Martin Truex Jr. was the last driver on track in the pole round of qualifying, rocketing to the top of the charts with a 19.686s lap that denied Hendrick Motorsports a front row lockout.

“I felt great about our car on stickers,” said Truex, who also led the way in Cup practice. “You know, you never want to get too optimistic but it fired off really good in practice — especially that second run when the track rubbered in.

“I was like: ‘Alright, if we can just hit the balance here for qualifying it should be really fast.’ Proud of James [Small, crew chief] and all of the guys and everyone back at JGR and at TRD. We haven’t had a whole lot of good going for us lately. This feels awesome. Anytime you’re first at anything in this series is special and exciting. We got some work to do for tomorrow, but hopefully we can make a gain on it and have a good day.”

This is Truex’s 24th career pole and his first of the 2024 season. His last P1 start came at this very race one year ago. Truex is also winless in his last full-time season of competition, which he hopes to change in the final two weeks.

“Two more chances to win,” said Truex. “We want it bad. We are working hard. We are not giving up and hopefully we can get one for everyone.”

Truex will share the front row with Chase Elliott, who was the highest-qualifying playoff driver. William Byron was third, Chase Briscoe fourth, and Ty Gibbs fifth. Rounding out the remainder of the top-ten was Harrison Burton, Alex Bowman, Ryan Preece, Kyle Larson, and Austin Dillon.

Round 1

In Group A qualifying, the Stewart-Haas Racing drivers impressed with Briscoe and teammate Preece topping the charts, followed by Elliott and Burton. Dillon was the final driver to advance, beating Championship 4-bound Joey Logano by 0.025s.

Ryan Blaney, facing a likely must-win, qualified 14th. Christopher Bell, who sits 29 points above the cut-line, was a surprisingly mediocre 16th while the two drivers chasing him moved forward to the pole round. 

In Group B, Truex led the way there with an astonishing 19.584s lap — over a tenth faster than his eventual pole run. He was joined by the Hendrick trio of Byron, Bowman and Larson, as well as JGR teammate Gibbs. Larson was the final driver to advance, besting Josh Berry by 0.029s.

Tyler Reddick, who locked himself into the Championship 4 with a dramatic last-lap pass at Homestead, made an error on his fast lap and will start 31st. However, the lowest-starting playoff driver will be the one who did not even take part. After the throttle stuck in practice, Denny Hamlin’s No. 11 car sustained significant rear end damage. Hamlin did not participate in qualifying as the team makes extensive repairs to the car. He will start 37th (last) on Sunday, 18 points below the cut-line.

Former Newcastle United striker Nile Ranger scores in the second minute of extra time to give Kettering Town a 2-1 lead against Northampton Town in the first round of the FA Cup.

WATCH LIVE: Northampton Town v Kettering Town – FA Cup First Round

Available to UK users only.

Belal Muhammad doesn’t believe an interim title fight makes sense for Shavkat Rakhmonov at UFC 310 following the welterweight champ’s withdrawal, but he’d be OK with it if the UFC goes in that direction.

“Remember the Name” was set to defend his title for the first time against the undefeated Rakhmonov in the main event of the Dec. 7 pay-per-view event, but a bone infection on his toe scratched Muhammad from the bout. Muhammad was asked on his podcast with Jason Anik what he thinks the promotion will do to fill that empty slot, and whether it could be a fight between Rakhmonov and former champion Kamaru Usman.

“I can see them trying to do something with Shavkat,” Muhammad said on his podcast. “He’s calling for an interim title fight. Interim title fight, bro? It’s six weeks, not six months that I’m off. But even for myself, if they just want to do that just to make it a main event, I don’t really care about it if they want to make an interim title fight, regardless because they know who has the real belt.

“So for me, I know who my next opponent is going to be. If he wants to wait, it’s going to be us. If it’s going to end up being him, the only person that makes sense now would be Kamaru since Buckley and Garry are out… and I think [Jack Della Maddalena] is injured, so there’s really nobody else out there. … It really doesn’t [make sense], but it’s one of those — when you’re in the middle of camp, it’s hard, and when you’re like six weeks left, you’re locked in. So I can understand it for him that he’s like, ‘Bro, I want to fight.’”

