Edwards extends Busch Series lead

Carl Edwards drove to his second consecutive NASCAR Busch Series victory, easily winning the Pepsi 300 in chilly conditions Saturday at Nashville Superspeedway to extend his lead in the season standings.

The Nextel Cup regular led the final 25 laps and crossed the finish line 4.7 seconds ahead of David Reutimann. Dave Blaney, who was involved in an early crash, rallied to finish third. Edwards leads Blaney by 321 points.

Edwards led a race-high 74 laps in a Ford to win for his 11th Busch Series race. He relinquished the lead to Leffler during a pit stop on Lap 183 but retook the lead for good on Lap 201.

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Will Power, last year’s top Champ Car World Series rookie, won the pole for today’s Vegas Grand Prix, turning a lap of 1 minute 17.629 seconds (113.154 mph) on the 2.44-mile street circuit. Paul Tracy will start second. He earned his front-row start by winning the provisional pole during Friday’s qualifying.

Felipe Massa had a qualifying time of 1 minute 35.043 seconds in a Ferrari to win the pole for today’s Formula One Malaysian Grand Prix at Sepang. Fernando Alonso of McLaren-Mercedes was second-fastest at 1:35.310.

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Andrew Phipps of Simi Valley held off Rip Michels of San Fernando during the final 14 laps to win the 75-lap ACDelco Super Late Model race at Irwindale Speedway. Phipps and Michels exchanged the lead on three occasions, with Phipps taking over for good on Lap 68.

TENNIS

Bryan twins put U.S. in Davis Cup semifinals

Bob and Mike Bryan defeated Spain’s Feliciano Lopez and Fernando Verdasco, 7-5, 6-3, 3-6, 7-6 (5), in a Davis Cup world group quarterfinal match. The victory gave the U.S. a 3-0 lead in the best-of-five event at Winston-Salem, N.C.

The Bryan twins survived two break points at 4-4 in the fourth set before closing it out in the tiebreaker. The U.S. will play at Sweden on Sept. 21-23. Sweden beat Argentina, 3-0.

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Greg Rusedski announced his retirement after a Davis Cup victory at Birmingham, England, ending a 16-year career in which he was once ranked No. 4. He teamed with Jamie Murray to beat Robin Haase and Rogier Wassen of the Netherlands, 6-1, 3-6, 6-3, 7-6 (5).

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Eighth-seeded Tatiana Golovin moved a step closer to her first WTA Tour singles title, beating sixth-seeded Ana Ivanovic, 6-4, 3-6, 6-4, in the semifinals of the Bausch & Lomb Championships at Amelia Island, Fla. Golovin will play top-seeded Nadia Petrova, who beat Sybille Bammer, 7-6 (4), 6-1.

BOXING

Calzaghe makes 20th successful title defense

Joe Calzaghe stopped Peter Manfredo Jr. in the third round at Cardiff, Wales, to retain his World Boxing Organization super-middleweight title and improve to 43-0. Manfredo, runner-up in the first season of “The Contender” reality television show, is 26-4.

It was Calzaghe’s 20th successful defense since he won the title from Chris Eubank in 1997, equaling Bernard Hopkins and Larry Holmes and moving to within five of Joe Louis’ record for successful title defenses.

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Joshua Clottey (31-2) dominated Diego Corrales (40-5), knocking down the former world champion twice in winning a unanimous decision in their 10-round welterweight bout at Springfield, Mo.

SOCCER

Chelsea moves closer to Manchester United

Portsmouth held on to beat Manchester United, 2-1, helping Chelsea move to within three points of the English Premier League lead.

United defender John O’Shea scored in the 90th minute and Alan Smith nearly added another during injury time, but Portsmouth goalkeeper David James made the tough save.

United, which had won seven consecutive league matches, leads with 78 points. Chelsea beat Tottenham, 1-0, on Ricardo Carvalho’s 52nd-minute goal.

HOCKEY

Michigan State scores late to win NCAA title

Justin Abdelkader broke a tie with 18.9 seconds to play, and Chris Mueller added an empty-net goal with 1.2 seconds left to give Michigan State a 3-1 victory over Boston College in the NCAA championship game in front of a record crowd of 19,402 at the Scottrade Center in St. Louis.

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Hayley Wickenheiser beat Jessie Vetter in a shootout, and Charline Labonte stopped all three shots she faced to give Canada a 5-4 victory over the U.S. in the women’s world championships at Winnipeg, Canada.

MISCELLANY

Alinghi clinches sailing championship

Defending America’s Cup champion Alinghi clinched the Louis Vuitton Act 13 after winning the final fleet race. Alinghi overtook American entry BMW Oracle Racing on the second lap, clinching the Swiss team’s second championship.

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Bangladesh upset top-ranked South Africa by 67 runs at Georgetown, Guyana, in the Cricket World Cup. Generous South African bowling allowed Bangladesh to build a 251 for eight with Mohammad Ashraful hitting 12 boundaries in his 87.

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Cambridge beat Oxford for the first time in three years in the 153rd Boat Race. The Light Blue crew won the 4.25-mile race on the Thames River by a length in 17 minutes 49 seconds.