HOMESTEAD, Fla. - Jeff Gordon did his best to shake off the disappointment over his elimination from the championship field by winning the pole for Sundays season finale at Homestead-Miami Speedway.Gordon turned a lap at 180.747 mph in Friday qualifying to earn the top starting spot for a race that became meaningless to his season after he crossed the finish line last week at Phoenix. Gordon finished second and was in the field of four drivers for the championship race, but he was knocked out seconds later by Ryan Newman.Using an aggressive pass of Kyle Larson coming out of the final turn, Newman picked up the one position he needed to knock Gordon from the championship race by one point.Now Gordon will race only for the trophy on Sunday, while Denny Hamlin, Kevin Harvick, Joey Logano and Ryan Newman will compete for the title.It hit me hard when I crossed the line at Phoenix. I think I was just really in disbelief for a good 24 hours that we did everything so right and didnt make it, Gordon said. That disappointment was definitely there throughout the week. I think even if we win this race on Sunday, thats only going to make it hurt a little bit more in some ways because we could have won the championship if we were here.Gordon, a four-time winner this season and the points leader for most of the year, was seeking his fifth championship. Now hes just trying to close out the season on a high note for his Hendrick Motorsports team.The first step was winning the 200th pole for the Hendrick organization. Kurt Busch qualified second and was followed by Matt Kenseth and Brad Keselowski.I think the way were looking at this weekend is we want to finish this season on the best note possible, Gordon said. Its been a tremendous season for us. Im disappointed were not in this thing for the championship, but thats not going to stop us from trying to win the pole and win the race.Harvick will lead the title contenders Sunday by starting fifth. Hamlin will start eighth and Logano is in the 12th slot. Newman was the worst qualifier at 21st.Harvick continued his needling of Logano, the youngest driver in the championship field. It began at Wednesday nights contenders event when he deliberately tried to rattle Logano, and carried over into Friday when he was told to wait off to the side while Logano and Hamlin were participating in a news conference.Im going up here anyway, he said as strolled onto the stage. Going to sit right here next to my buddy.Logano grinned, patted Harvick on the back, and said: Whats up, buddy?Hamlin then stood as if he was going to leave, Alright, Ill let you two have at it, he joked.The champion will be the highest-finishing driver among the four on Sunday, and it will be the first Cup title for the winner.Hamlin, the defending race winner, said his car feels as good as the Toyota he drove to victory last season.Last year, I knew we were going to win the race. I knew in practice we were going to win the race, Hamlin said, and my car feels equally as good this time around.But Harvick was also confident — just not prepared to talk as tough as Hamlin.I think theres just too many things, way too much to live up to, to make those kind of comments, he said. You want to try to prepare yourself for the races as best you can. Hopefully, you make the right adjustments going into the race, and regardless of how our car is in practice, well all wonder if we made the right decisions.As the lowest-qualifying driver, Newman seemed to recognize hell have his work cut out for him Sunday.Its going to be a crazy race, Newman said. Its going to be some really crazy restarts, but I dont think your starting position defines whos going to finish there. Wesley Johnson Jersey .C. -- Tony Stewart will not race Saturday night at Bristol Motor Speedway, the third Sprint Cup race hes skipped since his car struck and killed Kevin Ward Jr. Luc Mbah a Moute Jersey . -- In the stadium program sold at the Miami Dolphins game on Halloween, Richie Incognito was asked whos the easiest teammate to scare. http://www.clippersnbateamshop.info/blake-griffin-clippers-jersey/ . Bjoergen pulled away from Swedens Charlotte Kalla on the final straight to win in 38 minutes, 33.6 seconds and defend her title from the 2010 Vancouver Games. Kalla was 1.8 seconds back. Heidi Weng of Norway took bronze. Jerome Robinson Jersey . -- Craig Anderson has quite a record against his former team, the Florida Panthers. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander Jersey . Amaro broke the NCAA all-time record for receiving yards in a season for a tight end with 1,352 during his junior campaign, eclipsing the mark of 1,329 set by Rices James Casey in 2008.Kansas City, MO (SportsNetwork.com) - Madison Bumgarner watched as Pablo Sandoval worked his way under the ball. Moments later, the San Francisco Giants ace was swarmed by teammates near the mound after punctuating one of the great postseason performances in any sport. Some of them stopped first to congratulate Sandoval, who was on his back after catching the last out. And on the edge of the celebration, Buster Posey dropped to his knees, a smile on the catchers face that showed both happiness and relief. This is some dynasty, and it almost unraveled on an error. Bumgarner pitched five scoreless innings out of the bullpen and the Giants held on to beat the Kansas City Royals 3-2 in Game 7 on Wednesday night, capturing their third World Series title in five years. With two outs in the bottom of the ninth inning, after Bumgarner had retired 14 batters in a row, Alex Gordon sliced a hit into left-center field that bounced past Gregor Blanco and went to the wall, suddenly giving the Royals a sliver of hope. Left fielder Juan Perez bobbled the ball on the warning track and Gordon made it all the way to third on a two-base error. Im not sure what happened. I didnt see it, Bumgarner said. But I was starting to get a little nervous. He was digging around a little bit and its a big outfield. It was a little nerve-wracking. But Bumgarner threw six fastballs to Salvador Perez, who popped up into foul territory near third base, where Sandoval squeezed it before falling onto his back with his