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Kenseth won his first pole of the season for Joe Gibbs Racing by turning a lap at 187.315 mph, beating Keselowski's 187.105. Five-time Fontana champion Jimmie Johnson was third at 38.516, followed by Kevin Harvick. Clint Bowyer came in fifth. The drivers emerged from the fourth edition of NASCAR's new knockout qualifying format with more praise for the fan-friendly style. Keselowski improved his time in each round, adding to Team Penske's list of impressive qualifying finishes this season....

In poetic synergy fitting for his farewell season, Stewart pulled off a last-lap pass of Denny Hamlin to steal a win at Sunday’s Toyota/Save Mart 350, snapping a personal 84-race winless skid. Stewart, who will retire from NASCAR after this season, now sits nine points from 30th place in the Sprint Cup standings after missing the season’s first eight races. MORE: Stewart rules the road | Dale Earnhardt Jr. is smoked...

The shopping center in Bloomington, a suburb of Minneapolis, was placed on lockdown shortly after multiple gunshots were fired. Local law enforcement officials reported no one was harmed in what they described as a conflict between two groups inside a Nike store. During the conflict, one person reportedly fired multiple rounds. As of press time, police were still searching for the suspects involved in the case. A video filmed during the shooting that was shared on Twitter shows Kyle Busch with his son trying to flee the scene....

NASCAR is considering changing its qualifying procedure in 2014 to have multiple cars on the track at the same time, sanctioning body spokesman Kerry Tharp said Thursday. Already used on road courses, the proposed qualifying format would have cars in groups (it has been five or six) with each car released from pit road in intervals of a few seconds. The group would then have a certain amount of time to complete qualifying laps, with the best lap speed used to determine the starting order for the race....

The filing comes two weeks after the USSF denied the NASL’s application for second-division status for 2018, which could jeopardize the league’s future. The United Soccer League has overtaken the NASL as the second division behind Major League Soccer. The division structure in the United States is designed in order for league’s to reach certain requirements, including number of teams. The NASL lost four clubs after the 2016 season, leaving it with only eight teams, four below the 12-team minimum....

The Republicans were no less ill mannered. President Bush not-so-subtly questioned Patrick Buchanan’s patriotism (for failing to support the Persian Gulf War), while Buchanan attacked Bush’s morality. A Buchanan ad showed a clip of a federally funded film that portrayed gay black men dancing together. “Even after good people protested,” the ad blares, “Bush continued to fund this kind of art.” Forget the No Bull Campaign. For now, at least, it’s the All Swill Campaign....

Diaz will fight Khamzat Chimaev at UFC 279 on Sept. 10 inside T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. The non-title bout will be the main event of the card. A verbal agreement between the fighters was reached last week, UFC executive Hunter Campbell told ESPN. A silver medalist in the Pan American Jiu-Jitsu Championships, Diaz made his pro debut in 2004 for WEC. The 37-year-old won “The Ultimate Fighter” in 2007....

“I would say there’s one, Anthony Davis,” Ayton said when asked about comparisons via Scout.com. “Actually to be honest, I’m in love with [Kristaps] Porzingis, though,” he added. “We have the same game to be honest. Same exact game. He can shoot. He can put the ball on the floor and go to the rim and he can post up.” MORE: Way-too-early Top 25 | 11 college stars who skipped NBA Draft...

At some point in history, someone crowned July 19 National Daiquiri Day. While Hemingway wasn’t alive to see the holiday’s creation, his daiquiri-loving legacy lives on with a drink in his honor. While living in Havana, Cuba, in the 1930s Hemingway had to find a way to beat the heat. So he ventured to the bar El Floridita. Nicknamed El Rey de los Coteleros, the King of Cocktails, according to NPR, bartender Constantino Ribalaigua Vert both owned the establishment and tended bar....

“From what I understand about the report…I get this second hand, but from Republican congressmen that were in the committee, there was no intelligence behind it,” O’Brien said in an interview on CBS News’ Face the Nation Sunday. He said that he hasn’t seen any intelligence to substantiate the reports “that were leaked out of the House. But it’s just hard to comment on that because, again, I wasn’t there....

