Blaney gives Toyota its first Nextel Cup pole

Dave Blaney finally gave Toyota something to celebrate Friday, winning the pole for the NASCAR Nextel Cup Series race at New Hampshire International Speedway in Loudon.

Blaney’s fast lap of 129.437 mph in his Bill Davis Racing No. 22 Camry was easily the fastest in qualifying for Sunday’s Lenox Industrial Tools 300. Kurt Busch was second in a Dodge at 129.182.

“The first pole for Toyota and, hopefully, that’s one step in a lot of successful days as far as poles and wins and the whole thing,” Blaney said.

“I think we’ve been making some progress in getting some speed out of the cars. I think all the Toyota teams have.”

Brian Vickers, who has Toyota’s best race finish -- fifth last month at Charlotte -- had his qualifying lap disallowed when his car failed post-qualifying inspection. Officials said the car was too low on the left side.

That put the Chevrolet of Chad Chaffin in the field and left Toyota with only three of its seven cars in the 43-car lineup. The other two were Jeremy Mayfield and rookie David Reutimann.

Season points leader Dario Franchitti was a happy recipient of the top starting spot for tonight’s Indy Racing League Indy Challenge at Richmond International Raceway in Virginia after rain washed out qualifying.

He and Andretti Green Racing teammate Tony Kanaan will start on the front row, but the news was not as good for teammate Marco Andretti.

His car is 14th in owner points, and that’s where he’ll start, even though he had a good day of practice, finishing as the third-fastest of 19 cars.

Rookie Tristan Gommendy won the provisional pole for Sunday’s Champ Car World Series race at Mont-Tremblant, Canada. He posted a time of 1 minute 16.776 seconds on the fifth of his 10 qualifying laps, narrowly holding off Sebastien Bourdais. On his 13th and final lap, Bourdais moved from fifth to second with a time of 1:16.783.

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HOCKEY

NHL raises salary cap to $50.3 million a team

The NHL salary cap will rise to $50.3 million a team next season, an increase of $6.3 million from last season, the league and players’ union announced.

It’s the second increase under the collective bargaining agreement that ended the yearlong lockout in 2005.

Teams don’t have to spend up to the ceiling, but each club’s payroll must be at least $34.3 million. The range from top to bottom is always $16 million.

The Kings re-signed defenseman Jaroslav Modry and left wing Jeff Giuliano to one-year contracts.

Modry split last season between the Dallas Stars and the Kings, playing in 76 games and getting one goal and 17 assists.

Giuliano had four goals and 10 assists in 35 games for the Kings’ Manchester, N.H., farm club in the American Hockey League.

Co-captain Daniel Briere has broken off negotiations with the Buffalo Sabres, deciding to test the NHL free-agent market when it opens Sunday.

Briere, a forward, is coming off a career-high season in which he finished 10th in the league with 95 points (32 goals, 63 assists).

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SAILING

Alinghi takes 3-2 lead in America’s Cup

Team New Zealand lost half its sail, and the lead, and defending champion Alinghi rallied to win the fifth race of the America’s Cup by 19 seconds to take a 3-2 lead in the best-of-nine series at Valencia, Spain.

New Zealand led the Swiss down the start of the second leg and was about to change its damaged spinnaker when a strong breeze ripped the lightweight sail in half.

New Zealand raised a new sail as it cut down the damaged one, but it failed to set in place.

By the time a third sail was in place, Alinghi had sped past for a lead it would not relinquish despite an intense race to the finish.

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COLLEGE BASKETBALL

UCLA releases its 2007-08 schedule

UCLA released its 2007-08 men’s schedule, although the Bruins still don’t have an opponent for the 14th annual Wooden Classic on Dec. 8 at the Honda Center.

The nonconference schedule includes an appearance in the CBE Classic, which will begin with UCLA, Maryland, Michigan State and Missouri each playing host to a four-team preliminary round.

UCLA’s group will include Prairie View A&M;, Youngstown State and Chicago State. The semifinals and finals will be at the Sprint Center in Kansas City Nov. 19-20.

The Bruins’ only other nonconference road game will be at Michigan on Dec. 22. They will play host to Texas on Dec. 2 as part of the inaugural Pacific 10/Big 12 Series. They will open defense of their Pac-10 title Jan. 3 at Stanford.

UCLA’s first meeting with USC is Jan. 19 at Pauley Pavilion. The Bruins will travel to USC’s Galen Center on Feb. 16.

-- Diane Pucin

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SOCCER

Galaxy deals Quaranta to New York Red Bulls

The Galaxy traded midfielder Santino Quaranta to the New York Red Bulls for a fourth-round pick in the 2008 draft.

After its recent string of roster moves, the Galaxy had to shed a player to get below the league’s salary cap before Sunday, when all player contracts become guaranteed.

Quaranta’s base salary for the 2007 season is $100,000, according to the MLS Players’ Union.

Quaranta, 22, played in six games this season and started three. Since joining the league in 2001, he has played in more than 16 regular-season games only once, when he scored five goals in 18 matches for D.C. United in 2005.

The team also said that Honduran forward Carlos Pavon will be available to play Wednesday against the Chicago Fire.

-- Ken Fowler

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MISCELLANY

Restaurant that served Hancock is cleared

The Missouri Division of Alcohol and Tobacco Control will take no action against a St. Louis restaurant that served Cardinals pitcher Josh Hancock before the drunk-driving accident that led to his death.

In a report released Friday, the division said witnesses’ information indicated Hancock, 29, was “consuming intoxicating liquor in moderation” and was “very lucid” in the hours before he died.

Tony Graziani threw three touchdown passes to lead the host Philadelphia Soul to a 41-26 victory over the Orlando Predators in the first round of the Arena Football League playoffs.