Greg Biffle wins at Kansas Speedway, Jimmie Johnson takes over points lead

NASCAR’s championship race tightened considerably Sunday at Kansas Speedway, where Greg Biffle won to keep his title hopes alive and Jimmie Johnson returned to the top of the Sprint Cup leaderboard.

Johnson, the four-time defending series champion, took a mediocre car and drove it to a second-place finish in Kansas City, Kan., behind Biffle. It pushed him past Denny Hamlin in the standings, and he’s got an eight-point cushion after the third of 10 Chase for the Sprint Cup championship races.

Only once since the Chase began in 2004 has the eventual champion left Kansas ranked lower than second in the standings. But this is suddenly the closest battle in Chase history, as the top seven finishers Sunday were title contenders.

The field heads next week to Auto Club Speedway in Fontana with the top nine drivers separated by 101 points.

“It’s a great position to be in, but it’s way too early to think about it, to worry about defending,” Johnson said. “You have Chase guys running so good each and every week. Until that checkered falls in Homestead, it’s anybody’s championship.”

Biffle suddenly finds himself in that mix. He opened the day ranked ninth in the standings, 140 points behind the leader. His second win of the season cut the mark nearly in half: He moved up one spot to eighth and is just 85 points behind the leader.

Kyle Busch had the worst race of all Chase drivers because of a long-running feud with non-title contender David Reutimann.

Contact between the two early in the race caused Reutimann to spin, and he came back and appeared to intentionally wreck Busch with 112 laps remaining. Busch was running seventh at the time of the accident, and he dropped back to 22nd before finishing 21st.

Busch dropped from third to seventh in the standings and is 80 points behind Johnson.

BASKETBALL

The United States won the women’s basketball world championship, getting 18 points from Angel McCoughtry in an 89-69 win over the Czech Republic, the host nation.

Diana Taurasi added 16 and Sue Bird had 11 points for the Americans, who have won the world championship eight times.

The Czechs were spurred on by a sold-out crowd of 6,024, which included President Vaclav Klaus, while trying to pull off one of the biggest upsets in the sport’s history.

This was the first time that the Czechs had advanced to the medal round since dissolving from Slovakia in 1993. The former Czechoslovakia won two silver medals and four bronzes from 1953-1975.

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Chicago Bulls forward Carlos Boozer, one of the team’s top off-season acquisitions, broke his right hand Saturday and could be out for two months.

Boozer fractured the fifth metacarpal bone in his hand and will need surgery, the team said. It was unclear how Boozer was injured. The Bulls did not practice Saturday, and a team spokeswoman called the injury “non-basketball related.”

GOLF

Bill Haas overcame five bogeys in the final round to win the Viking Classic in Madison, Miss., by three strokes.

Haas, who never trailed in the tournament, bogeyed the first hole, and had four bogeys on the back nine — including one of the par-five 18th before finishing at 15-under 273 for his second victory of the year.

Michael Allen came as close to being a threat as anyone, tying Haas on No. 12, only to drive out of bounds on the next hole and ending up with a double bogey. He had a 71 and finished at 12 under. Allen, 51, who turned professional in 1984, has now played in 357 PGA tournaments without a victory.

D.J. Trahan (69) and Brendon de Jonge (72) tied for third at 277.

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Gary Hallberg shot a record-setting 11-under-par 61 to win the Ensure Classic in Conover, N.C., by one stroke ahead of Fred Couples.

Hallberg finished at 18-under 198, tying the event record at the Rock Barn Golf and Spa and winning his first career Champions Tour title. Hallberg bettered the final-round record of 62, set by Bob Tway earlier Sunday. Tway’s round had surpassed the former mark of 64 set by Doug Tewell in 2004.

Couples, who led the tournament after Saturday’s second round, had a chance to force a playoff, but he missed an eight-foot putt for birdie on No. 18.

COLLEGE FOOTBALL

Georgia Coach Mark Richt says freshman linebacker T.J. Stripling will need season-ending surgery after hurting his right knee in Saturday night’s loss at Colorado.