His comments were prompted by a front-page story in The New York Times that illustrated how the president used to “relish throwing” world leaders into confusion “for how best to deal with him,” and how the roles are now reversing as U.S. influence subsides in the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. “The amazing part of that is that Putin is getting everything he wants without having to lift a finger. I don’t think the president is somehow doing this on instructions; I think he has a kind of natural oppositional defiant disorder in the presence of adults,” Nichols told host Joe Scarborough, referring to Russian President Vladimir Putin....

Several of the top recruits for the 2018 class finished their recruitment with the early signing period, but a few five-star players waited until the traditional date to make their college decisions. MORE: National Signing Day tracker Here’s where the top 10 uncommitted prospects ended their college football recruitment (all players reflect 247Sports’ Composite rankings): Patrick Surtain Jr., CB School: American Heritage (Fort Lauderdale, Fla.) Overall ranking: 6 (No. 1 CB) Committed to: Alabama...

Recruits have a 72-hour period to sign a National Letter of Intent with their school of choice, and several teams got a head start on putting together a five-star class. The usual powerhouses – Clemson, Alabama, LSU and Ohio State – were among the big winners as usual. A few other schools, however, made their move up the rankings. Here is a look at some of the biggest winners from National Signing Day, from the familiar big names to a few surprise schools....

Nearly three months later, my feeling hasn’t changed. It’s stronger, honestly, and only partially because of what’s happened the past few days in Houston, where the Nationals have stunned the sport in grabbing a 2-0 lead in the World Series with a pair of road wins. Here’s the quote, talking about being “all-in” at the trade deadline when the most realistic result is in one of the wild card games....

Widely seen as favorites to win the World Series in 2013, the Washington Nationals wound up a disappointment, with an 86-76 record that left them 10 games adrift of the Atlanta Braves at the end of the season. How that happened is something of a mystery, because Washington was sixth in National League scoring and sixth in ERA — a well-balanced team that simply didn’t win enough. It wasn’t bad luck that cost the Nationals in Davey Johnson’s final year as manager, as they were 28-24 in one-run games and 7-8 in extra innings....

Howie Kendrick, Trea Turner, Adam Eaton and Anthony Rendon hit four consecutive home runs off Padres reliever Craig Stammen in the eighth inning. The fireworks happened in the span of only seven pitches. How rare is it for a team to hit four consecutive home runs? Extremely. It’s happened only nine times in MLB history, according to NationalPastime.com. To put that in perspective, there have been 23 perfect games in baseball history....

Dr. Ashish Jha has warned that if the U.S. government doesn’t impose stricter measures across the country for 14 days now, it will be forced to do so later for much longer and “many more people will die.” “Our hospitals and emergency rooms are not ready. We have two choices. Basically we can either have a national quarantine now, two weeks, get a grip on where things are, then reassess,” Dr....

“You have yet to fully address the harm you have caused,” the letter states. “While your apologies are a step in the right direction, they have been vague and inadequate. Accountability is not just admitting you made a mistake, but working to correct the harm it caused.” The letter also says a “history of false claims” by the Massachusetts senator “have normalized white people claiming to be Native” and perpetuated misconceptions of what it means to be Native American....

The nonprofit Native American Guardian’s Association filed the suit Tuesday in U.S. District Court to counter a measure signed into law in June saying schools and colleges using American Indian-themed mascots would be fined $25,000 per month after June 1, 2022. Schools on tribal lands and those with existing agreements with tribes are not included. The Colorado Commission of Indian Affairs identified more than 20 schools across the state for violating the law by using terms such as Savages, Indians and Warriors in their mascot’s name....

Mary and Joseph must have been great parents. Jesus’ followers were so impressed by his religious personality that they believed he was anointed by God ( Christos means “anointed” in Greek). Because Jesus became such a religious hero, the Nativity narratives in the Gospels, written long after his death, adopted mythic themes associated with the birth of special figures. Yet modern Jews believe that the birth of Jesus was not the birth of Christianity, a religion that did not emerge until after his death....