Earnhardt Has Will to Win Again

All Dale Earnhardt Jr. wanted to do Monday was take it easy and enjoy his Daytona 500 victory.

Instead, he slipped on his driving uniform and returned to work, weary from lack of sleep and drained emotionally.

It didn’t matter. Earnhardt held off a series of challenges and won the delayed Hershey’s Kisses 300 Busch Series race at Daytona Beach, Fla.

The race was postponed Saturday by rain after only 31 of 120 laps at Daytona International Speedway.

Asked how much rest he got Sunday night after winning NASCAR’s biggest race, Earnhardt grinned and said, “A little, but it’s like the guy who goes into a gas station and buys a dollar’s worth of gas, just enough to get where he needs to go.”

Once he climbed into his No. 8 Chance 2 Chevrolet, a car he co-owns with stepmother Teresa Earnhardt, he found the energy to take the Daytona Busch race for the third year in a row.

Earnhardt added Monday’s win to victories in the Daytona 500 on Sunday and in one of the twin 125-mile qualifying races Thursday.

He was out front for Monday’s restart of the Busch Series season opener but fell back as far as 10th before using a fast pit stop on Lap 74 to catch the leaders.

At the end, Earnhardt drove across the finish line 0.135 of a second -- about two car-lengths -- ahead of Johnny Sauter. Nextel Cup drivers swept the top five spots, with Robby Gordon third, followed by Kevin Harvick and Matt Kenseth.

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The last step in the sale of Championship Auto Racing Teams is to get all the paperwork signed by the racing series’ new owners, a CART spokesman said.

A U.S. Bankruptcy Court judge on Jan. 28 awarded CART’s assets to Paul Gentilozzi, Paul Kalkoven and Gerald Forsythe, owners of the new Open Wheel Racing Series, despite a considerably higher cash bid by the rival Indy Racing League.

“Apparently the money has changed hands, apparently the deal’s pretty much done,” CART spokesman Eric Mauk said. “It’s just that everybody’s scattered all over the globe.... They’re just trying to get guys to put pen to paper and get all the papers in one place.”

Tennis

France’s Cyril Saulnier beat fourth-seeded Robby Ginepri, 3-6, 7-6 (3), 6-2, in the first round of the Kroger St. Jude tournament at Memphis, Tenn.

Sweden’s Thomas Enqvist also eliminated a seeded player, edging No. 5 Vince Spadea, 6-4, 7-5.

In women’s play, fifth-seeded Ashley Harkleroad beat Croatia’s Silvija Talaja, 6-3, 6-1, and sixth-seeded Amy Frazier defeated Angela Haynes, 6-4, 6-2.

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Former Wimbledon champion Goran Ivanisevic lost to seventh-seeded Sjeng Schalken, 6-3, 6-2, in the first round of the ABN Amro tournament at Rotterdam, Netherlands.... Dinara Safina played through a thigh injury to beat Anca Barna, 6-4, 6-4, in the first round of the Diamond Games tournament at Antwerp, Belgium.

Miscellany

Maurice Clarett has hired an agent, ending any possibility that the running back might return to college next season.

Clarett’s attorney, Alan Milstein, said that the former Ohio State star was working with an agent in preparation for this week’s NFL combine in Indianapolis, a move that would make him ineligible under NCAA rules. Milstein would not identify the agent.

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More than 400 Notre Dame alumni signed a letter to the school saying the football program needs to make significant progress next season or “a coaching change will become necessary.”

The letter is dated Jan. 26 and was sent to Notre Dame’s board of trustees. The letter is critical of the football program, saying Notre Dame has made several poor coaching hires and placed more importance on making money than winning games.

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The Minnesota Twins avoided arbitration with first baseman Doug Mientkiewicz by agreeing to a two-year, $7-million contract.

Mientkiewicz, who won a Gold Glove in 2001, batted .300 with 38 doubles and 65 runs batted in last season.

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Carolina Panther guard Kevin Donnalley, 35, retired after 13 seasons, ending his career with a Super Bowl appearance.

Donnalley, who went to high school in Raleigh, N.C., and to college at North Carolina, began his pro career in Houston in 1991 and played six years with the Oilers before moving with the franchise to Tennessee in 1997.

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A new figure skating judging system will be in use at the 2006 Olympics if the ISU Congress approves it in a June vote.

The International Skating Union said it made the experimental points-based system used in Grand Prix competition this season the first order of business for the congress. If it passes, it will be implemented for all international events beginning with the 2004-05 season -- including the 2005 world championships and the 2006 Olympics.

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Super-giant slalom world champion Michaela Dorfmeister briefly was hospitalized because of a concussion after crashing in a practice run at Nassfeld, Austria.

The Austrian also pulled ligaments in her right thumb when she fell while preparing for Saturday’s super-G race in Are, Sweden. Her status for that race wasn’t known.

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Royal Birkdale will play host to the British Open for the ninth time in 2008, the Royal and Ancient golf club announced.