TALLADEGA, Ala. Fred Biletnikoff Jersey . -- A group decision for all of the cars powered by Earnhardt Childress engines to work together at Talladega Superspeedway proved the correct call in NASCARs new knockout qualifying format. Richard Childress Racing drivers and their affiliates swept the first three rows on the starting grid for Sundays race, with the pole going to Brian Scott, who will lead the field to the green flag in just his fifth career Sprint Cup Series start. "Who would have thought that, huh?" Scott asked after Saturdays qualifying session. Cars with ECR engines took six of the 12 spots in the third and final round of knockout qualifying, and they all waited patiently on pit road for someone to make a move. It came with roughly 2 minutes, 20 seconds remaining in the 5-minute session, when all 12 drivers made their way onto the track. Tony Stewart posted the fastest lap as he worked with the other three Stewart-Haas Racing drivers, and as the clock neared the final buzzer, it appeared the three-time NASCAR champion had the pole locked up. Then came the ECR pack of cars, with Ryan Newman leading, Scott somewhere in the middle and Paul Menard bringing up the rear. Team owner Childress had designated Newman as the driver to decide when the pack should go, and Menard was charged with pushing them along. Just as time expired, the entire group shot past Stewarts speed and moved to the top of the leaderboard. It was Scott on the pole, followed by Menard and then AJ Allmendinger, an RCR-affiliated driver. Casey Mears, also an affiliated driver, qualified fourth and was followed by Daytona 500 pole-sitter Austin Dillon and Newman. "It was just a great plan by RCR, getting all the RCR alliance cars working together," Allmendinger said. "We worked on that (in practice) and felt like we all had great speed. Ryan was the guinea pig for all of us and timed it right, and that last session, it was just basically who was going to wait the longest to go out there." It was the first time NASCAR has used its new knockout format on a restrictor-plate track in the Sprint Cup Series. Daytona 500 qualifying in February was done with traditional single-car runs. "The qualifying format, I think there are good tracks for it and bad tracks for it, and this is definitely a great track for it," Menard said. "We had a plan and we tried to stick to the plan as best we could. Ryan, we put the burden on him to decide when to go and where to go, and the rest of us held it in line. ECR top-six and RCR cars all up there is pretty exciting." Now Scott gets to show what hes made of on one of NASCARs fastest tracks. A Nationwide Series regular, hes got three previous starts this season and finished 25th in the Daytona 500. "Ive got that dreaded yellow (rookie) stripe on the bumper, and thats going to make people run away from me like the plague," Scott said of finding drafting partners on Sunday. Stewart wound up 12th in the final session after it appeared he had the pole locked up. SHR put all four of its cars in the final round, and Danica Patrick earned the highest starting spot at seventh. Joey Logano, meanwhile, failed to advance into the final round of qualifying for the first time this season. Hed made it through all three rounds in eight previous sessions. He qualified 16th. "Its not by a good car or not, its just by strategy," Logano said. "We put a lot of work and effort into keeping that streak alive. Its unfortunate." Authentic D.J.Hayden Jersey . Dribbling on the perimeter with the final seconds ticking off the clock and Washington down by a point, Wall found his opening. Denarius Moore Jersey . Patrick Deslisle-Houde and David Rose each scored in the second to give the fourth-seeded Redmen a 3-1 lead after Jean-Philippe Mathieu scored in the first.The most unlikely match of the second round will take place at the Arena Pernambuco today, as Greece squares off with Costa Rica. Listen to the match live on TSN Radio TSN 1050 Toronto, TSN 690 Montreal, TSN 1200 Ottawa and TEAM 1410 Vancouver at 4pm et/1pm pt. The Ticos have been one of the surprise packages in Brazil, topping Group D by pulling off upset wins over Uruguay and Italy before a 0-0 draw with England clinched the top spot in a group that Greece head coach Fernando Santos labeled the "Group of Death." Most observers felt that Costa Rica was the clear outsider in a group that contained three former World Cup winners. But the CONCACAF representatives used a high-pressure style to unsettle both Uruguay and Italy, and Greek boss Santos knows his side must be ready for a tough task. "I am delighted first of all that we bring joy to the Greek people," said Santos after his team secured a place in the knockout round for the first time in the nations history. "We have time to think about the match with Costa Rica. We will go back to our base, think about it and study our opponents. We have to pay a lot of attention to this game, they came out top in the Group of Death. As a result we cannot allow ourselves to underestimate them." The path Greece took to get to the last 16 was much different than the one the Ticos traveled as the Greeks lost their opening match 3-0 to Colombia. A 0-0 draw with Japan that saw Greece play the final 52 minutes with 10 men kept the team aliive, but Santos and his side saved their best performance for last, notching a 2-1 win over Ivory Coast as Georgios Samaras converted a stoppage-time penalty kick to send his side through.Sio Moore Oakland Raiders. The result was certainly a surprise to many, including Costa Rica midfielder Yeltsin Tejeda. "They are in the World Cup and they beat an excellent team, Ivory Coast," Tejeda said of Greece. "If they are there (in the Round of 16), it is because they were better." "We were thinking more about Colombia and the Ivory Coast and in the end came the least expected team. Now we have to change the video cassette." Costa Rica will certainly have to prepare much differently for Greece than for either Colombia or Ivory Coast if the team is going to reach the quarterfinals at a World Cup for the first time. Greece is known for a being a defense-first side that looks to steal a goal or two in order to win ugly. But Costa Ricas defense has been one of the best at the tournament, giving up just one goal in three games, which came on a penalty kick against Uruguay in its opening match. The winner of this contest will be in uncharted territory, while a Greece victory would bring about an interesting situation involving Santos. With his contract set to expire the day after the Costa Rica match, the 59- year-old may need to negotiate a quick extension if his side reaches the last eight, which is yet another indication of how unlikely a matchup this is at this stage of the tournament. ' ' '
