Logano, McDowell in front row for Daytona 500
DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. — Ford swept the front row in qualifying for the Daytona 500 with former race winners Joey Logano and Michael McDowell shocking powerhouse Hendrick Motorsports.
“This is all about the team. I’d like to take credit, but I can’t. Superspeedway qualifying is 100% the car,” said Logano, who won the first Daytona 500 pole for Team Penske. “Finally, someone else wins the pole.”
Hendrick drivers had won the pole at Daytona in eight of the past nine years, but the team’s highest qualifier Wednesday night was Kyle Larson in third.
The entire night, in which only the front row for Sunday’s season-opening race was set, belonged to Ford. Four drivers in the manufacturer’s new Dark Horse advanced to the final round-of-10 qualifying portion with Logano and McDowell sweeping the front row.
Logano turned a lap of 181.947 mph as the 2015 Daytona 500 winner earned his first pole since Atlanta last year. It was also Logano’s first pole on a superspeedway.
McDowell, the 2021 winner, qualified second at 181.686 for Front Row Motorsports.
Larson was third in a Chevrolet after Hendrick drivers had won three straight Daytona 500 poles heading into Wednesday night. Austin Cindric in a Ford for Penske was fourth and followed by Hendrick teammates Chase Elliott and William Byron in Camaros.
Richard Childress Racing teammates Austin Dillon and Kyle Busch qualified seventh and eighth in Chevrolets, followed by Ross Chastain in a Chevy for Trackhouse Racing and Harrison Burton in a Ford for Wood Brothers Racing. Dillon won the Daytona 500 in 2018.
Anthony Alfredo of Beard Motorsports and David Ragan in a special third car for RFK Racing took two of the four open spots in the field based on speed. Jimmie Johnson, a two-time Daytona 500 winner driving for his own Legacy Motor Club, did not make it into the field and will have to race his way in through one of the two Thursday night qualifying races.
Alfredo was never in danger after posting the fastest speed of all the cars not already locked into the 40-car field. But he was so fast — he was in the top five at one point — that he was never in danger of not qualifying for the Daytona 500.
“This is insane, we were just talking about every [qualifying] scenario we may face,” Alfredo said. “We have clearly a fast Chevrolet Camaro and to know we are in … and remove ourselves from some of the sketchy circumstances and focus on Sunday is amazing.”
Ragan is the first driver being used by RFK Racing this year as a third Ford in select races.
“It’s always big to be in the Daytona 500 and the whole week, I’ve just been trying not to make mistakes,” said Ragan, who is 0-for-16 in “The Great American Race.”
“I didn’t have a chance to beat Jimmie Johnson day in and day out during my career, so I’ll take the small victories when I can get them.”
Johnson’s showing was a product of Toyota’s overall effort. The highest-qualifying Toyota was Erik Jones, who drives for Johnson at Legacy, at 22nd.
“I had higher expectations for sure, but we are lumped right there with the other Toyotas. It is what it is,” Johnson said. “I’ve never been in this position, so I don’t know. I came down here mentally prepared to race my way in if that was required. I’m well studied. I spent a lot of time working on the environment of the Duels and the way the race will unfold. Just get out there and race hard and see how it unfolds.”
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Jeff Passan, ESPN
Major League Baseball plans to address its uniform fiasco after changes this spring to the standard jerseys and pants led to widespread complaints from players and fans, according to a memo obtained Sunday night by ESPN.
The prominent modifications include a return to larger lettering on the back of jerseys, remedying mismatched gray tops and bottoms and addressing the new Nike jerseys’ propensity to collect sweat, according to the memo distributed to players by the MLB Players Association on Sunday.
The changes, which will happen at the latest by the beginning of the 2025 season, will also include fixes to the pants, widely panned this spring for being see-through.
The union informed players of the coming changes in a letter that placed the blame on Nike and the debut of its Vapor Premier uniform, which was advertised for its superior performance but remains disliked by players.
“This has been entirely a Nike issue,” the memo to players read. “At its core, what has happened here is that Nike was innovating something that didn’t need to be innovated.”
The union also absolved Fanatics, the manufacturer of the uniform that has received the majority of public scorn for the uniform mess, saying the company “recognizes the vital importance of soliciting Player feedback, obtaining Player buy-in and not being afraid to have difficult conversations about jerseys or trading cards. Our hope is that, moving forward, Nike will take a similar approach.”
While the new uniformed debuted at the 2023 All-Star Game, its rollout this spring led to reams of bad publicity. The shrinking of the letter size on players’ name plates gave jerseys an amateur look. The pants — which, according to the memo, will “return to the higher quality zipper used in 2023” — had myriad issues, including the see-through fabric, a lack of tailoring and rips and tears that players believed unnecessary.
Nike’s partnership with MLB began in 2019, when it took over as the league’s official uniform supplier as part of a 10-year, $1 billion deal for MLB. Fanatics has partnerships with the league and the union, both of which have invested in the company and own small stakes.
“We cautioned Nike against various changes when they previewed them in 2022, particularly regarding pants,” the union memo read. “MLB had been, and has been, aware of our concerns as well. Unfortunately, until recently Nike’s position has essentially boiled down to — ‘nothing to see here, Players will need to adjust.'”
MLB declined to comment. Nike did not offer immediate comment when reached by ESPN. Fanatics did not respond to a request for comment. The MLBPA declined to comment.
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Neil Paine
The first week-plus of the 2024 Stanley Cup playoffs has already provided much in the way of excitement and bone-crunching action. The average playoff game has featured 89.5 combined hits by both teams — nearly double the league average (45.5) from the regular season, according to ESPN Stats & Information.
With so much chaos, there are plenty of teams that have exceeded — or fallen short of — expectations already.
For instance, the defending champion Vegas Golden Knights have been mighty impressive, taking a 2-1 lead over a Dallas Stars team that had led the league in goal differential during the regular season. But on the disappointing side, the Toronto Maple Leafs have fallen behind 3-1 in their series against the Boston Bruins, and the Los Angeles Kings are in a 3-1 hole versus the Edmonton Oilers.
Let’s run through the clubs that fit into each category, based on their playoff goal differentials as compared with what we’d expect from their pre-series power ratings and their opponent’s (adjusting for home-ice advantage). We’ll also highlight a player who has contributed to the state of his team, for good or bad, in the playoffs thus far.
We’ll start with the positive side of things. Here are three teams that have impressed the most:
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