Über uns » ficult division. They went 14-12-3 again

KANSAS CITY, Kan. -- Kevin Harvick has a second straight shot at winning from the pole at Kansas Speedway. Harvick was back on top at the 1.5-mile track, posting a track record to help propel him to his second pole of the season. Harvick posted his record 194.658 mph lap Friday in the second round of NASCARs knockout qualifying format. His No. 4 Chevrolet hit 194.252 in the third round to give him two straight poles at Kansas, after he won from the top spot at Octobers race. "It was Freaky Fast today, so just have to put it all together tomorrow night when it counts," Harvick said. Harvick has two wins this season and won from the pole at Darlington. He will lead the field to green Saturday under the lights for the first time in a Sprint Cup race at Kansas. Joey Logano joined Harvick on the front row. Brad Keselowski, Carl Edwards and Kyle Larson rounded out the top five. His qualifying spins over, Keselowski worked hard defending himself from drivers -- like former champion Jimmie Johnson -- who said he didnt need to race so hard when he was out of contention Sunday at Talladega Superspeedway. Keselowski fell six laps off the pace while his car was repaired from an earlier accident. When he returned to the track, he decided to race hard with the leaders in an attempt to slowly get his laps back and maybe put himself back in position to win. Keselowski eventually spun in the middle of the pack to trigger a 14-car accident that wrecked former champions Jeff Gordon, Matt Kenseth, Tony Stewart and Johnson. "You have to think being six laps down you are not going to get back on the lead lap," Johnson said Friday. "There is an opinion, if you are on the race track you deserve a right to go race regardless how many laps down you are. Im sure that is probably a smaller percentage of people have that opinion. Its very easy when you are caught up in that wreck is to go, Why were you racing? You are six laps down. It just depends on where you are." Keselowski brushed off the barbs from his rivals. "Thats his right," Keselowski said. "We all hold the steering wheel. Theres 43 of us out there and we all hold it a little bit differently and make different decisions. It would be quite lame to watch if we all did the same thing and had the same ideas and personnas. "Id say in most cases, I probably wouldnt have done it. But in that case, I felt like it was the proper thing to do with having the potential to race the 1 car (Jamie McMurray) and get back in sequence. If we got back in sequence, we had enough speed in our car, with yellows, to have a shot at winning the race. I wasnt ready to give up." Kurt Busch was sixth, followed by Ryan Newman and Tony Stewart. Danica Patrick qualified ninth for her second straight top-10 start and Greg Biffle was 10th. Harvick said a little 15-minute pep talk with Patrick may have spurred her to another solid qualifying run. She set a track record on her first lap, though it was topped multiple times during the three rounds. "She just basically needed to quit thinking about it and smash the gas," he said. "Thats what she said. Shes done a great job in trying to take in all the information." Harvick, who jumped from Richard Childress Racing to Stewart-Haas Racing, pulled away from Kurt Busch and Gordon on a late restart to win a wreck-filled race in October at Kansas. "I dont think its going to be like the way it was when they dropped the green flag last fall here," he said. Harvick won his eighth pole in 477 career starts. "It makes life a lot easier when you can have pit stall one," he said. "Hopefully we can have a good night tomorrow night, but the weekend has gone good we had a great test here a few weeks ago and everything has carried right over." Josh Okogie Jersey . 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Kenny Miller scored from the penalty spot and Camilo Sanvezzo came off the bench to add two late goals as the Whitecaps kept their playoff hopes alive with a 3-0 victory over the sagging Impact on Saturday afternoon.ST. PAUL, Minn. - The Minnesota Wilds 14-year existence has revolved mostly about mediocrity. The narrative has finally taken a turn for the better.There is more confidence. There are fewer concerns. Advancing deep into the playoffs and, dare that ultimate goal be voiced, challenging for the Stanley Cup have trumped past hopes of simply playing a few bonus games in April.Every year you feel good about your team, but its just a little different. You feel like theres unfinished business, owner Craig Leipold said.Last season was far from smooth. The Wild lost their sixth straight game on New Years Eve. Coach Mike Yeo was on tenuous footing with an expiring contract, though Leipold said in a recent interview he really wasnt on the bubble.But despite foot injuries to Mikko Koivu and Zach Parise that kept them out for a total of 32 games, the Wild were at their best when they were the most vulnerable. The biggest health problem was between the pipes, where four different goalies were called on to start 19 or more games. After Darcy Kuemper picked up the slack for Josh Harding, who had taken over for Niklas Backstrom, Ilya Bryzgalov was there down the stretch to fill in for Kuemper.So here they are with every key player back from the group that upset Central Division champion Colorado in the Western Conference quarterfinals and reached the second round for just the second time in franchise history. Theres also an important addition in left wing Thomas Vanek.Mikael Granlund, who will centre the first line with Parise and Jason Pominville, now has a full year of NHL experience. Two other 22-year-old forwards, Charlie Coyle and Nino Niederreiter, combined for 76 points last season. The speed of third-line centre Erik Haula, who is 23, was a revelation in the post-season with four goals in 13 games. Parise, Pominville, Vanek, Koivu, Matt Cooke and ironman defenceman Ryan Suter form a proven core of veterans.The pieces are in place. Yeo has a new deal. Now its up to them to fulfil that potential.Id have a hard time listing the teams that I know are better than we are, Leipold said. Theres probably a couple of them, bbut if we have a couple of our players step up like we hope we will this year that gap is going to get narrower.ddddddddddddHere are some key nuggets to know about the Wild this season:GOAL SETTING: Harding is out indefinitely with a broken foot, leaving Backstrom and Kuemper to compete for time in the net. This is unquestionably the biggest issue to resolve, likely the hinge between status quo and a step forward in the playoffs. Thats one reason why Bryzgalov was invited to training camp on a tryout contract and the Wild have not ruled out keeping three goalies on the roster. I know its repetitive, but were just going to kind of evaluate every day, Yeo said. So I dont want to go in and say one guys got the edge over another right now.WINGMAN: The emergence of Granlund and Haula allowed the Wild to slide Coyle over to right wing, where hell start the season on a second line with Koivu and Vanek. Yeo declined to declare the move permanent, but the 6-foot-3, 220-pound Coyle has the presence and skills to make that a long-term fit if hes not needed again as a fill-in at centre.DUMBA ON Defence? Theres a top-six opening on defence, and prospects Matt Dumba and Christian Folin have been getting a long look during training camp. Dumba was the teams first-round draft pick in 2012. Nate Prosser was brought back this week via waiver claim for more depth.GRAND CENTRAL: The Wild pushed for realignment as much as any team in the league, desiring more road games in their own time zone to increase television ratings and more regional rivalries in their division to enhance ticket sales. In a classic be-careful-what-you-wish-for case, the Wild have found themselves in a brutally difficult division. They went 14-12-3 against the Central in 2013-14 and despite matching the second-highest point total in franchise history finished in fourth place. Only two of the 14 teams that missed the 2014 playoffs came from the Central, Nashville and Winnipeg.FAMILIAR FOE: The Wilds opener is at home against the Avalanche on Oct. 9 in a reprise of that epic seven-game series, and theres a rematch two days later in Denver. 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