LOUDON, N.H. -- Jimmie Johnson gave Hendrick Motorsports a needed bright spot, turning a lap of 133.971 mph Friday at New Hampshire Motor Speedway to win his first pole of the season.Johnson, a two-time race winner this season, could use a boost following a five-race slump where he failed to finish better than 13th. He has crashed out of his last two races, finishing 35th at Daytona International Speedway and 32nd last weekend at Kentucky Speedway.He was the lone Hendrick Motorsports driver in the top five.Hendrick suffered a blow this week when Dale Earnhardt Jr. dropped out of Sundays race because he suffered from symptoms of a concussion. Four-time NASCAR champion Jeff Gordon will drive the No. 88 Chevrolet next week at Indianapolis if Earnhardt is not cleared to return.Alex Bowman, making his first Sprint Cup start of the season, qualified 20th subbing for Earnhardt.Johnson, Earnhardt, Kasey Kahne and Chase Elliott have all contributed to Hendrick Motorsports losing drought over the last 13 races. Johnsons March 20th win in Fontana, California, was the last for a Hendrick driver.Kyle Busch was second, followed by Martin Truex Jr., Kurt Busch and Denny Hamlin.The car wasnt driving as well as I would have liked it to drive for qualifying, Busch said. But good speed, thats what matters right now and being able to put up a good lap like that.Heres what else was going on during Fridays qualifying:ITS ON THE POLEJohnson has 35 poles in 526 career NASCAR starts and first in 29 career Sprint Cup races at New Hampshire. Hes a three-time winner at New Hampshire and one of only two drivers to win two straight times on the track. Johnson has nine top-10 starts this season.TESTING, TESTINGEarnhardt, Denny Hamlin, Ricky Stenhouse Jr. and Aric Almirola were the only drivers to participate in a two-day Goodyear tire test last month at New Hampshire.The fact that Dale tested here, it makes (his absence) a larger issue, Johnson said. Those face-to-face conversations are so much more important than reading notes. Were going to miss that part, for sure.DRIVE FOR FIVEBrad Keselowski starts ninth as he tries for his fifth victory of the season.It is nice to have four wins. I wish they meant more. When it comes Chase time, I have four stickers on my car and that is about it, he said.BOWMANS STARTThe 23-year-old Bowman has not raced in the Cup series this season and had no top-10 finishes in 71 starts over the 2014-2015 seasons with BK Racing and Tommy Baldwin Racing. He drives part-time in the second-tier Xfinity Series for Earnhardts JR Motorsports team.I felt like we probably could have qualified a little better, he said. I probably didnt do the best job I possibly could have and we got a little too tight off. Everybody at Hendrick Motorsports has worked really hard on this thing. Obviously, I hope Dale is feeling betterIts been a crazy 24 hours. Im ready to go take a nap, eat some food and relax a little bit until tomorrow.FINDING GORDONIs everyone sure Gordon knows he might be driving next weekend? Gordon is in France this weekend, which ruled him out for a potential return at New Hampshire.Somebody better call him, I think hes in the south of France drinking rose, Johnson said. We need to sober him up and get him back. Cheap Air Max Plus . The Dane followed up his first European Tour title last weekend with eight birdies and just a single dropped shot on Thursday for a one-stroke advantage over South Africas Allan Versfeld and Portugals Ricardo Santos. Air Max Plus Canada Online . The head of USA Boxing came out swinging Tuesday with an open letter to Tyson -- a former Olympic hopeful himself -- that accuses the former heavyweight champion of trying to poach fighters who might be candidates for the U. http://www.airmaxpluscanada.com/ . Robredo, ranked No. 16, bounced back from an upset loss to Leonardo Mayer in the second round of the Royal Guard Open in Chile last week to down Carreno Busta in 1 hour, 25 minutes. On a day filled mostly with qualifying matches, fifth-seeded Marcel Granollers of Spain also entered the second with a 7-5, 3-6, 6-2 win over Aljaz Bedene of Slovenia, while Guido Pella of Argentina defeated Guillermo Garcia-Lopez of Spain 7-6 (6), 6-4 to advance. Cheap Wholesale Air Max Plus . -- PGA TOUR Canada member