Roval wreck ruins hopes of Johnson
Ryan Blaney won the debut race on the “roval” at Charlotte Motor Speedway in a chaotic finish in which he slid past leaders Martin Truex Jr. and Jimmie Johnson when they wrecked racing for the victory in Concord, N.C.
Johnson, who wrecked while trying to snap a 58race winless streak, was eliminated from NASCAR’s playoffs. The seven-time Cup champion has struggled all season and headed to Charlotte, where he’d won eight points races on its traditional speedway, below the cutoff line for NASCAR to trim the playoff field from 16 to 12 drivers.
Johnson would have made it into the second round if he’d simply followed Truex across the finish line. Instead, he tried to dive inside and pass Truex for the victory with two turns remaining and he ended up in a spin. Johnson collected Truex, who spun off course, Johnson’s car came to a stop and Blaney scooted past for the surprise victory.
Johnson wound up eighth and in a three-way tie with Kyle Larson and Aric Almirola for the 12th and final spot in the standings. He failed to advance on a tie-breaker. . . .
Lewis Hamilton closed in on his fifth Formula One title with victory in the Russian Grand Prix in Sochi after his teammate, Valtteri Bottas, pulled over to let him through halfway into the race. Hamilton now leads Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel by 50 points in the standings with five races remaining as both chase their fifth title.
U.S. women win world basketball title
The United States continued its run of dominance on the biggest stages as Brittney Griner scored 15 points to help beat Australia, 73-56, and win the FIBA Women’s Basketball World Cup last night in San Cristobal de la Laguna, Spain.
It was the third consecutive World Cup title for the U.S., something the country had never accomplished in its illustrious history. The victory gave the U.S. 10 World Cup gold medals and was the 22nd win in a row overall for the Americans dating back to the bronze medal game in 2006.
Breanna Stewart, who scored 10 points in the final, was named the MVP of the tournament.
Ohio State up to 3, Notre Dame at 6
After winning top-10 matchups, Ohio State moved up to No. 3 and Notre Dame rose to No. 6 in The Associated Press college football poll. For the second straight week, there was major turnover at the bottom of the Top 25. No. 1 Alabama and Georgia still hold the top two spots in the media rankin. . . .
Ken Tanigawa made a 35-foot eagle putt on the par-5 18th at Pebble Beach to win the Pure Insurance Championship for his first PGA Tour Champions title. . . .
Alejandro Valverde sprinted to gold in the men’s road race at the world championships in Innsbruck, Austria. It was Valverde’s first world title, after finishing runner-up in 2003 and 2005 and coming third four times. . . .
Johnny Manziel threw the first two touchdown passes of his Canadian Football League career in the Alouettes’ 34-29 loss to the Saskatchewan Roughriders in Montreal. . . .
Bernard Tomic upset Fabio Fognini 6-1, 3-6, 7-6 (7) to win the Chengdu Open championship in China.