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CONCORD, N.C. -- Kevin Harvick has already proven hes a factor at Charlotte Motor Speedway, especially during night races. With the top starting spot Saturday night, hell be tough to beat in the opening race of the second round of NASCARs playoffs.Harvick turned a lap at 196.029 mph in a Stewart-Haas Racing Chevrolet to earn the top starting spot in Thursday night qualifying. He edged Alex Bowman, the replacement driver for Dale Earnhardt Jr., who is not racing for the championship.Chase Elliott qualified third and was followed by Kyle Busch, the highest-qualifying Toyota driver, Tony Stewart and AJ Allmendinger.Martin Truex Jr., winner of two of the first three Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup races, qualified seventh.He was followed by Carl Edwards, Denny Hamlin, Joey Logano, the top qualifying Ford driver, and Jimmie Johnson.?Chase drivers took eight of the top 11 spots in Thursday night qualifying.Kasey Kahne qualified 12th, as all four Hendrick Motorsports drivers made the final round of qualifying.But it was Harvick, with his fast lap, who stole the spotlight.Harvick, the 2014 champion, has been looking forward to racing at Charlotte and earning a potential automatic berth into the third round of the Chase. Harvick has three career points victories at Charlotte, including the October race during his championship season. That victory pushed Harvick into the round of eight of the Chase.He has also had success racing at night, and Charlotte Motor Speedway President Marcus Smith dubbed Harvick Nighthawk because he has not finished outside the top 10 at night in the past seven races. He has been outside the top five only twice in that span.Harvick has also won six times in night races on the NASCAR schedule since 2012.DIDNT MOVE ON: Starting position isnt all that critical in a 500-mile race, but the drivers competing for the championship dont want the competition to get too big of a jump on them.Four of the drivers in the field failed to make it out of the second round of qualifying. Matt Kenseth will start 17th, Austin Dillon will start 19th, Brad Keselowski 20th and Kurt Busch 23rd.We just lacked a little bit of speed in qualifying trim, Keselowski said. You want to qualify and race good, and I think weve got a great Ford Fusion to do that.Dillon was similarly optimistic.We had a good car in practice; were going to be fine, he said.BOWMAN COMES CLOSE: Bowman set the standard for qualifying and appeared to have the car to win the pole for Saturday nights race.The replacement driver for Dale Earnhardt Jr. was fast in practice and topped the speed chart in the second round of qualifying. Then he went out first to set the tone for the final round, only to be knocked off the pole by Harvick.Harvick bumped Bowman by .029 seconds.We didnt put the greatest lap together in the last round, Bowman said.Its the best starting spot of Bowmans career and comes in his fifth race as Earnhardts replacement. Hes hopeful it leads to more work, either with Hendrick Motorsports or elsewhere.I dont know what the future holds, Bowman said. There arent very many rides open for next year, so these rides might be the last of my Cup career.LARSON MISCUE: Kyle Larson thought hed posted a fast enough lap to advance into the second round of qualifying.Then Matt DiBenedetto posted a late fast lap that knocked Larson out of the top 24.DiBenedetto scrambled to get back on track and run another qualifying lap, but Larson didnt beat the clock. Hell start 25th in Saturday nights race.We were just kind of waiting, and we ended up waiting too long, Larson said. Its a bummer we didnt get to go out there and make another lap.Larson was eliminated from the Chase last week at Dover. Colorado Avalanche Store . He said Tuesday thats a big reason why he is now the new coach of the Tennessee Titans. Whisenhunt said he hit it off quickly with Ruston Webster when interviewing for the job Friday night. Colorado Avalanche Shirts . -- Jaye Marie Green shot a 4-under 68 on Thursday to increase her lead to five strokes after the second round of the LPGA Tours qualifying tournament. https://www.cheapavalanche.com/ . Patrice Bergeron and Daniel Paille scored 20 seconds apart a few minutes after Stamkos was taken off the ice on a stretcher with a broken right leg, and the Bruins beat the Lightning 3-0 on Monday afternoon. Fake Avalanche Jerseys . Louis Blues absence from top spot in the TSN. Stitched Avalanche Jerseys . It might not have mattered. While the Dodgers are preparing for the playoffs, the Padres showed their future has promise behind two