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MADISON, Ill. — Michael McDowell completed a lap at 139.241 mph Saturday to earn the pole for the NASCAR Cup Series race at World Wide Technology Raceway.

It’s the third pole for McDowell’s No. 34 Ford in 15 races this year, but the first since he announced he will leave Front Row Motorsports at the end of the season and join Spire Motorsports.

“I am as motivated as I’ve ever been to make sure that we win and make the playoffs, and for so many reasons, right? But more than ever, because I am making a change and I want to finish what we started,” said McDowell, who has spent the past seven seasons with Front Row.

“I want to do what I know we can do. And we have a group of people right now that we can win races, and I just have to do my part.”

Austin Cindric qualified second and Ryan Blaney was third as Fords posted the three fastest times ahead of Sunday’s race. There were five Toyotas in the top 10, including Christopher Bell in fourth, Tyler Reddick in fifth and Denny Hamlin in sixth.

Kyle Busch, the Enjoy Illinois 300 defending champion, was the fastest Chevrolet, in 10th place.

A week after having his attempt at running in both the Indianapolis 500 and Coca-Cola 600 thwarted by weather, Kyle Larson will start 13th in Sunday’s race.

“We qualified way better than we typically do here,” said Larson, who started 22nd in the inaugural race in 2022 and 15th last year. “Which is still average.”

McDowell credited the pole win to a decision to downshift into third gear in turns 3 and 4, a strategy his team developed after researching last year’s race.

“When it comes to qualifying, you just have to execute your plan. And I planned all week to do that, and I’m just going to execute my plan: right, wrong or indifferent,” McDowell said. “And so I just committed to it. And fortunately, we’re on the right side of it.”

McDowell acknowledged some disappointment that Front Row owner Bob Jenkins had decided to go in a different direction, but he said he understands it may be the right move for the growing team. As Stewart-Haas Racing this week revealed its plans to fold its four-car operation, Front Row announced it acquired an additional charter to add a third car to its garage.

McDowell credited Jenkins for turning him from “a guy that was running 30th every weekend” to winning the 2021 Daytona 500 and the race at Indianapolis last year. McDowell sits 23rd in the points standings, needing to climb above 16th place or to win a race to make the playoffs.

“This is a great start of the weekend for us, and we’ve just got to maximize the opportunity,” McDowell said. “We’ve got to capitalize and we have to execute, and we need a win desperately to get into the playoffs, and we know that.”

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Rangers’ Gray fractures wrist on comebacker

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Rangers' Gray fractures wrist on comebacker

The Texas Rangers‘ pitching staff took another hit Friday, when right-hander Jon Gray suffered a right wrist fracture.

Gray was struck by a line drive from Colorado Rockies first baseman Michael Toglia to lead off the fourth inning that knocked him out of the game.

“Not good news, not good news,” manager Bruce Bochy told reporters. “It’s terrible. I feel awful for him, to be this close to getting the season going. It’s just not good news. I’ll get back in there and find out more, but right now, there is a fracture.”

Gray’s injury is the third setback for the Rangers rotation this week. The team said Thursday that left-hander Cody Bradford would start the season on the injured list because of soreness in his throwing elbow. Tyler Mahle had been scratched from a start with forearm soreness, but the right-hander returned to pitch in a minor league game Thursday.

Gray went 5-6 with a 4.47 ERA in 23 appearances (19 starts) for the Rangers last season, when he was shut down in September for a foot injury that required surgery. He is in the final year of a four-year, $56 million deal.

Information from The Associated Press was used in this report.

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Ohtani hits long home run in return to Japan

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Ohtani hits long home run in return to Japan

TOKYO — Japanese star Shohei Ohtani showed off some prodigious power in his return to the Tokyo Dome on Saturday night.

In an exhibition game against the Yomiuri Giants, the three-time Most Valuable Player belted a long two-run homer to right field in the third inning to give the Dodgers a 4-0 lead, setting off a roar from the roughly 42,000 fans in attendance.

The Dodgers put on quite a power display in the third with Michael Conforto, Ohtani and Teoscar Hernández all going deep to give Los Angeles a 5-0 advantage.

The Dodgers are playing in Japan as part of the Tokyo Series. The team is playing two exhibition games against Japanese teams before starting the regular season with two games against the Chicago Cubs on Tuesday and Wednesday.

Ohtani became the first player in MLB history to have at least 50 homers and 50 stolen bases in one season in 2024. He played several seasons for the Nippon Ham Fighters in Japan before coming to the U.S. in 2018 with the Los Angeles Angels.

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Dodgers’ Betts to miss Japan games with illness

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Dodgers' Betts to miss Japan games with illness

TOKYO — Shortstop Mookie Betts will miss the Los Angeles Dodgers‘ two exhibition games in Japan because of an illness, manager Dave Roberts said Saturday.

Roberts said he’s still hopeful that the eight-time All-Star will be available for the team’s first regular season game against the Chicago Cubs on Tuesday at the Tokyo Dome. The Dodgers are playing the Yomiuri Giants and Hanshin Tigers — two teams from Japan — in exhibition games on Saturday and Sunday.

Roberts said the 32-year-old Betts started to feel flu-like symptoms during the team’s final day in Arizona, but team doctors said he was OK to make the long trip to Japan.

“Mookie is here today, but he’s been really sick,” Roberts said. “Lost some weight, so we’re trying to get him hydrated. He’s going to work out a little today, but he won’t be playing either tonight or tomorrow.

“Then when we have our off day, our workout day, we’ll see how he is.”

Betts is making the full-time transition to shortstop this season after playing most of his career in right field and second base. The 2018 AL MVP hit .289 with 19 homers and 75 RBI last season, helping the Dodgers win the World Series.

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