Gordon Drives to Victory in Rain-Interrupted Race

With the season championship all but out of reach, Jeff Gordon knew his best hope was to build momentum for a title run in 2004.

A win Monday in the rain-interrupted NASCAR Winston Cup race at Atlanta Motor Speedway was his second in a row.

“This reminds us a little bit of 2000, where we ended the season on a real positive note,” Gordon said.

“And this is better because I don’t remember us winning a couple of races toward the end of the season.”

Gordon bounced back from finishing ninth in the points that year to win the title in 2001.

The latest of his 64 career victories came in a Chevrolet over runner-up Tony Stewart, also in a Chevrolet, in the Bass Pro Shops MBNA 500, which was halted by rain Sunday after 39 of 325 laps.

The race ended under caution after pole-winner Ryan Newman’s Dodge was sent spinning into the wall with a tap on the rear bumper by Dale Earnhardt Jr.’s Chevrolet four laps from the end.

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Jurisprudence

The sentencing date for former boxing middleweight champion Michael Nunn on a federal drug charge has been rescheduled for Dec. 16 at Rock Island, Ill.

Nunn, 40, had been scheduled to be sentenced Monday in U.S. District Court at Des Moines.

He was arrested Aug. 6, 2002, in a hotel at Davenport, Iowa, after federal authorities said he bought about 2.2 pounds of cocaine from an undercover agent.

Dunn pleaded guilty May 23 to conspiring to distribute cocaine.

Former boxing lightweight champion Paul Spadafora was arraigned on charges of attempted homicide and aggravated assault for allegedly shooting his girlfriend after an argument over two flat tires.

Spadafora, 28, posted $50,000 bond and was released after spending most of the day in jail.

The woman was hospitalized in critical condition, according to family members.

Spadafora is accused of shooting Nadine Russo, 20, at a gas station Sunday at McKees Rocks, just outside of Pittsburgh.

Former Minnesota Viking receiver Anthony Carter pleaded guilty at West Palm Beach, Fla., to charges related to a domestic battery case, and received five years of probation. Carter was arrested in June on charges he beat his wife and pointed a handgun at her head.

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Golf

Kermit Alexander, Don Ford, Dr. Sammy Lee and Marlin McKeever are among the celebrities scheduled to play in the Downey Rotary Club/Arc celebrity golf tournament Nov. 14 at California Country Club in Whittier. The event benefits those with mental retardation and other developmental disabilities.

Information: (760) 632-7770.

The fifth Palos Verdes Peninsula Lions Club charity golf tournament will be played Friday at Los Verdes Golf & Country Club in Rancho Palos Verdes. The event benefits the Lions’ institute for diagnosis and treatment of diseases of the eye and the mobile screening unit.

Information: (866) 200-5953.

The LPGA will return to Tennessee with a tournament May 13-16 at Franklin sponsored by Franklin American Mortgage Company.

The LPGA had the Sara Lee Classic at Nashville for 15 years before moving to Franklin in 2000 for three years.

Franklin lost its spot on the schedule this year when a corporate sponsor could not be arranged.

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Miscellany

Martina Navratilova and Lisa Raymond defeated Angelika Bachmann and Sandra Kloesel, 6-3, 6-2, in doubles to advance to the quarterfinals of the Advanta Championships at Villanova, Pa.

The Daiei Hawks defeated the Hanshin Tigers, 6-2, in Game 7 at Fukuoka to win their first Japan Series since 1999.