the entire first session. For the final session, Keselowski put up his fast time relatively early in the 10-minute window and swapped places with Logano for the pole. "Unfortunately, we won the wrong one," Logano said. "We won the first one and our teammate got the second one, but either way we both had a chance to win something. He just got the trophy to take the pictures with." Darwin Barney Cubs Jersey . Cassano has been at the Policlinico facility since Saturday, when he was taken for tests after suffering what the club described as a brain problem on the team plane following the teams 3-2 victory over Roma. Starlin Castro Jersey . LOUIS -- St. METZ, France -- Third-seeded Alexandr Dolgopolov of Ukraine rallied from a set down to beat Marcos Baghdatis of Cyprus, 6-7 (5), 7-5, 6-3 Wednesday and reach the quarter-finals of the Moselle Open. He was joined by No. 4 Ivan Ljubicic of Croatia, who beat French qualifier Nicolas Renavand 7-5, 7-5, and eight-seeded Gilles Muller of Luxembourg who overcame French wild card Benoit Paire 7-6 (5), 6-4. Dolgopolov saved six of the seven break points he faced against Baghdatis. Ljubicic, who won the tournament in 2005, hit 13 aces and broke Renavvand once in each set. Kosuke Fukudome Jersey. Meanwhile, Arnaud Clement of France, Philipp Kohlschreiber of Germany and Igor Kunitsyn of Russia all advanced to the second round. Clement, the 2003 champion, beat Michael Llodra 6-3, 6-4 and will next face Nicolas Mahut of France. The seventh-seeded Kohlschreiber beat Jonathan Dasnieres de Veigy 6-4, 7-6 (4), and Kunitsyn defeated Kenny De Schepper 7-5, 5-7, 6-4. Kohlschreiber will next play Dutch qualifier Igor Sijsling, while Kunitsyn will meet sixth-seeded Xavier Malisse of Belgium. cheap jerseys from china cheap jerseys ' ' ' |
