Gordon Wins Winston Cup Championship

Jeff Gordon joined NASCAR’s two greatest drivers when he got his fourth Winston Cup title with a sixth-place finish Sunday in the NAPA 500 won by Bobby Labonte.

The 30-year-old Gordon, Richard Petty and Dale Earnhardt are the only drivers with more than three titles.

Labonte, an easy winner of the title last year, won the race at Atlanta Motor Speedway when Gordon’s teammate, Jerry Nadeau, the defending race champion, ran out of gas with half a lap to go in a bid for the second victory of his career.

“I’m just blown away,” Gordon said. “This is our fourth time doing this, and it seems like the first time all over again. Each one gets sweeter than the last.”

Gordon had a virtually insurmountable lead over Ricky Rudd for more than a month despite finishing 25th and 28th in the last two races. He would have clinched the title simply by starting the New Hampshire 300 on Friday.

Gordon’s fourth title in nine years leaves him three behind Petty and Earnhardt, who was killed in the season-opening Daytona 500 in February.

Tennis

Pete Sampras ended the year with a No. 10 ranking, his lowest since 1989 when he was 81st in his second year on the ATP tour.

Sampras did not compete last week in the Masters Cup at Sydney, Australia, in which Australian Lleyton Hewitt claimed the No. 1 spot and defeated Sebastien Grosjean in the final.

The only other American in the top 10 was Andre Agassi at No. 3.

Hewitt, 20, is the youngest player to be No. 1 since the rankings were introduced in 1973. Hewitt and Brazilian Gustavo Kuerten each won a tour-high six titles this year.

College Soccer

Midfielder Whitney Jones scored in the 48th minute to break a tie and give No. 3-seeded UCLA a 2-1 victory over Pepperdine in an NCAA women’s second-round game at UCLA.

The Bruins led, 1-0, on an own goal by Pepperdine in the 29th minute. Ali Pavoni’s header in the 35th minute tied the score.

UCLA will play Dayton in the round of 16 on Saturday at home.

Boxing

Martin Castillo of Los Angeles knocked out Pedro Morquecho of Mexicali, Mexico, in the second round of their scheduled 10-round bantamweight fight at San Jacinto, Calif.

Castillo, 24, improved to 21-0 with 13 knockouts. Morquecho is 27-7.

Miscellany

Gennady Temnikov, a 40-year-old Russian, won the Philadelphia Marathon, pulling away from Kenyan favorite Joseph Nderitu with about two miles to go.

Temnikov covered the 26.2 miles in 2 hours 21 minutes 07 seconds and Nderitu was clocked in 2:22.35.

Ukraine’s Olena Plastinina won the women’s division in 2:41:5.

Nearly 5,000 runners participated.

Adrienne Hortillosa and Jessica Rose scored, and Maureen Tasch made 11 saves as Michigan defeated Maryland, 2-0, at Kent, Ohio, to win its first NCAA Division I women’s field hockey championship.

Anni Friesinger of Germany defeated Jennifer Rodriguez of the United States at 1,500 meters for her second victory in two days in the speed skating Essent ISU World Cup at Innsbruck, Austria.

In the men’s 5,000, Gianni Romme led a sweep for the Netherlands. He finished ahead of second-place Bob de Jong.

The competition shifts to The Hague, Netherlands, on Friday-Sunday.

Todd Hays of the United States set a track record but finished second to Andre Lange of Germany in the four-man race in the Verizon Bobsled Cup at Lake Placid, N.Y.

Hays and his crew of Randy Jones, Pavle Jovanovic and brakeman Garrett Hines set a push-time record of 4.97 seconds in the second run.

Downhill world champion Hannes Trinkl will be sidelined four weeks after breaking his sternum and injuring his face and neck during practice at Schladming, in the Austrian Alps.

Cuba avenged its loss in the gold medal game of last year’s Olympics, defeating the United States, 5-3, in the final of the baseball World Cup at Taipei, Taiwan.

Former USC and NFL end Paul Salata will receive the man-of-the-years award at an NFL Alumni-Greater Los Angeles chapter banquet Dec. 6 at the Long Beach Marriott hotel. Information: (310) 787-1573.