TALLADEGA, Ala. (AP) — Chase Briscoe finally got over the hump in NASCAR Cup Series qualifying, earning his first pole position of the season Saturday.
Briscoe averaged 186.065 mph in his No. 19 Toyota at Talladega Superspeedway, nudging Austin Hill (185.949) from the top starting spot for Sunday’s 500-mile race, which Briscoe won a year ago.
It’s the first pole in 13 months for Briscoe, who led the series with seven poles in 2025.
“Last year, truthfully, it felt easy everywhere we would go,” said the Joe Gibbs Racing driver, who has qualified second three times this year. “This year, we just haven’t been as strong, and it’s kind of flipped. Going into this season, if you would have told me it would have taken until Race 33 to get a pole, I probably wouldn’t have believed you.”
Trackhouse Racing rookie Connor Zilisch qualified a career-best third, and teammate Shane van Gisbergen will start a career-best fourth at Talladega.
Briscoe was joined in the top 10 by teammates Christopher Bell (sixth), Ty Gibbs (eighth) and Denny Hamlin (ninth). Briscoe, Bell and Hamlin are in championship contention and trying to catch Chase points leader Kyle Larson, who qualified 10th.
Hill will start a career-best second in the No. 33 Chevrolet. He was thrust into the Cup Series five months ago to fill the void left by two-time champion Kyle Busch, who died from sepsis caused by severe pneumonia.
Hill has since posted a best finish of 18th in the Cup Series while continuing to race full time for Richard Childress Racing in the second-tier O’Reilly Auto Parts Series. He will spend the offseason studying aerodynamics to improve on restarts when he moves exclusively into Cup next year.
“I’m going to have to really look at the data,” Hill said. “I didn’t want to have the opportunity in the Cup car this way, but this is what life is now, and I’m trying to make the most of it.”
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Chase Briscoe celebrates in Victory Lane after winning a NASCAR Cup Series auto race, Sunday, Oct. 11, 2026, in Concord, N.C. (AP Photo/Matt Kelley)
JERUSALEM (AP) — A survivor of a deadly attack on a church in Jordan described people crawling for their lives and watching the gunmen return to fire more bullets into the dying — as well as at the church facade. The death toll rose to nine on Saturday, a day after the attack, with nearly 40 others wounded.
The motivation was still unknown for the shooting at a Greek Orthodox church in Karak, about 90 kilometers (55 miles) south of the capital, Amman. Karak is home to a minority Christian population.
There was still no claim of responsibility, and no armed group has been accused of the attack that Jordan's government described as a “terrorist” act.
King Abdullah II directed authorities to respond with “an iron fist” against what he called the outlaws of Islam and anyone attempting to undermine the unity of the Jordanian people.
Friday's attack happened as people had gathered for a funeral. Some people were chatting outside the church when something sounded like an engine backfiring.
“All of a sudden, three masked men appeared, armed with automatic weapons, and began firing indiscriminately at those of us standing outside,” witness Saed al-Halaseh recalled.
And “they weren’t satisfied with just the initial casualties. They went back and fired on everyone again. They returned to finish off those who had already been hit,” he said.
“Even then, they weren’t finished; they came and stood right here, firing at the facade of the church, this part right here,” he added.
Al-Halaseh described how people he knew were shot in the head or the back as others tried to flee. He dropped to the ground and crawled behind a nearby car, which he said saved him.
Jordan, and especially Karak, has been seen as a symbol of religious coexistence, al-Halaseh said.
“The sense of security we once had, the very foundation we grew up with, has, sadly, vanished,” he added. “They were simply mourners at a funeral. I cannot fathom what the perpetrators could have possibly wanted from them. I don’t believe any religion in the world could condone what happened. It was truly a massacre.”
Blood stains the steps and pavement outside a Greek Orthodox church hours after gunmen opened fire during a funeral in Hamoud village, in Jordan's Karak governorate, Friday, Oct. 23, 2026. (AP Photo)
A worker scrubs the floor of St. George's Greek Orthodox Church a day after gunmen opened fire during a funeral in the village of Hamoud, in Jordan's Karak governorate, Saturday, Oct. 24, 2026. (AP Photo/Raad Adayleh)
Cleaners and others gather outside St. George's Greek Orthodox Church a day after gunmen opened fire during a funeral in the village of Hamoud, in Jordan's Karak governorate, Saturday, Oct. 24, 2026. (AP Photo/Raad Adayleh)
The interior of a Greek Orthodox church is seen through a shattered window hours after gunmen opened fire during a funeral, in Hamoud village, in Jordan's Karak governorate, Friday, Oct. 23, 2026. (AP Photo)
