McMurray Wins Race, but Truex Clinches Title

Martin Truex Jr.’s fourth-place finish Saturday at Darlington Raceway in South Carolina gave Dale Earnhardt Jr. the first of two NASCAR series championships he covets this year.

With the help of a bad day by Busch Series runner-up Kyle Busch, Truex clinched the title with one race left this season, giving Chance 2 Motorsports, co-owned by Earnhardt and his stepmother, Teresa, their first championship.

Jamie McMurray shared the spotlight with Truex, winning his second race in a row and giving the new Rusty Wallace Inc. team its first series victory. McMurray, whose Dodge dominated the race, led 72 of the 147 laps on the 1.366-mile oval, including the final 46.

Truex is the first driver to win a Busch championship in his first full season since Earnhardt got the first of his two consecutive titles in 1998. Truex has been the top driver in the series most of the year, leading the series in wins (six), poles (seven), top-five finishes (17) and top 10s (25).

Earnhardt, who is third in the closest five-man championship battle in Nextel Cup history going into today’s Southern 500 at Darlington, was particularly happy to see Truex wrap up his title in a car with a sponsor, Wrangler, and the blue-and-yellow color scheme made famous by his late father.

Truex came into the race leading fellow rookie Busch by 160 points and needed to add only 30 points to his lead to win the championship. Busch damaged his Chevrolet in a collision with Ron Hornaday Jr. and Greg Biffle early in the race.

Busch came back to lead for 12 laps but crashed again on the 100th lap, finishing 33rd and winding up 257 points behind Truex.

*

Kasey Kahne, driving a Dodge, ended a historic night with a milestone of his own -- a victory in the Darlington 200 in his first NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series start. It was the first night race at Darlington Raceway.

*

Former Indy-car driver Jeff Ward clinched the American Motorcycle Assn. Supermoto championship with a victory in the Red Bull A-Go-Go at Las Vegas. He chased Jurgen Kunzel for most of the 18-lap season finale on a one-mile course before riding his Honda past Kunzel’s KTM to take the lead with two laps remaining.

Golf

Heather Daly-Donofrio shot an eight-under-par 64 to match the course record for three rounds and take a three-stroke lead in the LPGA Tournament of Champions at Mobile, Ala.

She opened with a 69 and had a 66 Friday on Magnolia Grove’s Crossings course, putting her at 17-under 199. Her total matched the three-round record Carin Koch set in 2002 on the 6,253-yard Robert Trent Jones layout.

Sophie Gustafson shot a 65 and is alone in second place at 202.

Playing a best-ball format, Hank Kuehne and Jeff Sluman combined for a 10-under 62 and moved into a tie for the lead with Justin Leonard and Steve Flesch after two rounds of the Franklin Templeton Shootout at Naples, Fla. Today’s final round will be a scramble.

Winter Sports

KC Boutiette, Chad Hedrick and Derek Parra of the United States set an unofficial world record in the team pursuit event at the World Cup speedskating season opener in Hamar, Norway.

Skating on the Viking Ship oval used for the 1994 Lillehammer Olympics, they covered the eight laps in 3 minutes 48.56 seconds. The team pursuit is on the World Cup schedule for the first time this season.

Anke Wischnewski of Germany won the World Cup luge season opener at Altenberg, Germany, for her first victory on the circuit. She finished her two heats in 1 minute 50.009 seconds, beating world champion and countrywoman Silk Kraushaar (1:50.366).

Irina Slutskaya of Russia won the Cup of China at Beijing in her return to figure skating after a two-year break because of illness. Jeffrey Buttle of Canada won the men’s title, easily holding his lead from the short program. Tanith Belbin and Benjamin Agosto of the U.S. won the ice dancing event.

Krissy Wendell had a hat trick in the United States’ 6-3 victory over Sweden that put the Americans into the gold-medal game of the Four Nations Cup women’s hockey tournament at Lake Placid, N.Y. They will play Canada, which advanced with a 4-1 victory over Finland.

College Basketball

Sean Banks had 20 points and 11 rebounds to help No. 24 Memphis defeat George Mason, 75-58, at Memphis, Tenn., in the second round of the Coaches vs. Cancer Classic.

Lynette Woodard, a two-time Olympian who was also the first woman to play for the Harlem Globetrotters, and Joe Ciampi, longtime Auburn coach, are among the six new inductees to the Women’s Basketball Hall of Fame.

Also selected were Kelli Litsch, a four-time All-American at Southwestern Oklahoma State; Hunter Low, the creator of the women’s basketball All-America team; Edna Tarbutton, the Baskin (La.) High coach whose teams won a national-record 218 consecutive games; and Dixie Woodall, a silver medalist with the 1967 U.S. Pan American team.

Miscellany

Stanford won the women’s and men’s team titles in the NCAA Division I West Regional cross-country championships at Woodward Park in Fresno.

The Cardinal women had 29 points, followed by Arizona State (45), UC Santa Barbara (92), Idaho (140), Washington (143) and UCLA (151). The 6,000-meter race was won by Stanford’s Alicia Craig in 20:03.

Stanford’s men won with 49 points, followed by Arizona State (68), Cal Poly San Luis Obispo (86) and UCLA (114). The 10,000-meter race was won by Stanford’s Ryan Hall in 30:07.

Arsenal defeated archrival Tottenham, 5-4, for its first English Premier League victory in four games. The win was the first for the Gunners since their record unbeaten streak of 49 league games was stopped three weeks ago by Manchester United.... Jose Fonseca scored three goals to lead Mexico to a 5-0 victory over St. Kitts and Nevis in a CONCACAF World Cup qualifier at Miami.... Carlos Ruiz, who plays for the Galaxy, scored in the 20th minute to give Guatemala a 1-0 victory over Bolivia in an exhibition at Washington.

T.J. Simers has the day off.