Robby Gordon Bumps Out Jeff

It’s rare to see Jeff Gordon lose his cool on the track. It’s even rarer to see Robby Gordon win a race.

Both happened Friday in NASCAR’s season finale at New Hampshire International Speedway in Loudon, a race rescheduled after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.

The two Gordons, who are not related, exchanged bumps in the waning laps of the New Hampshire 300. Robby’s allowed him to get his first Winston Cup victory, while Jeff’s retaliatory contact earned him a penalty that cost him any chance at victory.

“He should be embarrassed to win like that,” said Jeff, the series champion, who led 257 of the 300 laps and finished 15th.

Robby, who was out of work for part of the season and blew two other opportunities to win this year, did not apologize.

“I didn’t spin him, I just moved him a little bit up the race track and then I had to go,” Robby said. “I’ve heard a lot of people over the years call that racing.”

The clash began with 16 laps to go when leader Jeff Gordon appeared to slow his Chevrolet to avoid running into the lapped car of Mike Wallace.

Robby rammed him from behind, turning Jeff sideways and into the back of Wallace.

As the yellow flag came out, Jeff raced around the track and slammed into the back of Robby in a retaliatory bump that drew a one-lap penalty from NASCAR.

Robby beat Sterling Marlin to the finish line by more than two seconds. Bobby Labonte was third, Matt Kenseth fourth and Tony Stewart fifth.

The finishing order allowed Stewart to hang on to second place in the final Winston Cup standings, his highest finish in three years in the series.

Pro Football

Miami Dolphin defensive tackle Daryl Gardener will have back surgery today that will probably end his season, his agent said. Neil Schwartz, Gardener’s agent, said an MRI exam revealed the need for an operation. The exam was Gardener’s third in a nine-day span as he remained hospitalized.

The sixth-year defensive tackle started the first eight games of the season before experiencing his most recent back problems on Nov. 13. He has 36 tackles and four sacks this season.

Green Bay Packer kick returner Allen Rossum will be out three to five weeks because of a left knee injury. He tore cartilage during Green Bay’s 29-27 victory over Detroit on Thursday.

The NFL fined Minnesota Viking receiver Randy Moss $10,000 for taunting. Moss drew a 15-yard penalty when he twirled on his way into the end zone on a 25-yard touchdown catch Monday.

Golf

With three late bogeys, Ernie Els slipped into a share of second place, one shot behind Scott Laycock, after two rounds of the Australian Open at Gold Coast. Els, Rod Pampling and Geoff Ogilvy were at six-under-par 136, right behind Laycock, whose 66 left him at seven under.

Sergio Garcia shot a seven-under 65 for a 36-hole total of 134 to trail leader Kiyoshi Murota by one stroke after the second round of the World Open at Kaimon, Japan.

Jarmo Sandelin shot a six-under 66 for a total of 138 to take a one-stroke lead over Miguel Angel Jimenez after the second round of the Asian Open at Taipei, Taiwan. Vijay Singh shot a 69 and was two strokes back at 140, along with Jose Maria Olazabal and Carl Pettersson.

Miscellany

In the Viessmann Luge World Cup, Germany’s Sonja Wiedemann broke the track record and held a slim lead over Becky Wilczak of River Forest, Ill., after one heat at Lake Placid, N.Y. Wiedemann finished in 44.021 seconds, beating the mark of 44.413, set in February by German Silke Kraushaar, the defending Olympic gold medalist. Wilczak finished in 44.282 seconds.

Germany’s Sandra Prokoff won for the fifth time in six World Cup bobsled races.

Riding with Nicol Herschmann on the brakes in Germany 1, Prokoff finished in 1 minute 51.51 seconds, 0.46 of a second ahead of Susi Erdmann and Tanja Hees in Germany 2 at Igls, Austria.

Joe Williams beat Romania’s Eugen Preda, 3-1, to advance to the quarterfinals of the World Freestyle Wrestling Championships at Sofia, Bulgaria. In the women’s 150-pound class, Tocarra Montgomery of Cleveland took a 4-0 lead and got her third consecutive pin, defeating Finland’s Heidi Martti.

Kelly Askew scored twice to lift the Long Beach Ice Dogs (9-3-1) to a 5-2 West Coast Hockey League victory over the Idaho Steelheads (10-6-1) at Boise, Idaho.