Kenseth Gets Elusive Victory at Rockingham

Matt Kenseth picked the best way possible to silence his critics: dominating a race and using a thrilling finish to get back to Victory Lane.

Considered boring in personality and the way he relied on consistency over wins to earn NASCAR’s top title last season, Kenseth shed the image Sunday by nipping rookie Kasey Kahne at the finish line of the North Carolina Speedway to win the Subway 400 at Rockingham, N.C.

“It feels great to come here and be able to win and lead all the laps right out of the box -- that doesn’t look like us,” he said. “Some people have said we can’t lead laps and we can’t win races, we just go finish seventh every week. So it was awesome to go out and do it.”

It was Kenseth’s first victory in nearly a year. Although he led the point standings for a record 33 consecutive weeks, he had only one victory and led only 354 laps all season.

His method of collecting a series-best 25 top 10s was considered so drama-free, NASCAR changed the points system to prevent a repeat.

No matter to Kenseth, who led a race-high 259 laps and fought off a furious charge from Kahne before edging him at the line by 0.01 of a second -- the nose of the No. 17 Ford -- in the fourth-closest finish in series history.

Jamie McMurray finished third in a Dodge.

By winning and leading the most laps, Kenseth picked up 10 bonus points and pulled into second in the standings. He trails Daytona 500 winner Dale Earnhardt Jr., who finished a career-best fifth, by seven points in the standings.

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NASCAR President Mike Helton urged drivers to cease the cursing that had popped up in recent interviews.

Helton, who also cautioned Busch series drivers Saturday, cited the Super Bowl halftime show in which singer Janet Jackson exposed her breast as an example of increased scrutiny on actions and language.

NASCAR has cracked down on foul language the last few seasons, issuing fines when a driver or crew chief cursed in a TV interview.

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The new owners of the Champ Car series are not renewing the contracts of two doctors, Steve Olvey and Terry Trammel, credited with making the series’ trauma team one of the world’s best.

Tennis

Joachim Johansson harnessed his powerful serve and was not broken in winning his first ATP title, beating Nicolas Kiefer, 7-6 (5), 6-3, in the final of the Kroger St. Jude tournament in Memphis, Tenn.

The 21-year-old Swede faced only one break point and routinely hit 137 mph on his serves, and even 130 on some second serves, as he avoided being broken in 55 games in the tournament.

Sixth-seeded Lleyton Hewitt beat second-seeded Juan Carlos Ferrero, 6-7 (1), 7-5, 6-4, in the ABN Amro tournament in Rotterdam, Netherlands, for his 21st career title.

Top-seeded Guillermo Coria defeated defending champion Carlos Moya, 6-4, 6-1, to win the ATP Buenos Aires tournament.

It was a rematch of the 2003 final, but Coria won the clay-court event this time. Moya had a 14-match winning streak here snapped.

Kim Clijsters beat Silvia Farina Elia, 6-3, 6-0, to win the Diamond Games tournament in Antwerp, Belgium, earning her first tournament victory in her native Belgium and her 21st overall.

Winter Sports

Anni Friesinger posted the fastest time outdoors in the women’s 1,500 meters at a speedskating World Cup event in Inzell, Germany.

The Olympic champion clocked 1 minute 58.41 seconds, 0.89 of a second better than the unofficial world record set by countrywoman Karin Kania 18 years ago.

Dutchwoman Renate Groenewold was second in 1:58.84, and American Jennifer Rodriguez and Annamarie Thomas of the Netherlands shared third in 1:59.23. Friesinger passed Rodriguez in the overall standings with 360 points to Rodriguez’s 340.

Germany’s Ronny Ackermann won his sixth Nordic combined World Cup event in 37:41.5 in Liberec, Czech Republic. Hannu Manninen was second, only 10 seconds back, and Samppa Lajunen was third, 10.3 seconds behind. American Todd Lodwick finished fifth.

The 100-meter sprint and team pursuit could be added to the speedskating program for the 2006 Winter Olympics, said Gerd Zimmermann, vice president of speedskating’s governing body.

Miscellany

Lance Armstrong finished fifth in the Tour of the Algarve as U.S. Postal Service teammate Floyd Landis won the final stage to take the event in Malhao, Portugal.

Armstrong finished 34th in the 110-mile fifth stage after starting it with the overall lead. Landis won in 18 hours three minutes four seconds. Armstrong was 1:11 back.

Former major league outfielder Otis Nixon, 45, was arrested and charged with misdemeanor sexual battery for allegedly fondling a woman at his Atlanta-area home.

Nixon also was arrested Jan. 8 for allegedly threatening his bodyguard with a knife.

Russian Svetlana Feofanova set the women’s indoor pole vault record with a leap of 15 feet, 11 inches at the Athina 2004 indoor meet in Athens.

Feofanova broke the mark of 15-10 1/4 set Feb. 15 by Russian Yelena Isinbayeva.

Passings

Andy Seminick, a catcher on the 1950 Philadelphia Phillies team that won the National League pennant, died after a short illness. He was 83.

Seminick spent 12 seasons with the Phillies and three with the Cincinnati Reds. He died at a hospital near his home in Melbourne, Fla.

Seminick batted .288 in 1950 with 24 home runs and 68 runs batted in.