SPARTA, Ky. -- Jimmie Johnson thought somebody had traded paint with his motorhome. Nope, that was just the wind. The five-time NASCAR Sprint Cup champion took advantage of those gusts to grab the poll, edging defending champion Kyle Busch for the top spot at Kentucky Speedway on Friday night. But first Johnson had a scary moment. "I was sitting in my motorhome, watching qualifying on television and the bus started shaking real bad," he said. "TV was a little behind and they werent talking about the winds, so for a minute I thought somebody backed into us." He soon found out that it wasnt an errant driver, but rather the powerful wind that briefly suspended qualifying. "I opened the door to look out and when I did the wind almost took the door off of the hinges," he said. "I said, OK, I see whats going on now." It was Johnsons first pole-winning run since September 2010 at Dover. "Ive had a lot of seconds and there is nothing more frustrating than a close second in qualifying," he said after posting a top speed of 181.818 mph and a lap time of 29.700 seconds. "But today went really well and I think weve got a good race car in race trim as well." The freakish windstorm -- only a few spatters of rain fell from a slate-grey sky -- only put the brakes on qualifying for a short time. But when the cars returned, the temperature on the track had plummeted from around 140 degrees. "Its amazing with the 30- to 40-degree drop that we had how much more grip there was in the track," said Johnson, who is fourth in the Sprint Cup standings so far this season. "But when it comes to qualifying you just have to lay it on the line and hope it works." Busch, the last car on the track, just missed the pole at 181.421 mph. "Were starting up front, which is good for us," he said. "I typically dont qualify well, but this is a place where we know what we have to do." A crew member for the Turner Motorsports team sustained a broken hand during the blustery winds and had to be taken to a nearby hospital for observation. A spokesman said he was expected to be fine. Denny Hamlin and Kevin Harvick made up the second row, with Ryan Newman and Clint Bowyer -- a winner last week at Sonoma -- making up row three. Hamlin said the dropping track temperature changed everything. "By being able to go later, the track was steadily cooling off," he said. "Everyone who went toward the end obviously had a big advantage." Hamlin was also in his motorhome when the storm hit. He thought someone was playing a joke on him by walking around on his roof. "The wind was pretty treacherous," he said. Dale Earnhardt Jr., seventh on the grid, said everyone is trying to figure out what the surface conditions will be when the race begins. "The track has changed quite a bit," he said. "We dont know what the balance will be like." cheap jerseys . The brawl took on anti-Semitic overtones, with witnesses reporting that the Italian hooligans shouted "Jews" at the Tottenham fans. Tottenham supporters are often called the "Yid Army" and the team is known to have a large Jewish fan base from north London. nba holdjersey . The South Korean player had a 15-under 201 total at Guadalajara Country Club. She won the Evian Masters in France in July and the LPGA Malaysia last month and leads the LPGA Tour money list and the Vare Trophy race for the lowest scoring average. http://www.holdjersey.com/ . The 100th Grey Cup will air live in the U.S. in November on the NBC Sports Network. The CFL says NBC will also carry nine-regular season games as well as the East and West Division semifinals and finals, picking up TSNs coverage of the games. nfl holdjersey . Javier Hernandezs double and Ron Vlaars own goal completed the turnaround that took United four points clear of Chelsea at the top of the table. Chelsea hosts Liverpool on Sunday. "We did put pressure on ourselves today but we came through it," United manager Alex Ferguson said. wholesale jerseys . His victory Sunday in the Texas Open didnt come easy. Neither did his words describing the redemption of nearly a decade spent falling from British Open champion to, this year, waiting by the phone simply for a chance to play.It took all of one outing before Jonas Valanciunas got his chance to start in the NBA, and he made the most of it. Okay, it wasnt a REAL start. He started a preseason game against the same team hed made his debut against two days prior, and the start shouldnt be seen as any kind of indication as to his role during the regular season. That said, Valanciunas acquitted himself nicely, playing a team-high 29 minutes and managing 11 points and 8 rebounds. His defense was tremendous for a young player, as he often stayed down on fakes and used his length to his advantage going against a stellar big man in Greg Monroe (who went 3-of-8 on the night for 9 points). In fact, Torontos ability to throw two seven-foot defenders at Detroit with Valanciunas and Andrea Bargnani gave fans a real taste of what Torontos frontcourt of the future is going to look