Steve Saunders took a three-stroke lead Saturday in the Web. Air Max Plus Canada .Y. - Free agent outfielder Jacoby Ellsbury, fresh off winning the World Series with Boston, reached agreement with the rival New York Yankees on a seven-year contract worth about $153 million, a person familiar with the negotiations said Tuesday night. BOSTON -- Dozens of times since beginning their work on the brains of former football players, boxers and military members who suffered repeated blows to the head, researchers have announced their findings with slides of damaged tissue. Researchers presented strong words about the danger of concussions and perhaps a call for sports officials to take the issue more seriously.At a Boston University medical conference on Thursday, doctors put a human touch on the often clinical diagnoses, announcing to a room stocked with family members of CTE casualties that former?Patriots and Eagles?fullback Kevin Turner -- the lead plaintiff in the NFLs concussion lawsuit -- also was a victim of the disease.Theres people there, not just brains, said Tamara Alan, executive director of the Kevin Turner Foundation. She choked back tears to thank the researchers for their work.With Turners parents in the crowd, neuropathologist Ann McKee said the former Alabama and NFL star had the most severe form of chronic traumatic encephalopathy, a traumatic brain disease linked to repeated hits to the head. CTE likely caused the Lou Gehrigs disease that killed Turner in March at the age of 46, according to McKee.The severity of Mr. Turners CTE was extraordinary and unprecedented for an athlete who died in his 40s, she said.CTE has been linked to repeated brain trauma and diagnosed in hundreds of former football players. It can also cause symptoms of Lou Gehrigs disease, also known as amyotrophic lateral sclerosis or ALS.After showing slides with evidence of both CTE and ALS in Turners brain, McKee said its not possible to determine whether the CTE caused Lou Gehrigs disease through an autopsy, but this is the best circumstantial evidence we will ever get.After helping Alabama to the national championship in 1992, Turner played eight years in the NFL for New England and Philadelphia. He was diagnosed with ALS in 2010 and pledged his brain to the Concussion Legacy Foundation that year.McKee said Turner had several symptoms associated witth CTE, including cognitive and impulse control difficulties.dddddddddddd. She said it also appears that the disease damaged the motor cortex of his brain when he was young, likely leading to his ALS symptoms.What Kevin Turners case shows is that when you start playing football at 5 years old, and youre successful, it destroys your brain, said Chris Nowinski, a founder of the Concussion Legacy Foundation.Nowinski said children whose brains are still developing shouldnt be playing tackle football, pointing to medical research and even football coaches, who say there would be benefits from playing non-contact football until ninth grade.This is a totally preventable disease, McKee said. Lets start preventing it.Raymond Turner, Kevins father, said Kevins son stopped playing tackle football before resuming when he reached high school. Raymond Turner said he didnt regret that Kevin played football, but he wouldnt have started him in tackle football so early if hed known the risks.Wed probably do it again, Raymond Turner said, just in a safer way.Turner was one of the named plaintiffs from as many as 6,000 potential players who reached a $1 billion settlement with the NFL to monitor more than 20,000 NFL retirees over 65 years old and compensate those with dementia, Alzheimers disease and other serious neurological conditions.Turner also created and served as president of the Kevin Turner Foundation, which seeks to show the potential connections between repeated brain trauma and Lou Gehrigs disease. ALS causes muscle weakness, paralysis and respiratory failure.In the documentary American Man featured on the foundations website, Turner said he wants to help convince old-school coaches to take concussions seriously.I believe this is the most important thing Ill ever do in my life, other than raising my kids, he said. This is by far bigger than any game or practice or tryout or whatever. ' ' '