Danica Patrick will race in Daytona 500

Danica Patrick will make her Sprint Cup debut in the season-opening Daytona 500 in February, her first of 10 races in NASCAR’s highest division for Stewart-Haas Racing next season.

Patrick unveiled her limited Cup schedule and new car Friday in Texas. She will drive the No. 10 GoDaddy.com Chevrolet. That is the same number she had in go-karts.

Team owner Tony Stewart said the team is set on eight of Patrick’s 10 races. Her second scheduled race will be May 12 at Darlington, with the others that are set coming late in the season.

Patrick also will run a full Nationwide Series schedule for JR Motorsports in her transition from IndyCar to NASCAR full time.

ETC.

Kelly Slater has not clinched world title

The Assn. of Surfing Professionals released a statement Friday admitting the organization made a calculation error in its rankings system and prematurely named Kelly Slater the world champion Tuesday.

In fact, the 39-year-old Slater needs one more heat win at the Rip Curl Pro Search in San Francisco or at the following event at Pipeline in Hawaii to win his record 11th world title.

— Baxter Holmes

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New General Manager Jerry Dipoto made his first significant move on Friday, hiring Scott Servais, the Texas Rangers’ player development director, to be the Angels’ assistant GM.

In six years, Servais, a former major league catcher, helped turn a barren Texas farm system into one Baseball America rated among the top four in the game each season from 2008-2010 before dropping it to 15th in 2011.

Servais, 44, oversaw the development of numerous young players, such as Elvis Andrus, Neftali Feliz and Derek Holland, who helped Texas reach the last two World Series and several others the Rangers used in trades to acquire key players such as Cliff Lee.

Servais was heavily involved in the scouting and recruitment of players from Latin America and the Pacific Rim, areas in which the Angels plan to boost their presence. In his new position, Servais will oversee scouting and development for the Angels.

“One simply needs to look at what Texas has accomplished during the last six years to understand the value Scott now brings to the Angels,” Dipoto said in a prepared release. “Scott is really the gold standard by which to measure others in this game, and he will help create a new dynamic as we move forward.”

— Mike DiGiovanna

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The Arizona Diamondbacks extended the contracts of General Manager Kevin Towers and Manager Kirk Gibson through 2014.

Towers and Gibson each had their contracts extended three years. There also are mutual options for two more years that must be exercised by 2013, but also could be triggered by performance incentives.

Arizona won 94 games and reached the first round of the playoffs this year coming off a pair of 90-loss seasons.

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A well-rested Fredrik Jacobson stormed into a one-stroke lead at the WGC-HSBC Champions tournament after the Swede shot a bogey-free 66 in the second round at the Sheshan International Club at Shanghai.

The 37-year-old followed up an opening 67 with another impressive round to post an 11-under-par halfway total, one clear of 2010 British Open winner Louis Oosthuizen, who produced a nine-under 63, and Australia’s Adam Scott.

The overnight leader, U.S. PGA champion Keegan Bradley, was five shots worse in his second round but still managed a solid two-under 70 to sit alone in fourth place at nine under for the tournament.

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Japan’s Akane Iijima made five birdies on the back nine in a six-under 66 that gave her a share of the first-round lead with South Korea’s Ah Reum-hwang and Taiwan’s Teresa Lu in the Mizuno Classic at Shima, Japan.

Japan’s Momoko Ueda was one stroke back in fourth, followed by a group of seven, including Catriona Matthew of Britain and Stacy Lewis of the United States, in joint fifth at four under.

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Bob Forsch, the only pitcher in St. Louis Cardinals history to throw two no-hitters, has died at the age of 61. Team spokesman Brian Bartow said Forsch, the third-winningest pitcher in franchise history, died Thursday at his home near Tampa, Fla. A cause was not immediately known.

The death came less than a week after Forsch threw out the first pitch at Game 7 of the World Series, a few hours before the Cardinals beat the Texas Rangers, 6-2, to win the championship.