Kansas
Christopher Bell stops run of misfortune with pole qualifying run at Kansas Speedway
KANSAS CITY, Kan. — Christopher Bell put four trying weeks of crashes and misfortune behind him Saturday, posting the fastest time in qualifying at Kansas Speedway to earn the pole for the third time in his last five NASCAR Cup Series visits to the track.
Bell turned a lap of 183.107 mph in his No. 20 for Joe Gibbs Racing, putting it on the front row alongside Ross Chastain for Sunday’s race. Noah Gragson and Kyle Larson will start a row behind them, while Kyle Busch qualified fifth.
“I’m not looking for a race win. I’m literally looking to see a checkered flag,” Bell said with a smile. “My car has great capability. If I can see the checkered flag, we have the possibility of having a great day.”
That checkered flag hasn’t been flying much for Bell lately.
He started the season with a third-place finish in the Daytona 500 and won at Phoenix a few weeks later, and he still had some momentum going at Circuit of the Americas and Richmond. But things began to go awry beginning at Martinsville, when he had some tire issues and finished 35th, and things haven’t gotten a whole lot better since.
He spun out at Texas and finished 17th. He got caught up in a crash at Talladega and was 38th. Last week at Dover, he followed a qualifying spin that left him starting 33rd by crashing in the race, leaving him to finish 34th.
“We’ve all just been in the dumps,” he said. “We have debriefs every Monday and after Martinsville it was like, ‘It’s fine. We’ll get them next week.’ After Texas, we’re like, ‘This sucks. It’s been two in a row. But we’re alright.’ It was bottom-of-the-barrel after Dover. But the good news and the positive out of it is that every time we go to the track, we know our cars are going to be fast, and we have the capability in our team.”
Ty Gibbs will start sixth on Sunday at Kansas. Austin Cindrich will be in seventh, Michael McDowell eighth, Chase Elliott ninth and Chase Briscoe — who scrubbed the wall during his final qualifying run — will round out the top 10.
Defending race winner Denny Hamlin failed to advance to the final round and will start 14th. Neither of the cars he co-owns along with Michael Jordan, the No. 45 of Tyler Reddick and the No. 23 of Bubba Wallace, reached the final round, either; Reddick will start right behind in 14th and Wallace will start back in 23rd place.
Corey Heim, driving the No. 43 for another week as Erik Jones continues his recovery from a crash at Talladega, qualified 20th. He’ll start alongside Jimmie Johnson, who is back in the No. 84 for a second consecutive week.
William Byron will start near the back after hitting the wall hard during the first round of qualifying.
“We’ll have a lot of work to do, which I hate,” he said, “but our car is really good. We’re just going to have to pass a lot of cars.”
WICHITA, Kan. (KSNW) — A rural Kansas fire department says it saw yet another increase in calls in 2025.
On Tuesday, Butler County Fire District #3 posted data about last year on social media.
It responded to 782 alarms in 2025, which is a new record.
The majority of the calls were for rescue and emergency medical services, followed by service calls.
The department’s data show the number of calls has been trending upward over the last 20 years.
From 2006 to 2010, the department handled an an average of 550 calls a year. From 2021 through 2025, that average was 720, a 31% increase.
Officials said continued growth in the community has increased the demand for emergency services.
“These numbers reinforce the importance of ongoing training, staffing, equipment planning, and community support to ensure we can continue to provide timely and effective service,” the department said on Facebook.
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KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Clay County Commissioner Jason Withington said Wednesday that he still loves baseball, but is “done” negotiating with the Royals on a new stadium for the team in the county.
According to Withington, Thursday, Jan. 8, was the deadline for the Royals to appear on the April 2026 ballot in the county.
Withington said the Royals told the county that they were not ready to meet that deadline.
Withington took to Facebook to explain that “the joy has been drained” out of him over the last few years and expressed his dislike towards the business of baseball.
He called negotiations with the team “a closed chapter” and said that the county is shifting its focus elsewhere.
“It’s time for the Commission to focus fully on priorities we control—either upgrading our existing county jail or building a new one,” Withington wrote.
The Royals’ lease at Kauffman Stadium in the Truman Sports Complex in Jackson County expires in January 2031.
KSHB 41’s political reporter Charlie Keegan reported in May 2025 on efforts by Missouri to keep both the Royals and Chiefs in Missouri.
While the Chiefs announced that they will move to a new stadium site in 2031 in Wyandotte County, the Royals have not announced their next steps to get a new ballpark built.
A stadium site near 119th Street and Nall Avenue in Overland Park has emerged as a possibility for a stadium site for the ball club.
Some residents in that area are not happy about that possibility.
KSHB 41 News reached out to the Royals for comment, but has not heard back.
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The No. 1 Arizona Wildcats play against the Kansas State Wildcats in a Big 12 basketball game tonight. The matchup is scheduled to begin at 8 p.m. CT on FS1. Fans can watch this game for free online by using the free trial offered by DirecTV. Alternatively, fans can purchase a monthly subscription offered by Fubo TV/Sling.
The Arizona squad has played at a high level this season, as it enters this matchup with a 14-0 record. The team is coming off a 97-78 win against the Utah Utes.
In order to win tonight’s game, Arizona will need to rely on its forward Koa Peat. He leads the team in scoring this season, as he averages more than 14 points per game.
The Kansas State squad enters this matchup with a 9-5 record, but the team is coming off an 83-73 loss against BYU.
In order to bounce back tonight, Kansas State will need a great performance from its guard P.J. Haggerty. He averages 23 points per game, which leads the team.
Fans can watch this Big 12 basketball game for free online by using the free trial offered by DirecTV. Alternatively, fans can purchase a monthly subscription offered by Fubo TV/Sling.
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