auto racing
Johnson sets a track record to win the Pocono pole
LONG POND, Pa. – There was no bumping Jimmie Johnson this week.
Johnson set a track record with a lap of 180.654 mph to win the pole Friday at Pocono Raceway. Johnson seemed poised to win the pole last week at Indianapolis until Ryan Newman topped him on the last qualifying attempt of the day.
Johnson would not be denied at Pocono. He’s now in position to go for the season sweep at Pocono, where he won from the pole in June.
Kyle Busch was third and Carl Edwards third. Newman, last week’s race winner at the Brickyard, will start fourth. Kurt Busch is fifth.
Johnson has four wins this season and leads the points standings as he chases his sixth championship.
NBA
New Orleans: A new home, new logo, new name ...
METAIRIE, La. – The New Orleans Pelicans now have uniforms to go with a new team name, emblems and color scheme the NBA franchise released earlier this year.
The club, which competed as the Hornets last season, unveiled new uniforms Thursday on new practice courts built alongside the headquarters of the NFL’s Saints in suburban New Orleans.
The home uniforms are white with gold and red trim, with “New Orleans” written in navy blue across the front, along with blue numbers.
The road uniforms are navy blue with the same trim but with lettering and numbers in white.
The club’s primary logo, with a basketball tucked under a soaring pelican’s beak, appears on the sides of the shorts.
NFL
Female official-in-training could be the NFL’s first
METAIRIE, La. – A woman who could become the NFL’s first female official is training at the New Orleans Saints’ training camp this week.
Sarah Thomas, who lives near Jackson, Miss., is a former college basketball player who started officiating high school games at age 23 and said she never dreamed then that she could become a candidate to officiate NFL games.
Now 40 years old and with three children, she has been officiating college football in Conference USA since 2007, is a member of the NFL’s Officiating Development Program and a finalist to become a permanent NFL official. She arrived at Saints camp Thursday and will train there Friday and during Saturday’s scrimmage.
She has trained at Saints camp in previous years, and Saints coach Sean Payton said she does “a great job.”
The missing, ‘smoking gun’ could be in basement box
ATTLEBORO, Mass. – New court records said an associate of Aaron Hernandez told police the former New England Patriot put guns in a box in his basement after returning from the industrial park where his friend fatally was shot.
An affidavit released by Attleboro District Court said Carlos Ortiz told investigators Hernandez put firearms in the black box after Odin Lloyd’s killing. The document indicates one was a small gun Ortiz handed Hernandez after they returned home. Ortiz said he earlier saw Hernandez with an additional “large handgun.”
Hernandez has pleaded not guilty to murder in the death of Lloyd, a 27-year-old Boston semi-professional football player whose body was found June 17 near Hernandez’s North Attleborough, Mass., home.
Authorities believe Lloyd was killed with a .45-caliber Glock, which hasn’t been recovered.
Tennis
Roger Federer mysteriously withdraws from Rogers Cup
MONTREAL – After three consecutive tournament exits against low-ranked opponents, Roger Federer pulled out of next week’s Rogers Cup without giving a reason Friday.
Federer, who recently complained of back problems, will turn 32 next Thursday.
Associated Press