like. Both players were engaged defensively and used their size to their advantage, forcing Detroit to uncomfortably pass out of situations in the post which helped the Raptors force 23 Pistons turnovers. Most importantly for Valanciunas was his foul trouble, or lack thereof. There was a presupposition heading into his first season that Valanciunas would be a foul magnet. Hes an active defender that has zero experience playing against NBA-level competition, and the expectation was that hed simply be ill-equipped to handle himself defensively without fouling. Through two preseason games, though, foul trouble hasnt been an issue. Hes played 42 minutes so far and only picked up a total of four fouls, and again that comes mostly against a legit NBA big man in Monroe. One could argue that Valanciunas has gotten off easy thus far because the intensity of preseason is in no way comparable to the average NBA game, but there is more to what he has shown than a simple metric of fouls per minute. For Valanciunas, he has not shown a propensity for being bated by offensive players. When hes playing defense he stays low in his stance, moving his feet to keep pace with his man and stands straight up to contest shots, rarely if ever leaving his feet. Twice in his first game he managed to record a block (the eye said he managed three, but the stats say two), and in last nights outing he offered strong contests, with one of his fouls coming on an under-control block attempt (he caught Greg Monroes body with his other hand). When he was rotating in the teams schemes he was likewise under control, knowing how hard to close to eliminate shooting space without overcommitting and running the player over or giving them a chance to create contract. Against more savvy veteran players he may not be so fortunate, but he hasnt demonstrated the kind of overzealous activity on defense that plagues so many young, active big men. Hes going to pick up fouls in his rookie year, big men simply bang too much to not, but if Valanciunas can avoid the kind of foul trouble that would consistently restrict hiis minutes, he may have a fighting chance of earning the starting center spot at some point during the season.dddddddddddd Here are some other notes after the Raptors third preseason outing: - DeMar DeRozan continued to attack on offense, but Detroit started getting wise to his strategy. Twice in quick succession DeRozan was called for changes while attempting to barrel his way to the basket, so he has to learn to balance his hard driving ways against the simpler pull-up jumper that should be there for him on the break if teams play back hoping to pick up the offensive foul. - Andrea Bargnani continued to look disinterested at the offensive end but was much more plugged in at the defensive end. He partnered very well with Valanciunas on defense and wasnt nearly as susceptible to being beat on a rotation as he was on Wednesday in Detroit. He had only three rebounds, though, all of which came right out of the gates, so more effort is still required to finish off defensive stands, especially considering Detroits 14 offensive rebounds. - John Lucas continues to impress. While he shot poorly (3-10, 1-4 from behind the arc) he dished out 8 assists and once again used his speed to lead a potent bench attack. - Ed Davis had a mini-breakout game last night, going for 12 points and 6 rebounds in just 18 minutes, and he even knocked down a little fourteen-foot jumper in the second quarter. Like Valanciunas and Bargnani, Davis and Amir Johnson played very well off of each other, especially on defense, which lends further support to getting those combinations on the floor as often as possible. - The club is still having trouble integrating Landry Fields. While he was strong defensively against Detroit, making several pro close-outs, the team is not used to players like him who make strong moves off of the ball and need timely passes to capitalize on them. In the same way that Valanciunas needs to be rewarded for some of his hard rolls to the basket that leave him wide open, Fields needs his teammates to see the whole court when the have the ball so they can exploit his activity on the weak-side. While theyre trying to use him as a ball-handler at times to keep him involved, thats not his greatest strength. Expect more attention to be paid in next weeks games to getting him the ball in those situations. - One of the problems plaguing Toronto in general is their lack of passing. DeRozan and Bargnani are already notorious for their reluctance to move the ball, but outside of the teams point guards no one is really looking to effectively setup other people on the team. Without a doubt it takes time to learn and adjust to new teammates, to their tendencies and where they are going to be on the court, but if the Raptors want a more effective offense this season they need to be much better at moving the ball and facilitating each other rather than just trying to do things by flying solo. ' ' '