Auto Racing
Harvick shatters his own track record in Kansas
KANSAS CITY, Kan. – Kevin Harvick is the one to beat once again at Kansas Speedway.
Harvick shattered his own track record and won the pole to start the second round of the Chase for the Sprint Cup championship Sunday. He turned a lap of 197.621 mph in the final round of qualifying to break his own record set in the spring by nearly 3 mph.
Kevin Vickers qualified second with a lap of 196.307. Aric Almirola was third.
Joey Logano began a run of five Chase contenders by qualifying fourth. Jeff Gordon was next, followed by Brad Keselowski, Kyle Busch and Dale Earnhardt Jr., respectively.
Defending series champion Jimmie Johnson spun out during his first qualifying effort and will start 32nd, the lowest he has started a Chase race since 2005.
Smith re-ups with Junior for one more year
KANSAS CITY, Kan. – Regan Smith still dreams of driving for a Sprint Cup team again; he just isn’t in such a hurry that he was willing to give up a pretty sweet gig.
Smith agreed to a one-year extension with JR Motorsports to continue driving in the Nationwide Series, which will be rebranded the Xfinity Series next season.
Smith, who is second in points heading into Saturday’s race at Kansas Speedway, said the opportunity to continue driving for Dale Earnhardt Jr. on a championship-caliber team was a big enough incentive to put less certain Sprint Cup opportunities on hold.
Smith has three wins over the last two seasons for JR Motorsports. He has seven top-five finishes this season. That’s been good enough to keep him with striking distance of teammate Chase Elliott, who leads the point standings with five races to go.
Basketball
USA exacts its revenge on France in world quarters
ISTANBUL – Brittney Griner scored 17 points, Tina Charles added 15, and the United States shot a record 71 percent from the field to rout France 94-72 on Friday night in the quarterfinals of the women’s world championship.
The Americans will face Australia in Saturday’s semifinals.
France handed the U.S. a rare exhibition loss Sept. 21, rallying from an 18-point deficit for a four-point win.
The U.S. outscored France 62-24 in the paint, which led to shooting that shattered the previous team record of 69 percent set against Taiwan in 1986.
The Americans led 53-32 at the half.
Sandrine Gruda scored 18 to lead France.
The U.S. has won 30 consecutive games at the Olympics and world championships since falling to Russia in the semifinals of the 2006 worlds. The Americans also improved to 7-1 against France in the worlds. The lone loss came in 1971.
In other games Friday, Spain beat China 71-55, and Turkey beat Serbia 62-61. They will meet in the other semifinal Saturday.
After her pursuit for four, Catchings will retire
ISTANBUL – Three-time Olympic gold medalist Tamika Catchings is retiring after the 2016 Rio Games.
The Indiana star still will be playing for two more WNBA seasons. Catchings has played her entire WNBA career with the Fever, winning her lone title with the team in 2012.
Catchings was drafted in 2001, was rookie of the year in the WNBA the next season. She’s guided the team to playoffs in 10 consecutive seasons, including the 2012 title year. The five-time WNBA defensive player of the year is sitting out of the world championship after missing the first 17 games of the WNBA season with back problems, one of a variety of issues the 35-year-old Catchings had to overcome. Catchings is the WNBA’s all-time leader in steals, nearly 200 in front of the next closest player.
Associated Press
