Helio Castroneves wins battle of fuel tanks at Indy 300

Helio Castroneves won the Indy 300 on Saturday night, stretching his fuel over the final laps to beat pole-sitter Ed Carpenter at Sparta, Ky.

Castroneves’ survived the final 53 laps on one tank of fuel, taking advantage when the drivers in front of him had to make late pit stops to fill up at Kentucky Speedway.

Ed Carpenter was second, followed by Dan Wheldon, Tony Kanaan and Dario Franchitti. Series points leader Will Power led 82 laps but slipped to eighth after a late-race slip.

The victory was the first for Castroneves since taking the checkered flag in Alabama in April.

Denny Hamlin won the pole for the NASCAR Sprint Cup race at Atlanta Motor Speedway, turning a laps at 187.380 mph to edge Ryan Newman. The rest of the top five was Kyle Busch, Carl Edwards and Tony Stewart.

Failing to make the 43-car field for Sunday’s Emory Healthcare 500 were Jason Leffler, Landon Cassill, Scott Riggs and Todd Bodine.

Jamie McMurray held off Kyle Busch to win the Nationwide Series race at Atlanta Motor Speedway. Busch, trying to become the first driver in the 28-year history of the Nationwide Series to win 11 races in a season, fell short in his late efforts to catch McMurray. Busch led the most laps in the race but finished second, ahead of Carl Edwards.

Pippa Mann became the second female driver to win an Indy Lights race, dominating the 100-mile event at Kentucky Speedway.

Speedway Motorsports Inc. owner Bruton Smith isn’t a fan of NASCAR’s insistence on ending the season in South Florida. Smith likened Homestead Miami Speedway to “North Cuba,” arguing it is not the “proper place” for the Sprint Cup series to end the Chase for the championship. The longtime track owner says he’d prefer NASCAR to run its final Cup race at SMI-owned Las Vegas Motor Speedway.

GOLF

Schulz leads at Pebble Beach

Ted Schulz shot an eight-under-par 64 — his best competitive round in nearly 20 years — at Pebble Beach to take a three-stroke lead over first-lead leader Mark Calcavecchia and Tom Kite in the First Tee Open.

The 50-year-old Schulz, the 1991 Nissan Open winner at Riviera who has only conditional status on the Champions Tour, had nine birdies — all from 15 feet or closer — and one bogey in the second round to reach 12-under 132.

Despite a one-shot penalty, Spain’s Miguel Angel Jimenez maintained a three-shot lead with a three-under 68 in the third round of the European Masters at Cran-sur-Sierre, Switzerland Jimenez stands at 17-under 196. Italy’s Edoardo Molinari is second after a 68.

Jimenez had a lapse of concentration in the Swiss Alps on the 10th fairway. He marked his ball thinking preferred lies were in operation. He called a one-shot penalty on himself when he realized the mistake.

ETC.

Spain, Serbia win at worlds

Juan Carlos Navarro scored 22 points for Spain in an 80-72 victory over Greece in the round of 16 at the basketball world championships at Istanbul, Turkey.

Spain will face Serbia in the quarterfinals, after Oklahoma City Thunder center Nenad Krstic had 16 points and Aleksander Rasic scored five points in the last 21 seconds to help Serbia edge Croatia, 73-72.

The NHL and the NHL Players’ Assn. reached agreement to change the rules governing long-term contracts and how they’re valued within the structure of the league’s salary cap. In exchange for this concession by the union, the NHL approved Ilya Kovalchuk’s 15-year, $100-million contract with the New Jersey Devils. It also agreed to end its investigations of similarly front-loaded contracts signed by Vancouver’s Roberto Luongo, Boston’s Marc Savard, Philadelphia’s Chris Pronger and Chicago’s Marian Hossa.

—Helene Elliott

Scotland’s Ricky Burns recovered from a first-round knockdown to win the WBO super-featherweight belt from the previously unbeaten Roman Martinez with a unanimous decision at Glasgow.

Tell A Kelly rallied from last in the early going to win the $250,000 Darley Debutante for 2-year-old fillies by 4 1/2 lengths at Del Mar. Ridden by Alonso Quinonez, Tell A Kelly covered seven furlongs in 1:23.05 and paid $11.20, $5.60 and $3.60.

Former Cincinnati women’s basketball coach J. Kelley Hall died at age 51 of a heart attack at his South Carolina home.