Regeln » he ones people are used to betting on a daily basis, said Nick

AVONDALE, Ariz. -- Alex Bowman still has no ride for next season. On a weekend the championship contenders are making a bid for the title race, Bowman made a case for a full-time job.Bowman won his first career pole Friday with a strong run at Phoenix International Raceway. Bowman, the replacement driver for concussed Dale Earnhardt Jr., turned a lap at 140.521 mph to earn the top starting spot.Im still waiting for the right opportunity to come along, Bowman said. Theres nothing that has really fit that has come along. Ill still probably have my day job at Hendrick Motorsports driving the simulator. Well go from there.Bowman, who is from Tucson, ran Earnhardts car to the top of the leaderboard with NASCARs most popular driver in attendance.This is his hometown, kind of, so its awesome that all his friends are around to see him do this, Earnhardt said. This is great for his career, this is exactly what we were hoping to happen for him. Hopefully, he can put it together on Sunday.Kyle Larson and Chase Elliott qualified second and third as Chevrolets swept the top three. They also shut out the championship contenders from the top of the scoring pylon.Only Jimmie Johnson and Carl Edwards have spots locked down for next weeks season finale, and there are six drivers vying for the remaining two slots.Of those trying to race their way into the final four, Joey Logano qualified fourth and was followed by Denny Hamlin and Kevin Harvick.We are in good position right now, said Logano. If that was the end of the race we would move on, I think. We just have to keep looking ahead and make sure we keep the big picture in mind.Hamlin, who is racing against three of his teammates for a spot at Homestead-Miami Speedway, was pleased with his fifth-place qualifying lap.Four cars stand in my way. Just four, its not that big of a deal, Hamlin said.Harvick is the favorite to win Sunday and has won six of his last eight races at Phoenix. When asked why hes so good at Phoenix, Harvick joked that he found a magic wand at Disney that he waves over PIR.His mood was light considering hes in a must-win situation, and the law of averages predicts he cant beat 39 other drivers at Phoenix time and time again. But Harvick noted he didnt win last Novembers race and didnt appear to be the least bit concerned about odds. He also wasnt worried about any potential payback from Austin Dillon , the driver Harvick accidentally wrecked last week.Everybody is in the same position we are, he said. If somebody wins, theres only going to be one points guy that goes through. You need to pretend like you are in a must-win situation if you want to plan on going to Homestead.The only Chase drivers not to make it into the final round were Johnson and defending series champion Kyle Busch. Johnson already has a spot clinched in next weeks finale, but Busch will start 19th on Sunday.Martin Truex Jr. wrecked during practice and was forced into his backup car. But it couldnt pass inspection before qualifying began and Truex will start last Sunday.Swell Suomi .J. -- Marty Brodeur beat the Pittsburgh Penguins yet again. Swell Pullo Suomi . Its the second straight game Bell has scored in extra time for Kelowna, which beat the Brandon Wheat Kings 6-5 on Friday, and he now has four game-winning goals on the season. http://www.swellbottlesuomi.com/ . The recently retired Stern was elected Friday to the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame and will be enshrined with the class of 2014 on Aug. Swell Vesipullo . It is a cliché dragged out by fans and pundits regularly when discussions take place around which teams are better than others. Swell Pullo Hinta . Neymar curled home a free kick from just outside the area to put the 2014 World Cup host ahead in the 44th minute. Three minutes after the break, a simple through pass from Paulinho freed Oscar and the Chelsea star rounded goalkeeper Jung Sung-ryong to extend Brazils lead.LAS VEGAS -- Rowing, shooting and judo -- the U.S. may have won big gold medals in those Olympic events but some of the most prominent Las Vegas sports books didnt even bother with them.The bookmakers in Sin City said theres been little money and few expectations for Olympic sports wagering this year, as the games returned to the betting board after being off limits for more than a decade in Nevada.I know that theyre watching. I just know they arent betting, said Jay Kornegay, who runs the sports book at the Westgate Las Vegas Resort and Casino. The largest single sports book in town offered more than 70 events for betting, but cut their losses with the so-called second- and third-tier sports that the U.S. took gold medals in.Sporting events held at the 2016 Summer games from Rio de Janeiro have been the first since the 2000 Olympics in Sydney that bettors in Nevada could put their money on, though relatively few have.State gambling regulators were previously against having wagers on what it considered amateur sports but Las Vegas bookmakers successfully lobbied them last year to change the policy. Rivals at the international sports books in Great Britain, Ireland and Australia and offshore Internet sites have already allowed such bets.Officials at the local sports books said they didnt expect a sweeping boon to business but that whatever action theyve gotten, however little, has been better than nothing.Basketball this summer has reigned supreme, as a steady number of bettors backed the familiar NBA stars dominating the mens Olympic games. Soccer and golf were also among the more popular events that were wagered on.The same cant be said of the more obscuree sports that some sports books said they didnt get any bites on whatsoever.dddddddddddd The overall amounts seen per bet -- $10 to $20 -- for the Olympics have been peanuts compared to the record $132.5 million wagered in Nevada on this years Super Bowl.And though marquee events in the pool and on the gymnastics floor are always a highlight for viewers, the bookmakers said it appears that few people feel confident enough about a sport they only pay attention to once every four years to put their money on it.The ones that do well are the ones people are used to betting on a daily basis, said Nick Bogdanovich, the head odds-maker for William Hill, which runs more than a hundred sports books in the state.Meanwhile, the Wynn Las Vegas resort and casino took a relatively conservative approach by offering only a half dozen events on the betting board. Johnny Avello, the longtime odds-maker and sports book director, said he sensed that there would be mild interest just like in the 1990s.I put in a lot of time in it for very little action, Avello said.But the bookmakers also said its not for a lack of interest in the games, as the competitions have brought people out who just want to watch. Thats created a festive, patriotic scene at the casinos during what is typically a slower sports betting month.Weve had a lot of inquiries about the odds and people look them over and they just dont run to the betting windows, Kornegay said.---Follow Sally Ho at twitter.com/-sallyho. Her work can be found at http://bigstory.ap.org/journalist/sally-ho ' ' '