Somber Kyle Petty Makes Field for New England 300

Driving a car painted black to honor his fallen son, Kyle Petty returned to Loudon, N.H., on Friday for the first time since Adam Petty died there 14 months ago.

“I love Adam, we all love Adam, and miss him terribly,” Petty said in a statement that announced his decision to return to New Hampshire International Speedway.

This couldn’t have been an easy choice--coming back to the track where his 19-year-old son died in May 2000 after ramming into the wall on Turn 3 during practice for a Grand National race.

Petty’s death began a long stretch of soul searching for his family, and tragedy for NASCAR, which would lose three more of its drivers--including Kenny Irwin at the same track--to fatal accidents.

Kyle Petty, who hasn’t won a race since 1995, qualified 26th for Sunday’s New England 300, making the field for only the 12th time in 19 Winston Cup points races this year.

Jeff Gordon won the pole, racing his Chevrolet around the 1.058-mile track at 131.770 mph.

Jack Sprague dominated in qualifying for today’s New England 200 Craftsman Truck series race, winning his fifth pole position of the season and setting the track record at Loudon.

Sprague lapped the track at 128.091 mph in his Chevrolet, becoming the first driver this year to break a track record in qualifying.

Tennis

Top-seeded Gustavo Kuerten defeated ninth-seeded Nicolas Lapentti of Ecuador, 6-4, 6-7 (6), 6-3, to reach the semifinals at Stuttgart, Germany. . . . Magnus Gustafsson of Sweden beat Alex Calatrava of Spain, 6-3, 7-5, to reach the semifinals at Amsterdam. . . . Top-seeded Kim Clijsters of Belgium beat Magui Serna of Spain, 6-1, 4-6, 6-3, to reach the semifinals at Knokke-Heist, Belgium.

Former Davis Cup captain Tom Gullikson was fired as the U.S. Tennis Assn.’s director of coaching.

Miscellany

Pittsburgh assistant Patrick Sandle has joined the basketball staff at UCLA, replacing Steve Spencer, who was hired as coach at Orange Coast College.

Sandle, 37, who played at Crenshaw High, is the second Bruin assistant hired recently. Former Bruin player Gerald Madkins replaced Michael Holton, who became coach at Portland.

The NFL suspended Green Bay Packer defensive tackle Cletidus Hunt for the first four regular-season games for violating the league’s substance abuse policy. . . . The Miami Dolphins signed Pro Bowl defensive end Jason Taylor to a one-year contract.

A judge granted final approval of a settlement of a lawsuit season-ticket holders filed against the former Cleveland Browns’ team that moved to Baltimore in 1995. Under terms of the settlement, the owners of each of about 40,000 Browns’ season tickets for the 1995 season are entitled to $50 per ticket.

The Sparks are hosting an academic workshop and basketball skills clinic Sunday for boys and girls, grades 7-12, at Cal State Dominguez Hills. The event begins at 9:30 a.m. The cost is $72. Information: https://www.wnba.com/sparks.

Luiz Felipe Scolari, the Brazilian soccer coach ejected from Wednesday’s game against Paraguay, was suspended for one game and won’t be on the bench when his team faces Honduras in the quarterfinals of the Copa America at Cali, Colombia, the South American Soccer Confederation said. . . . Soccer star Mia Hamm is getting a divorce, the New York Times reported. Hamm has been married for six years to Marine helicopter pilot Christiaan Corry.

Acting IAAF President Lamine Diack became the sole candidate for president of the world track and field organization after Eisa Al Dashti withdrew. . . . Federal prosecutors in Salt Lake City sought to shore up their fraud case after a judge tossed bribery and racketeering charges out of the Olympic corruption trial. Even if their million-dollar scheme to influence IOC members wasn’t bribery, the Salt Lake bid leaders who won the 2002 Winter Games were not authorized to spend money that way, and they kept their board of trustees from learning about the details, the government said. . . . Former Michigan basketball player Maurice Searight faces a warrant in Pontiac, Mich., after failing to appear as a witness in a murder trial.

Passings

Gilbert Nunns, a member of Canada’s tennis hall of fame and a former Davis Cup player, died in his sleep Monday in Toronto. He was 94. . . . Gladys “Skeeter” Werner Walker, a U.S. Olympic skier in the 1950s, died of cancer in Steamboat Springs, Colo. She was 67.