rookies. WACO, Texas -- With a coach named Briles still calling the plays, and Seth Russell throwing touchdown passes, Baylors offense certainly looked very familiar.Russell threw four touchdown passes in less than a half, and the No. 23 Bears beat FCS team Northwestern State 55-7 on Friday night in their first game since the sudden dismissal of coach Art Briles just more than three months ago.It felt like Baylor, Russell said, who took the calls from offensive coordinator, Kendal Briles, the former coachs son.Two-time Big 12 Conference champion coach Art Briles lost his job in the wake of a May report from an external investigation into allegations the university mishandled complaints of sexual assault, including some against football players.Acting head coach Jim Grobe retained the rest of the staff, and had no issues with the younger Briles having the initials CAB written on his hand -- presumably for Art Briles.To think about him losing Art as his head coach ... it had to be tougher on KB than anybody, Grobe said. I have no problems with that whatsoever. If you dont love your dad, somethings wrong.Kendal Briles wasnt available for comment since Baylor isnt making assistant coaches available to speak to the media this season.Russell was the top-rated FBS passer when he suffered a season-ending neck injury in the seventh game last year. He completed 14 of 20 passes for 163 yards with TDs to four receivers, including two tight ends. The Bears led 41-0 when he threw his last pass, a 10-yard TD pass to Pooh Stricklin with 5 minutes left in the first half.All for it, hes who brought me here. He gave me opportunity and I love him for it, Russell said when asked about Kendal Briles tribute. Coach Grobe did a fantastic job of stepping into a risky situation. Hes done a great job of handling it, and hes been staying positive the entire time.QUOTABLE:It was refreshing honestly to get to football, for me. I wanted to see how we reacted as a team. ... Ive just got a good feeling about these guys after the game. Thats what I was wondering going in, Grobe said.THE TAKEAWAYNORTHWESTERN STATE: Really, the outcome should have been no surprise. Northwestern State had lost its previous four meetings against Baylor by an average margin of 50 points, including 70-6 two years ago. Brooks Haack, the second graduate transfer in a row to start for the Demons, was under constant pressuure and completed only 3 of 13 passes for 14 yards, but did run 3 yards for their only score.ddddddddddddAYLOR: The Bears, who are down to about 70 scholarship players, got some valuable playing time for true freshman quarterback Zach Smith and plenty of other non-starters, including third-teamers on offense and defense after halftime. Smith went through spring practice after graduating high school early, and was thrust into the role as backup when Jarrett Stidham left Baylor this summer. Smith was 5 of 7 passing for 60 yards and a touchdown and two other freshmen got into the game as well.The defense was overwhelming, holding Northwestern State to 78 total yards, but will get a much tougher test against SMU, where Bears defensive coordinator Phil Bennett was once the head coach.POLL IMPLICATIONSBAYLOR: Dont look for the Bears to make much of a move in the poll. Sure, they could move up a spot or two if other teams ranked above them lose, but a 48-point victory against an FCS team isnt likely to overly impress voters.KEY NUMBERSBaylor had 498 total yards (275 rushing, 223 passing). ... Terence Williams ran a Baylor-high 11 times for 72 yards and two touchdowns. ... Shock Linwood, who ran nine times for 97 yards, is 107 yards shy of becoming Baylors career rushing leader. Walter Abercrombies record of 3,665 yards has stood for 35 years. ... The last time two Baylor tight ends caught TD passes in the same game was Sept. 8, 2007, when Justin Akers had two TDs and Brad Taylor one in a 42-17 win vs. Rice. ... The Bears led 48-0 at the half, when Northwestern State had 3 total yards and eight punts.UP NEXTNORTHWESTERN STATE: The Demons have never been competitive against Baylor. So they just have to move forward and get ready for their Southland Conference opener at home Sept. 8 against Incarnate Word.Coming out in the second half, offensively, defensively we were able to do some things, Demons coach Jay Thomas said. Baylor, theyre really good, man.BAYLOR: After easing into the season against a lower-division opponent, the Bears stay home next week against SMU. It is the first of consecutive games against former Southwest Conference rivals (the Mustangs and Rice) who are still in the field of candidates for possible Big 12 expansion. ' ' '