AVONDALE, Ariz. -- 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." Jim Nance Jersey . The deals were announced on Friday. Beckham will receive $4.175 million in base salary, while De Aza will receive $4.25 million. Beckham hit .267 with five home runs and 24 RBIs over 103 games last season, his fifth with the White Sox. Richard Seymour Jersey .com) - On a night the Bulls played without Derrick Rose, it was time for Pau Gasol to take charge. https://www.patriotsjerseysale.com/701p-gunner-olszewski-jersey-patriots.html . The third baseman whipped the ball across the diamond to second baseman Aaron Hill. He quickly tossed it to shortstop Chris Owings, who flipped over his shoulder to left fielder Cody Ross. Bruce Armstrong Jersey . -- Chris Crawford hit a 3-pointer with 1:36 left to put Memphis ahead to stay, and the 21st-ranked Tigers beat seventh-ranked Louisville 72-66 Saturday, sweeping the season series from the Cardinals. Bob Dee Jersey . He left in the 4th inning of Saturdays game against the Tigers after experiencing tightness. Reyes and the team still hope that he will be ready for Opening Day in Tampa Bay in one week.MADRID, Spain -- Maria Sharapova held her nerve Saturday to reach her second consecutive Madrid Open final, where shell play Simona Halep of Romania. Sharapova was cruising against Agnieszka Radwanska before allowing the third-seeded Pole to break back in the second set. But the eighth-ranked Russian recovered to secure a 6-1, 6-4 win. Earlier, Halep rallied in the hot conditions to dispatch former champion Petra Kvitova 6-7 (4), 6-3, 6-2. "Shes having a great year so its going to be an extremely difficult match," Sharapova said of Halep. Despite a few blips, Sharapova has been steady all week and has lost just three times on clay since the 2011 French Open. All three of those losses came against Serena Williams, the two-time defending champion in Madrid who withdrew with a left thigh injury on Friday. Kvitova, the 2011 winner, looked on course for victory before unforced errors and the rising temperatures took their toll. The Czech was 2-0 up in the ssecond set and cruising against Halep, who was visibly frustrated after a late call went against her during the first-set tiebreaker.dddddddddddd But Kvitova hit 66 unforced errors and that inconsistency caught up with her as Halep recovered, with the now composed Romanian hitting 22 winners and breaking Kvitova four times over the last two sets. Kvitova struggled in the final set, looking sapped of energy by the end of a match that lasted more than 2 1/2 hours. "Its been an amazing week for me, I feel very well here in Madrid," said the fifth-ranked Halep, who reached her first Masters series final. "I played really well, I was striking the ball really well." Sharapova hit 28 winners to four for Radwanska, who netted a forehand on match point to be broken for a seventh time. In the mens semis, three-time champion Rafael Nadal faced fellow Spaniard Roberto Bautista Agut while David Ferrer was up against Kei Nishikori of Japan. ' ' '