arms in the air. Relief, said Bruce Bochy, who has managed each of these three championship teams. Because anything can happen -- a bloop, a wild pitch. Theres a man on third base there and (Bumgarner) just made some great pitches. Bumgarner pitched on two days rest after throwing a four-hit shutout in Game 5 on Sunday for his second win of the series. He was named World Series MVP, to no ones surprise, after throwing 21 innings and giving just up one run, nine hits and one walk. Sandoval, due to be a free agent, reached base four times in Game 7 and scored twice, including the go-ahead run on Michael Morses single back in the fourth inning. Sandoval had three hits, giving him an MLB-record 26 this postseason. The Royals, trying to win a title for the first time in 29 years, came up a win short. They forced Game 7 with Tuesdays 10-0 blowout, extending their magical season for another day, but scored their only runs Wednesday in the second inning. You work all year to climb to the top of the mountain and then Boom! You fall back down and have to restart next season, Kansas City manager Ned Yost said. The wild-card Giants, an 88-win team that finished six games behind the rival Dodgers in the NL West, rode a Bumgarner shutout to an 8-0 win in Pittsburgh on Oct. 1 and finished their title run two days shy of Halloween. Bumgarners wins in Games 1 and 5, and his five-inning save in the clincher, cemented his role at the age of 25 as a postseason star on a Giants team that has carved an odd dynasty into recent baseball history. The Giants have made the postseason only three times in the last 11 years -- winning the World Series each time. Wednesdays celebration followed titles in 2010 over Texas and 2012 over Detroit. They snapped a nine-game losing streak by road teams in World Series Game 7s, becoming the first team to win that way since the 1979 We Are Family Pirates, who clinched in Baltimore. Still cant believe it, first baseman Brandon Belt tweeted hours later. Belt and Hunter Pence had two hits apiece, including back-to-back singles in the second inning after Kansas City starter Jeremy Guthrie grazed Sandoval with a pitch leading off. Morse and Brandon Crawford followed with sacrifice flies for the Giants first two runs. Hours later, the Giants celebrated in customary fashion by spraying champagne inn the locker room.dddddddddddd So used to their backs being against the wall during their three title runs, the Giants got their eighth straight win in an elimination game -- including six on the road. After beating Pittsburgh in the NL wild-card game, they never sniffed another elimination test until the World Series. They closed out Washington in four games in the NL division series and needed just five games to beat St. Louis. They won the pennant on Travis Ishikawas dramatic ninth-inning homer on Oct. 16 at AT&T Park in a game that saw them snap a streak of 242 consecutive plate appearances without a homer. Big moments came from all over the lineup, of course, but the Giants produced little in the way of big blows over the past week, winning Games 4 and 5 with 28 hits, including 24 singles. They scored 15 straight runs before Kansas Citys seven-run rally in the second inning of Game 6 on Tuesday, when the Giants were shut out over seven innings by rookie Yordano Ventura. They had eight more hits in Game 7 -- all but one of them a single. It was the eighth World Series title in franchise history. That was a phenomenal series, said Yost. They played great baseball. And Madison Bumgarner, man. What can you say about him? The Royals, perennial down-and-outers in the AL Central, snatched a wild-card spot to reach the playoffs for the first time since winning the World Series in 1985. Building a brand as an underdog favorite, they won their first eight playoff games against the Athletics, Angels and Orioles before running into Bumgarner in Game 1 last week. Their 10-0 win in Game 6 -- a party from nearly start to finish for the 40,000 fans in attendance -- was the most lopsided World Series shutout since Kansas Citys 11-0 win over St. Louis in Game 7 in 1985. It hurts to come as close as we came, said Yost. As magical as our run has been, to end up losing the ballgame by 90 feet is tough. That magic which produced extra-inning wins in the Royals first three playoff games -- and four of their first five -- wasnt reproduced against the Giants. Their three wins in the series came by 16 runs. That includes Fridays 3-2 victory in Game 3, when the Royals took a 2-1 lead in the series on the backs of bullpen stars Kelvin Herrera, Brandon Finnegan, Wade Davis and Greg Holland, who combined to throw four no-hit innings in the game. Herrera, Davis and Holland all pitched on Wednesday after Guthrie (1-1) went 3 1/3 innings. The Royals got to 39-year-old Tim Hudson, scoring two runs in the second inning on Gordons double and Omar Infantes sacrifice fly. Hudson, the oldest pitcher ever to start Game 7, got just five outs and Jeremy Affeldt (1-0) threw 2 1/3 innings to pick up the win, running his streak to 22 consecutive appearances in the postseason without allowing a run, one shy of the record held by Yankees great Mariano Rivera. Bumgarner finished with 270 innings pitched in the regular and postseason and ran his career World Series record to 4-0 with a 0.25 ERA. Bochy said he avoided Bumgarner in the dugout, the way players do when a pitcher is throwing a no-hitter. I was staying away from him every inning because I was hoping he wouldnt say, Im starting to get a little tired, Bochy said. Because theres no way I would have taken him out unless he told me that. We just got on his horse and rode it. Game Notes Sandoval broke the old postseason hits record of 25 shared by Marquis Grissom (1995), Darin Erstad (2002) and David Freese (2011) ... Hudson, who is MLBs active wins leader with 214, also pitched Game 3 on Friday. He is without a postseason win since Game 2 of the 2001 ALDS, when he pitched Oakland past the Yankees ... Royals great and 1985 World Series MVP Bret Saberhagen threw out the first pitch ... Home teams are now 18-19 in World Series Game 7s. 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