Stewart Back in Win Column

Tony Stewart put an end to what has been a disappointing reign as NASCAR Winston Cup Series champion by winning the UAW-GM Quality 500 Saturday night at Lowe’s Motor Speedway in Concord, N.C.

Stewart had the most dominant car but still had to catch Ryan Newman over the final stretch to earn his second win of the season.

Newman, the pole-sitter and hottest driver in the series with eight victories this year, made an early pit stop in his Dodge.

When the rest of the drivers had to make their stops much later, Newman took over the lead from Stewart.

He had an eight-second lead when Stewart got back on the track after his stop, and Stewart had 36 laps to catch him. But with four fresh tires, he was much faster and slowly cut into Newman’s lead.

“I can see him,” Stewart radioed his pit crew from his Chevrolet. “I’m getting him.”

Stewart was on Newman’s bumper with 10 laps to go, and pulled even with him heading into the first turn with seven laps left, then passed him in the second turn. He was in the clear from there.

*

Greg Biffle won the NASCAR Busch Series Little Trees 300 at Lowe’s Motor Speedway with the season’s largest margin of victory. Biffle, in a Chevrolet, beat Michael Waltrip, also in a Chevrolet, by 12.628 seconds.

*

Michael Schumacher will start from the seventh row and Kimi Raikkonen will be in the fourth row when they race for the Formula One title today in the Japanese Grand Prix at Suzuka.

Schumacher leads Raikkonen, 92-83, in the point standings and will be bidding for a sixth world driving title.

The only way Schumacher can lose the title is if Raikkonen wins the race and Schumacher fails to score a point -- either by not finishing or finishing worse than eighth. The race winner gets 10 points.

Raikkonen finished well ahead of Schumacher in Saturday’s qualifying. Raikkonen, in a McLaren Mercedes, finished eighth in 1 minute 33.272 seconds. Schumacher’s Ferrari was 14th in 1:34.302. Rubens Barrichello, Schumacher’s Ferrari teammate, won the pole with a run of 1:31.713.

*

Rookie Tiago Montiero topped the second day of qualifying for today’s CART Telmex Gigante Gran Premio in Mexico City to join pole winner Paul Tracy on the front row.

None of the 20 drivers were able to beat Tracy’s performance from Friday -- 112.893 mph in his Ford-Cosworth/Lola. Montiero, in a Ford-Cosworth/Reynard, averaged 112.639 mph.

Tennis

Belgians Kim Clijsters and Justine Henin-Hardenne set up a showdown for the No. 1 ranking and the Porsche Grand Prix title with straight-set semifinal wins at Filderstedt, Germany.

The top-ranked Clijsters beat Mary Pierce, 7-6 (2), 6-0; second-seeded Henin-Hardenne defeated Elena Bovina, 6-2, 6-4.

They will meet in the final today, with the winner assured of leading the WTA Tour rankings. Clijsters replaced Serena Williams at No. 1 in August.

*

Wimbledon champion Roger Federer will play 1998 French Open winner Carlos Moya today in the final of the CA Trophy at Vienna after both won semifinals in straight sets. Federer beat Max Mirnyi, 6-2, 7-6 (2), and Moya defeated Tim Henman, 7-6 (1), 7-5.... Top-seeded Rainer Schuettler defeated his doubles partner, Mikhail Youzhny, 6-3, 3-6, 7-5, to reach the final of the Lyon Open in France. Schuettler will face Arnaud Clement, who defeated Paradorn Srichaphan, 6-2, 6-3.

Miscellany

The Calgary Stampeders of the Canadian Football League released running back Lawrence Phillips, who was coming off a strong performance in a 32-12 victory over Hamilton last Saturday, rushing for 155 yards.

He ranked 10th in the league in rushing with 486 yards in 107 carries and one touchdown.

“I’m not going get into details -- he didn’t agree with the way we were doing things,” Coach Jim Barker said.

The Stampeders signed Phillips, a former NFL first-round draft pick, after the Montreal Alouettes cut him in May for failing to meet behavior standards.

The former Nebraska star’s NFL career was cut short by disciplinary problems and run-ins with the law. He was released by three NFL teams.