Auto Racing
Defending champ eliminated from the Chase for the Cup
RICHMOND, Va. – NASCAR will have a new champion this year as the Chase for the Sprint Cup championship will go on without Brad Keselowski.
The reigning champion failed to make the 12-driver Chase on Saturday night at Richmond International Raceway, where an ill-timed caution contributed to his 17th-place finish.
The race was won by Carl Edwards, who darted past Paul Menard on a restart with three laps remaining. Kurt Busch finished second to make Furniture Row Racing the first single-car organization to make the Chase.
Ryan Newman was third, but it wasn’t enough to make the Chase. He had it in hand after passing Edwards for the lead with 10 laps to go. Then Clint Bowyer spun to bring out a caution, most of the field pitted, and Newman came off pit road in fifth for the last restart.
Kasey Kahne and Martin Truex claimed the two wild-card berths.
Vettel wins the F1 pole and grinds the axe on his rivals
MONZA, Italy – Sebastian Vettel is poised to extend his big Formula One lead over Fernando Alonso after grabbing the pole position for the Italian Grand Prix on Saturday.
Vettel already leads Alonso by 46 points and will be confident of moving further clear of his rivals. Alonso will start Sunday’s race from fifth on the grid, and Lewis Hamilton – who is third overall in the title race – from a lowly 12th.
It was Vettel’s fourth pole of the campaign – the first since the Canadian GP in June – and 40th of his career.
Cycling
Nibali and Horner make their moves at the Vuelta
COLLADA DE LA GALLINA, Andorra – Daniele Ratto of Italy withstood cold and rain in the Pyrenees to win a grueling 14th stage of the Spanish Vuelta on Saturday, while Vincenzo Nibali withstood his rivals’ attacks to protect his overall lead.
Ratto, a Cannondale rider, broke away from the group and had time to savor his hard-earned victory as he made his final push to the summit finish of the 97-mile route that started in Baga and finished in the principality of Andorra.
Behind Ratto, Nibali stayed on the wheel of Christopher Horner on the last category-one climb and increased his lead over rivals Alejandro Valverde and Joaquim Rodriguez.
The cold and rain forced veteran Ivan Basso and Luis Leon to abandon the race with signs of hypothermia.
Ratto finished the stage that featured a special-category climb to the Envalira peak midway through in 4 hours, 24 minutes.
Nibali crossed second 3 minutes, 53 seconds later, with Horner 2 seconds behind. Nibali is aiming to win the Vuelta for a second time. The Italian has a 50-second lead over Horner, who moved into second place.
Valverde is third, 1:42 back, with Rodriguez 2:57 off Nibali’s pace in fourth.
Soccer
Try harder. El Tri fires Chepo for poor play at Azteca
MEXICO CITY – After an embarrassing home loss against Honduras at Estadio Azteca, Jose Manuel De la Torre was fired as the manager of Mexico and will be replaced by Luis Fernando Tena, the coach who led Mexico to an Olympic gold medal.
Mexico, which has been struggling in World Cup qualification with Chepo as coach, lost 2-1 against Honduras on Friday night. It only was their second loss at home in the history of World Cup qualifying matches played at Azteca and the first since June of 2001 when Costa Rica beat El Tri in a game remembered as the “Aztecazo.”
Mexico earlier tied 0-0 at Azteca with the United States.
With just eight points after seven rounds, Mexico is fourth among the six-nation final qualifying group. Only the top three will qualify for Brazil 2014, while the fourth will go into a playoff series against the Oceania winner, New Zealand. Mexico has not missed a World Cup since Italy 1990.
Associated Press
