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NEWTON, Iowa — Ryan Blaney became the youngest winner in the history of the NASCAR Truck Series at Iowa Speedway two years ago. Morgan Cox Jersey . On Sunday, hell attempt to become the youngest driver to win a NASCAR Nationwide race on Iowas short track. The 20-year-old Blaney wont be the only kid pushing a podium finish. Blaney will start from the pole for Sundays race at Iowa Speedway after finishing first in qualifying on Saturday. Blaney won a pole for the first time in the Nationwide Series, and he did so less than 24 hours after a disappointing 22nd-place finish in the trucks race in Charlotte, North Carolina, on Friday night. „Its been a busy 24 hours,“ Blaney said. My team „did a great job of getting everything ready, for me to just come to jump in the car and have it close to where we need it to be.“ Sam Hornish Jr. will join Blaney on the front row, followed by Michael McDowell, Regan Smith and Dylan Kwasniewski. Series points leader Chase Elliott will start sixth in the Nationwides first stand-alone race of the season — which will feature three drivers aged 20 or younger in the top six starting spots. Elliott, a point ahead of Elliott Sadler, graduated from Kings Ridge Christian School in Georgia on Saturday morning and flew right back to Iowa for qualifying. „I definitely think it was worth it to go home and be part of that,“ Elliott said. „It was definitely weird to be here, and then gone, and then back just for qualifying. Its a little odd, but other than that were happy to get back.“ The rest of the field might wish Elliott stayed in Georgia. Elliott has already won twice this season, at Texas and Darlington, and he has led the standings for well over a month. Hes also won at Iowa before, taking first in a K&N Pro Series race in 2012, and his No. 9 Chevrolet was the fastest car in two of the three practice sessions. Elliott said Saturday that hes looking forward to directing his focus on racing rather than school. „I was checked out way before they gave me that paper,“ Elliott joked. „To not have to go home and be worried about doing homework and getting stuff done on Monday morning will hopefully be an improvement.“ Sundays race will also feature a pair of hometown drivers coming off their best runs of the season. Fairfax, Iowa native Landon Cassill scored his first top 10 of the year when he finished eighth at Talladega two weeks ago. Joey Gase of Cedar Rapids finished a career-best 11th at Talladega despite having his engine run out of water on the last lap because it had overheated so often. „We had to take a baseball bat to the car a few times, but that was all right,“ Gase said. „It was really great to get our name out there.“ Cassill will start ninth, while Gase will be 29th. This will be the first of two Nationwide races this season at Iowa, which was bought by NASCAR in the off-season. The second will be held on Aug. 2, and NASCAR announced Saturday that it will be the final event in the four-race „Dash 4 Cash“ program that could award up to $1 million to a series regular. The move is part of a push by NASCAR to make Iowa a featured track for a series often overshadowed by the top-tier Sprint Cup series. „This is where we want to make names, where we want the Nationwide Series to be on a pedestal,“ Iowa Speedway president Jimmy Small said. Michael McCrary Jersey . After two months of mediocrity, perhaps the Washington Nationals have turned the page. Strasburg struck out 11 in seven innings Wednesday night and the Nationals kept the Philadelphia Phillies bats quiet yet again in an 8-4, rain-interrupted win. Elvis Dumervil Jersey . The Mets made the announcement Sunday night. Parnell blew a save on opening day against Washington and the next day it was revealed he had partially torn right elbow ligament.ABBOTSFORD, B.C. — The Texas Stars snapped a three-game winless streak the best way they know how — by scoring a bushel of goals in quick succession. The Stars are the highest scoring team in the American Hockey League and showed it by thumping the Abbotsford Heat 7-2 on Sunday. Colton Sceviour scored his first of the night just 53 seconds into the game, but it was his second that capped a six-goal second period for the Stars. „We were able to get a goal early and we buried our chances,“ said Sceviour. „In yesterdays game (a 3-2 Abbotsford shootout victory), (Heat goalie Olivier) Roy made some big saves and we werent able to capitalize. Today we were able to capitalize and that was the big difference.“ Lopsided victories are nothing new between these two clubs. Abbotsfords largest margin of defeat this season was a 9-3 loss in Texas Oct. 20, which it followed with a 7-3 win. The Stars also toppled the Heat 5-0 in January. „Its kind of strange,“ said Sceviour. „The second game they played us in Texas they beat us pretty handily. Its weird how teams that are so tight in the standings that when they play one team seems to control the other a little bit. But fortunately its been us more times than not.“ Scott Glennie had a pair of goals, while Brett Ritchie, Jyrki Jokipakka, and Mike Hedden also scored for Texas (29-15-6), which moves the club to within two points of the Heat for first in the Western Conference. „Its good for us, but we know theyre a good team,“ said Glennie. „The games, it seems, have been one-sided this year, one way or another. Its been fun playing them and well have a tough matchup in the future.“ The Stars boast the top-two goal scorers in the AHL in Sceviour and points leader Travis Morin. „(Sceviour) is such a big part of the team,“ said Glennie. „We need those guys to be scoring for us to be successful, and they bring it every single night. But obviously when we get the secondary scoring, like tonight, its huge for us as well. When youre playing a team like Abbotsford you need that.“ Cristopher Nilstorp made 33 saves for the win. „(Nilstorp) was fantastic,“ added Glennie. &quoot;They had a lot of good opportunities to get back in the game and he was there to stop them every single time and that was great. Bam Morris Jersey. “ Max Reinhart and Shane OBrien replied for Abbotsford (31-15-4), which had a five-game winning streak snapped. Olivier Roy allowed four goals on 24 shots before being replaced by Joni Ortio, who was reassigned to the Heat by the Calgary Flames for the Olympic break. Ortio let in the first shot he faced and three of the first six shots that went his way. „The second period was a big outburst and that was kind of a shock for both teams,“ said Glennie. The Stars opened the scoring when Dustin Jeffreys pass deflected in off Sceviours skate, and after review the goal stood. The Heat tied the game at 11:19. Corban Knight jammed at the puck down low, and with the puck sitting on the goal line Reinhart swooped around the net to tuck it in for his 12th of the season. OBrien gave the Heat their only lead of the game at 2:14 of the second. After leading a shorthanded rush he dropped the puck to Markus Granlund and went to the net. Granlund had two assists on the night. Ritchie tied the game a little more than a minute later on a power play. His wrist shot from the left face-off dot found its way through a pair of bodies into the top right corner for his 11th of the season, beginning the offensive onslaught. „We knew we let it snowball on us, and give them credit – they smelled some blood and they took advantage,“ said OBrien. Glennie then scored two goals in a three-minute span. First he one-timed a feed from Chris Mueller while shorthanded. Then he was the beneficiary of a lucky bounce, with the puck going off a defencemans backside and in. Ortio came in to play goal, but allowed Jokipakka to score on the first shot he faced. „Goals four and five were the absolute backbreakers for me and our team,“ said Heat head coach Troy Ward. „The ones that were on the power play after, thats a frenzy of wolves feeding. They just smelled blood, and they went for it and they got it.“ Hedden and Sceviour then scored on successive power plays for their 18th and 29th goals respectively to round out the scoring. ‚ ‚ ‚