Blown Tire Costs Elliott Final Winston Cup Win

A blown tire on the final lap cost Bill Elliott a second consecutive victory and gave Bobby Labonte the win Sunday in the season-ending NASCAR Winston Cup Series race at Homestead-Miami Speedway.

Elliott had a dominating victory a week ago at Rockingham, N.C., and was even stronger in the Ford 400, leading 189 of 267 laps on the reconfigured 1 1/2-mile Homestead oval.

He held off Labonte on a restart nine laps from the end and pulled away, driving into the first turn of the last lap leading Labonte by about five car-lengths and apparently on the way to an easy win.

As Elliott drove off Turn 2 on the track newly changed from a nearly flat six degrees of banking to 20 degrees, his Dodge slowed as his right rear tire came apart. That sent pieces of sheet metal and rubber flying and ignited a fire in the wheelwell.

Labonte, who had not led a lap in his Chevrolet, moved past Elliott on the backstretch and beat Kevin Harvick, also in a Chevrolet, to the finish line by 1.749 seconds -- half the front straightaway. Elliott held on to finish eighth.

This was the last race for R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co. after 33 years as a major sponsor for NASCAR. Next year, NASCAR’s top stock car series will be sponsored by Nextel Communications and will be known as the Nextel Cup.

Jimmie Johnson was third in a Chevrolet and finished second in the season standings, 90 points behind Matt Kenseth.

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Cory Kruseman won the Budweiser Oval Nationals for non-winged sprint cars at Perris Auto Speedway. Driving for last year’s Winston Cup champion, Tony Stewart, Kruseman took the lead on Lap 10 of the 50-lap race. Jeremy Sherman finished second. Bud Kaeding finished third, which was good enough to win the series title.

Golf

South Africa’s Trevor Immelman and Rory Sabbatini combined to shoot a one-over-par 73 for a four-stroke victory in the World Cup at Kiawah Island, S.C. Immelman and Sabbatini finished at 13-under 275 and gave South Africa its second World Cup title in three years and fifth overall.

England’s Paul Casey and Justin Rose, 10 strokes back at the start of the round, shot a five-under 67 and finished second at nine-under 279.

The U.S. team of Jim Furyk and Justin Leonard were in contention until going bogey-triple bogey at Nos. 12 and 13. They shot a three-over 75 and finished in a tie for fifth at four-under 284.

Dorothy Delasin made an eight-foot birdie putt on the first hole of a sudden-death playoff to edge Hee-Won Han in the LPGA Tournament of Champions at Mobile, Ala.

Delasin shot a final-round 69 and Han shot a 68 to tie Delasin at eight-under 280. Laura Davies also made a final-round charge, shooting a tournament-best 65 that left her one shot out of the playoff at seven-under 281.

British Open champion Ben Curtis finished second in the Taiheiyo Masters at Gotemba, Japan, six strokes behind Kiyoshi Murota. Curtis closed with a one-over 73 for a 10-under 278. Murota shot a 73 to finish at 272.

Winter Sports

Olympic and world champion Armin Zoggeler of Italy won a season-opening World Cup luge event at Sigulda, Latvia.

Zoggeler was fastest on both runs and had a combined time of 1 minute 38.385 seconds for his 22nd career victory. Rainer Margreiter of Austria was second in 1:38.579.

In the women’s event, Silke Kraushaar and Sylke Otto led a 1-2 German finish. Kraushaar, who had the two fastest runs, had a combined time of 1:26.452. Otto was timed in 1:26.579.

Mark Tuitert led a Netherlands sweep of the top four places in the World Cup speedskating 1,500-meter race at Erfurt, Germany. He was timed in 1:47.24, breaking Olympic champion Derek Parra’s course record by 0.24 seconds. Erben Wennemars was second, 0.47 seconds behind. Parra, of San Bernardino, finished fifth. Anni Friesinger of Germany won the women’s 3,000 meters in 4:06.33, beating Renate Groenewold of the Netherlands by 0.10 seconds.

Miscellany

The Edmonton Eskimos defeated the Montreal Alouettes, 34-22, in the Grey Cup in front of 50,909 at Regina, Canada. It was their first Canadian Football League title since 1993 and the 12th in the team’s history. The Eskimos avenged a 25-16 loss to Montreal in last year’s championship game at Edmonton.

England reached the Rugby World Cup final, beating France, 24-7, at Sydney, setting up a title match against host and defending champion Australia, which upset New Zealand, 22-10, Saturday.... The U.S. men’s volleyball team defeated Canada, 25-17, 25-17, 25-17, in the first round of the World Cup at Tokyo.

Passings

Ned Wulk, who led Arizona State to nine NCAA men’s basketball tournaments and coached such players as Joe Caldwell, Lafayette Lever and Lionel Hollins during 25 years at the school, died of cancer Saturday night, school officials said. He was 83.