Auto Racing
HOMESTEAD, Fla. – Kevin Harvick and Brad Keselowski crashed the championship and swept the front row in qualifying Friday for the NASCAR finale at Homestead-Miami Speedway.
Carl Edwards, Joey Logano, 2015 Sprint Cup champion Kyle Busch and six-time champ Jimmie Johnson are racing for the championship in Sunday’s race. The championship four all failed to start in the top five. Busch starts ninth, Edwards 10th, Logano 13th and Johnson 14th.
Busch started third last season, won the race and the title.
Tony Stewart starts 11th in the final race of his NASCAR career. Stewart is trying to race to his 50th career Cup victory.
Johnson would match Dale Earnhardt Sr. and Richard Petty with his seventh career Cup championship.
HOMESTEAD, Fla. – Dale Earnhardt Jr. should be medically cleared from his concussion in December and ready to race in the 2017 Daytona 500.
Team owner Rick Hendrick said Earnhardt recently sent a text that said he was waiting for Daytona.
Earnhardt has not raced since July 9. The Daytona 500 opens the NASCAR season Feb. 26.
It’s not clear when Earnhardt was injured. He was in crashes at Michigan on June 12 and Daytona on July 2, and his symptoms originally led Earnhardt to believe his problem was allergy or sinus related. He raced at Kentucky on July 9 not feeling well, and when his condition didn’t improve, he saw a neurological specialist who diagnosed concussion-like symptoms.
DENVER – DeMar DeRozan scored 30 points, including four in overtime, and the Toronto Raptors held off the Denver Nuggets for a 113-111 victory Friday night.
It was the 10th time in 12 games this season that DeRozan, the NBA’s leading scorer, has reached 30 points.
Terrence Ross hit a go-ahead 3-pointer with 37.6 seconds left in the extra period, putting Toronto up by two. Denver’s Emmanuel Mudiay was short with a desperation heave from halfcourt at the final buzzer.
Mudiay and Wilson Chandler each scored 25 points to lead the Nuggets, who have lost five of six.
Women’s Sports
Talks are ongoing between players for the World Cup-winning U.S. women’s national team and the U.S. Soccer Federation in advance of the Dec. 31 expiration of their current contract.The team played its final two matches of the season last week in California. On Sunday, the CBS news show “60 Minutes” is set to air an interview with a group of players.
The team has been playing under a memorandum of understanding between the U.S. Women’s National Soccer Team Players Association and the USSF that was struck in March 2013 and runs through the end of this year.
Earlier this year, a group of players filed a complaint with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission alleging wage discrimination. They claimed that they are not paid the same as their counterparts on the men’s national team.
The National Women’s Hockey League is slashing its player salaries in half as a cost-cutting measure meant to allow the league to keep operating in its second season.Commissioner Dani Rylan told reporters about the cuts on Friday, one day after informing team executives and players. Rylan did not specify the amount of the cuts but said they are necessary to save the league.
The cuts essentially slash the league’s payroll in half, representing about $675,000 in savings. The person spoke on the condition of anonymity because Rylan declined to disclose any details regarding the size of the cuts.
Associated Press
