Kyle Busch wins pole for race at Phoenix

AVONDALE, ARIZ. >> Kyle Busch won the pole and all eight title contenders qualified in the top 10 for the final race to decide the championship field.

Busch earned the top starting spot for Sunday’s race at ISM Raceway outside of Phoenix. He turned a lap in Saturday qualifying at 140.116 mph in his Toyota to earn his first pole of the season.

It puts him one spot ahead of reigning NASCAR champion Joey Logano on the starting grid, and Busch and Logano are the two drivers above the cutline to earn berths in next week’s championship field.

Martin Truex Jr. and Kevin Harvick have both already locked themselves into the final four, and six drivers are vying for the final two positions.

Denny Hamlin, the Daytona 500 winner and Busch and Truex’s teammate for Joe Gibbs Racing, qualified third and Truex was fourth.

Allgaier wins Xfinity

AVONDALE, ARIZ. >> Justin Allgaier raced to his first NASCAR Xfinity Series victory of the season Saturday at ISM Raceway to advance to the championship finale.

Allgaier will race Christopher Bell, Cole Custer and reigning champion Tyler Reddick for the title next Saturday at Homestead-Miami Speedway. Only Reddick has a championship.

Allgaier cried as he crossed the finish line, the emotions of a frustrating season. He’d gone 39 races without a win.

Suzuki up three

SHIGA, JAPAN >> Local favorite Ai Suzuki shot a bogeyfree 7-under 65 to take a three-stroke lead after the second round of the LPGA Japan Classic on Saturday.

Suzuki had seven birdies at the par-72 Seta Golf Course for a 12-under 132 total. Gaby Lopez shot a 67 and was in second place in the final event of the LPGA Tour’s Asia Swing.

Maggert leads

PHOENIX >> Jeff Maggert kept the lead in the Charles Schwab Cup Championship, while Jerry Kelly had one of the best rounds of the day to get back in the fight for the PGA Tour Champions’ season points title.

Maggert birdied the

par-5 18th for a 2-under 69 and a one-stroke lead over Miguel Angel Jimenez with one round left at Phoenix Country Club in the season finale. Maggert had a 16-under 197 total. He has led all three days, opening with rounds of 63 and 65.

Kelly, second behind Scott McCarron in the standings, followed a second-round 74 with a 64 to move into a tie for 12th at 9 under.

English women lose before record crowd

LONDON >> From a recordbreaking night at Wembley, England will only want to remember one set of numbers.

The “77,768” flashing on the big screens during the second half of Saturday’s game against Germany confirmed the biggest-ever crowd either of these teams have played in front of.

“It’s unbelievable,” England striker Ellen White said after her side’s 2-1 defeat. “The support, the noise, the atmosphere. We are really sorry we couldn’t get the result.”

Klara Buhl’s stoppagetime winner handed England a fifth loss in seven games, starting with the World Cup semifinal defeat against the U.S. in July.