Multiple people with knowledge of the promotion’s plans confirmed to MMA Fighting that the UFC is actively searching for a new main event, but as of now, nothing is set and “negotiations are ongoing.”

The news of Muhammad’s injury was a tough one for the new champ, and the MMA community as the fight between Muhammad and Rakhmonov was an anticipated one. Rakhmonov has finished all 18 of his opponents, while Muhammad is unbeaten in 11 fights, culminating with a championship win over Leon Edwards at UFC 304 in July.

Muhammad also revealed more details about why the infection spread the way that it did.

“They open it up and he’s like, ‘Bro, you had a broken toe, that’s what caused the infection to hit the bone much faster,’” Muhammad said. “He was able to fix the toe but the infection is still in there and [I] have to be on antibiotics for the next six weeks. And I’m shocked, I’m like, ‘Bro, are you kidding me right now?’ It was heartbreaking.”

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RUGBY Union’s Autumn Internationals have returned – and there are some cracking ties in store.

Steve Borthwick’s England are facing thrilling clashes at home to New Zealand, Australia and South Africa, as well as Japan.

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This year, TNT Sports will be broadcasting ALL of the fixtures for the first time.

Amazon Prime was the previous broadcaster after taking over from Sky Sports in 2020.

TNT also show the Gallagher Premiership and have now forayed into internationals.

Andrew Georgiou, President and MD, UK & Ireland and WBD Sports Europe said: “To bring the best of international rugby to our TNT Sports subscribers is hugely exciting and another important moment which demonstrates our premium sports rights offering in the UK and Ireland.

“The Autumn Nations Series gives rugby fans access to world-class battles between the northern and southern hemispheres and is one of the highlights in the rugby calendar.

“We are delighted to further extend our TNT Sports rugby portfolio for fans who already have plenty to look forward to for the rest of this season with Gallagher Premiership Rugby, European club rugby, Premiership Women’s Rugby and the HSBC SVNS Series.”

Rugby Autumn Internationals: Kick-off times, TV channels fixtures and results

Saturday, November 2

• England 22-24 New Zealand
• Scotland 57-17 Fiji

Friday, November 8

• 8.10pm: Ireland vs New Zealand, Aviva Stadium (TNT Sports 1 and discovery+)

Saturday, November 9

• 3.10pm: England vs Australia, Twickenham (TNT Sports 1 and discovery+)
• 5.40pm: Italy vs Argentina, Stadio Friuli (TNT Sports 2 and discovery+)
• 8.10pm: France vs Japan, Stade de France (TNT Sports 2 and discovery+)

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Sunday, November 10

• 1.40pm: Wales vs Fiji, Principality Stadium (TNT Sports 1 and discovery+)
• 4.10pm: Scotland vs South Africa, Murrayfield (TNT Sports 1 and discovery+)

Friday, November 15

• 8.10pm: Ireland vs Argentina, Aviva Stadium (TNT Sports TBC and discovery+)

Saturday, November 16

• 3.10pm: Scotland vs Portugal, Murrayfield (TNT Sports 1 and discovery+)
• 5.40pm: England vs South Africa, Twickenham (TNT Sports 1 and discovery+)
• 8.10pm: France vs New Zealand, Stade de France (TNT Sports 1 and discovery+)

Sunday, November 17

• 1.40pm: Italy vs Georgia, Stadio Luigi Ferraris (TNT Sports 1 and discovery+)
• 4.10pm: Wales vs Australia, Principality Stadium (TNT Sports 1 and discovery+)

Friday, November 22

• 8.10pm: France vs Argentina, Stade de France (TNT Sports 1 and discovery+)

Saturday, November 23

• 3.10pm: Ireland vs Fiji, Aviva Stadium (TNT Sports 2 and discovery+)
• 5.40pm: Wales vs South Africa, Principality Stadium (TNT Sports 2 and discovery+)
• 8.10pm: Italy vs New Zealand, Allianz Stadium, Turin (TNT Sports 2 and discovery+)

Sunday, November 24

• 1.40pm: Scotland vs Australia, Murrayfield (TNT Sports 1 and discovery+)
• 4.10pm: England vs Japan, Twickenham (TNT Sports 1 and discovery+)

Saturday, November 30

• 3.10pm: Ireland vs Australia, Aviva Stadium (TNT Sports 1 and discovery+)