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KANSAS CITY, Kan. - Kevin Harvick is the one to beat once again at Kansas Speedway.Harvick shattered his own track record and won the pole to start the second round of the Chase for the Sprint Cup championship Sunday. After setting the mark at 197.773 mph in his second round of qualifying, he turned a lap of 197.621 in the final round to earn the pole.The previous record of 194.658 was set by Harvick in the spring.For whatever reason this fits everything I have going on with my driving style, said Harvick, who won his third straight pole at Kansas and also won last years Chase race.In the end it comes down to having a fast car. We have a fast car.He has had that most of the season, too. The pole was Harvicks eighth this year.With a little bit of good luck we can beat every car on the race track any given week at any style of race track, and thats really positive feeling to have as a driver, he said. If the chips fall right we have the cars and the speed to do what we need to do.Brian Vickers qualified second with a lap of 196.307. Aric Almirola was third.Joey Logano began a run of five Chase contenders by qualifying fourth. Jeff Gordon was next, followed by Brad Keselowski, Kyle Busch and Dale Earnhardt Jr.Tony Stewart qualified ninth, his best effort since returning to the track following the Sprint Car accident that killed Kevin Ward Jr. at a track in upstate New York.Chase contenders Ryan Newman and Denny Hamlin were tied to the thousandth of a second for the final transfer spot in the first round of qualifying, each turning a lap of 193.736 mph.Newman, who drives for Richard Childress Racing, wound up winning the tiebreaker based on owners points over Hamlin, who drives for Joe Gibbs Racing. Newman improve his positioning by eight spots and will start 17th, while Hamlin will start 25th.His teammate, Matt Kenseth, will start 27th.Our cars just dont have any speed, Hamlin said. Balance is fine, just three-tenths, fourth-tenths off consistently, all of our cars. Just disappointing we cant have any more speed out of our cars. Were doing the best we can to move up.Defending series champion Jimmie Johnson spun out during his first qualifying effort and will start 32nd, the lowest he has started a Chase race since 2005 at Homestead.It is also the worst Johnson has qualified this season.The race at Kansas kicks off the three-race contender round of the Chase, which will whittle the field from 12 drivers to eight. The round continues at Charlotte, another fast intermediate track, and finishes at the crapshoot known as Talladega.With all the uncertainty that accompanies the restrictor-plate superspeedway in Alabama, Harvick and the rest of the Chase contenders want to get off to a good start this weekend.Our cars are fast, were qualifying well, our pit stops are good, cars are reliable. Everything is good, Harvick said. We just need a little good luck. . The St. Louis Cardinals were scheduled to arrive in Boston in time for a workout on Tuesday afternoon. Much of Mondays discussion focused on Bostons lineup considerations as the series progresses, specifically when the venue shifts to St. . - The New England Patriots needed help on defence so they added three experienced players at midseason. . -- Zach Johnson is like most players at the World Challenge, not sure whether hes still playing in 2013 or if hes in the middle of the new wraparound season that officially started in October. .com) - Fair Grounds commences its road to the Kentucky Derby Saturday with the 71st running of the $200,000 Lecomte Stakes. . After a first half in which he thought "the lid was on the basket," the Toronto Raptors coach watched his squad mount a second half surge to defeat the Cleveland Cavaliers 98-91.NEW YORK -- Pele is mourning the passing of the beautiful game, a phrase many say was coined by the 73-year-old Brazilian football wizard. In an interview with The Associated Press, Pele said tactics have become more and more defensive over the past decades since his retirement. Flowing attack has become a rarity and Pele is saddened by that. "Italy always played defence -- in my time, now, always," he said. "But unfortunately today, I think because of the millions, because of the new technology, because of the money from the sponsors, the people, they dont care the way they win." He says the message from coaches is not win, but rather "dont lose." "They dont care about the beautiful game. They dont care about the elegance of football. In my time, we used to think and give a little show." As the World Cup returns to the land of "jogo bonito" (the beautiful game), Pele has a new book, "Pele: Why Soccer Matters." He doesnt expect Brazil to have an easy path to a record sixth World Cup title -- two more than any other nation. "Germany has a very good team, young team, and then Spain. Spain is a team who plays together eight years, 10 years -- same team. Very nice organized team," he said on Wednesday. "This will be difficult.dddddddddddd. But we must respect Italy. We must respect Uruguay, because Uruguay is there. Argentina is there." Pele was a part of Brazils first three World Cup champions, in 1958, 1962 and 1970, and he scored 77 goals in 92 games. He starred for Santos from 1956-74 and kick-started football in the United States with New York Cosmos from 1975-77. He still keeps an apartment in Manhattan. When he retired, he was considered to have no equal. Then Diego Maradona led Argentina to the 1986 World Cup with amazing darting runs, and to the 1990 final. And in this era, Barcelonas Lionel Messi and Real Madrids Cristiano Ronaldo are scoring at pretty much a goal-a-game rate for their clubs, although they havent won the ultimate prize with the national teams. "To compare Pele with Messi, with Maradona, is difficult because we have different styles," Pele said. If Pele were in charge of a club, who would be the first player hed try to sign? "Im going to say Neymar because he belongs to us. He comes for free," said Pele, referring to the young Brazilian forward Santos sold to Barcelona last summer. "But at the moment," Pele went on, "as I am a forward, as I score a lot of goals, I will decide: Cristiano Ronaldo." ' ' '
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