News » twice more in the second for his first career post-season

Homestead, FL (SportsNetwork.com) - Five days after he was eliminated from the Chase for the Sprint Cup championship, Jeff Gordon won the pole for the season-ending race at Homestead-Miami Speedway. While Gordon will start on the pole for Sundays Ford EcoBoost 400 at Homestead, three of the four drivers battling for the Sprint Cup Series championship will start in the top-10. Kevin Harvick, the winner of last weekends race at Phoenix, qualified fifth. Denny Hamlin, who won the 2013 season-finale at this 1.5-mile racetrack, took the eighth spot, and Joey Logano was ninth. Ryan Newman, who is the only one in the final four without a victory this season, will start 21st. Gordon earned his third pole of the season and the 77th of his Cup career after making a lap at 180.747 mph during the third and final round of Fridays knockout qualifying at Homestead. Its his first pole in 16 races here as well. Gordon also gave Hendrick Motorsports its 200th pole in NASCARs premier series. Im really excited about that pole, Gordon said. Ive never been on the pole here before, and to be the 200th pole for Hendrick Motorsports is really cool. I think the way we are looking at this weekend is we want to close out the season the absolute best we can. It has been a tremendous season. The No. 24 team has been incredible this year. We are disappointed that we arent in this thing for the championship, but thats not going to stop us from trying to go out to win the pole and win the race. Gordon finished second at Phoenix but came up one point short of making into the Championship Round. Ryan Newmans 11th-place finish there allowed him to top Gordon for the last spot in the final four. Newman bumped rookie Kyle Larson and put him into the wall while the two were battling for the 11th position on the final turn of the last lap. Kurt Busch qualified second, followed by Matt Kenseth and Brad Keselowski, who set a new track qualifying record at Homestead with a lap at 181.238 mph during the first qualifying round. The highest finisher among the four title contenders in this race will win the championship. Neither Hamlin, Harvick, Logano or Newman has yet to win a title in the series. Today was really about trying to get a solid starting spot, said Harvick, whose fifth-place in qualifying came with a lap at 179.946 mph. We were able to do that with my Budweiser (sponsored) team. Just really proud of my guys. We had a really good day today. Just got to keep doing what we have to do and see where it all falls on Sunday. Newman finished among the top-10 in the opening round of qualifying but failed to advance beyond the second round after posting a lap at 178.241 mph. We just struggled there a little bit, Newman said. My first run was pretty good. The second run wasnt what we needed it to be. Our first run was where we were in practice. In the second run, we just werent where we needed to be. We missed it just a little bit on the balance. All 43 drivers who attempted qualifying made the starting field. Randy Johnson Jersey . While coach Doc Rivers high-fived fans and pumped his fist at the crowd, Blake Griffin and Chris Paul quietly congratulated each other. Clint Frazier Jersey . Jim Leyland, in his eighth playoffs, has never had a starting rotation he trusts as much as the grouping of Max Scherzer, Justin Verlander, Anibal Sanchez and Doug Fister. http://www.yankeesrookiestore.com/Customized/ . Louis, MO (SportsNetwork. Reggie Jackson Jersey . The Redskins announced Monday that the quarterback who led the team to the Super Bowl championship in the 1987 season will serve as a personnel executive. Aaron Hicks Jersey . The Incheon-based tea, of the Korea Baseball Organization said the deal for the 35-year-old Scott included a $50,000 signing bonus. Scott reached the major leagues with Houston in 2005 and hit 23 homers or more for Baltimore each year from 2008-10. PHILADELPHIA -- Wayne Simmonds scored three goals and Steve Mason stopped 34 shots to lead the Philadelphia Flyers to a 5-2 win over the New York Rangers on Tuesday night, forcing a decisive Game 7 of their Eastern Conference playoff series. Theres little time for rest, too. The Flyers and Rangers play again Wednesday night at Madison Square Garden. Simmonds scored in the first period and twice more in the second for his first career post-season hat trick. Mason survived a busy first period and stopping 31 straight shots until Carl Hagelin scored late in the third. Mats Zuccarello also scored for New York in the final minute. By the third, Simmonds had already helped stake the Flyers to a 4-0 lead and the outcome was a mere formality. Erik Gustafsson also scored and Claude Giroux had an empty-netter for the Flyers, who will try for a second win in New York this series. Simmonds, a 28-goal scorer who had one in the first five games, completed the hat trick with 4:41 left in the second. With a short turnaround, Rangers goaltender Henrik Lundqvist was yanked for Cam Talbot to open the third period. Lundqvist stopped 19 of 23 shots. He couldnt stop Simmonds. Simmonds camped out in the dirty area, in front of the crease, and pounded home three short goals that had Flyers fans going wild. On the brink of elimination, about the only thing that could slow down the Flyers were their fans -- the game was delayed for a lengthy cleanup after they littered the ice with hats. Someone even threw a shoe. Outplayed for most of the series, the Flyers were lucky to escape the first period with a 1-0 lead. They were careless with the puck in their own zone and had nine turnovers, which led to a ton of work for Mason, who made 13 saves in the period. Simmonds put Philadelphia in front with his third hack at a rebound on a power play. Across the street, the rain-delayed Philaadelphia Phillies rang the home run Liberty Bell in celebration of the goal.dddddddddddd Simmonds, a 6-foot-2, 183-pound forward, was just warming up. Brayden Schenn stripped New Yorks Dan Girardi of the puck, and then lost control in front of the crease. Simmonds was perfectly positioned off to Lundqvists right side and pounded in the trickling puck for a 2-0 lead just 1:32 into the second. Simmonds again was just outside the crease to knock in his third goal late in the second for the 4-0 lead. After a sloppy first, the puck just seemed to bounce Philadelphias way. Gustafsson, who did not play the first five games, came storming out of the penalty box in the second period, his stick hit the puck in a flash and he scored for a 3-0 lead. "It was a lot of fun when I saw the puck come down to me," he said. "I think it took a fortunate bounce. I almost thought Lundqvist was going to get it, but luckily the puck went in." Mason, who had never won a post-season game until this season, was hardly challenged in the last two periods as he chased the shutout. He snared Benoit Pouliots point-blank shot in the second period and made an out-of-nowhere kick save against John Moore in the third to keep the comfortable lead. The Rangers had scored four goals in three other games this series. New York is 13-2 in series it has led 3-2, but the Rangers have lost 12 straight games in which they had a series lead. NOTES: Flyers D Nicklas Grossmann underwent surgery to repair tendon damage in his right ankle suffered in Game 4. He could miss up to 10 weeks. ... Simmonds gave the Flyers their first two-goal lead of the series since his empty-net goal in the final minute sealed the win in Game 2. ... The Flyers beat the Rangers 4-3 on May 5, 1974, in the only other time the teams played a Game 7. They went on to beat Boston to win their first Stanley Cup. 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