Jets place Mark Sanchez on short-term injured reserve

Mark Sanchez still has his sights set on returning to the field this season — as the New York Jets’ starting quarterback.

But not right away.

Sanchez was placed on short-term injured reserve Saturday, meaning he will not be able to play for the next eight weeks while he recovers from an injured right shoulder.

“As far as making a decision that’s best for the team and best for my medical health, we’re all on the same page,” Sanchez said during a conference call. “I’ll come back, hopefully, in eight weeks and be ready to play.”

Sanchez injured his right shoulder after replacing rookie Geno Smith in the fourth quarter of the team’s third preseason game against the Giants. He has opted to try to rehabilitate the injury rather than have season-ending surgery.

Sanchez acknowledged that surgery is a possibility, but doctors are encouraged by his rehab so far. Some fans and media have suggested that Sanchez should have the surgery immediately, since it seems inevitable that he will need to do so. But the quarterback called those opinions “laughable” because that’s not what the doctors have told him.

“They’ve said, ‘Hey, you’re doing the right thing,”’ Sanchez said. “So, unless everybody is lying and everybody has it out to get me, I think we’re OK.”

The exact nature of the injury has not been revealed by either Sanchez or the team, but some published reports say it is a partially torn labrum. Sanchez has been throwing passes left-handed during practices and was doing the same Thursday night before the team’s 13-10 loss to New England.

General Manager John Idzik pointed out that Sanchez had a similar injury to his right shoulder in 2010, and didn’t miss any time.

The injury has clouded Sanchez’s future with the team, especially with the struggles he had the last two seasons with an NFL-leading 52 turnovers. But though Idzik wouldn’t commit to Sanchez being on the team beyond this season, he said the quarterback is “unequivocally a very important part of this team.”

The Washington Redskins signed kicker John Potter as their contingency plan in case Kai Forbath (sore groin) is unable to kick in Sunday’s game against the Green Bay Packers. To make room for Potter, the Redskins released fourth-string quarterback Pat White.

ETC.

NASCAR tightens rules to stop race-fixing

Facing the biggest credibility crisis in its long history, NASCAR issued a stern warning to its drivers and teams Saturday and said it won’t tolerate any more attempts to alter the outcome of races.

After a scandal-filled week spent investigating teams and undoing attempts to manipulate its championship field, NASCAR came forward with a series of rules that will change the way teams have called races for years.

NASCAR Chairman Brian France told teams he expects them “to give 100%” at all times, meeting with them for nearly 20 minutes at Chicagoland Speedway in Joliet, Ill., on the eve of the opening race of the Chase for the Sprint Cup championship.

“I think we wanted to be very clear and we wanted to reinforce the cornerstone of NASCAR, which is giving your all,” France said. “We addressed team rules, a variety of other things, all designed to do what our fans expect, and that means that their driver and their team give 100% to finish as high up in a given race as possible. We were very clear about that. That’s our expectations.”

The warning came after an unprecedented week for NASCAR, which has been rocked by allegations of race-fixing since Clint Bowyer spun his car with seven laps remaining last Saturday night at Richmond, the race that completed the 12-driver field for the Chase.

NASCAR was forced to investigate when it became clear that Bowyer spun in an attempt to stop leader Ryan Newman from winning and give teammate Martin Truex Jr. one last chance to earn a Chase berth. The investigation uncovered at least three instances of race manipulations and led to severe sanctions against Michael Waltrip Racing and the removal of unwitting participant Truex from the Chase in favor of Newman.

NASCAR has tightened many of the areas that allowed the manipulations to occur in a series of new rules that were outlined for the teams and will begin Sunday. Among them:

— No more deals, no offering a position in exchange for a favor or material benefit, no altering the finish, no intentionally causing a caution, no intentionally pitting to gain advantage for another competitor or intentionally wrecking another competitor. The list of things not allowed is a work in progress, NASCAR President Mike Helton said. Penalties can include suspension.

— Only one spotter per team will be allowed on the spotter stand. It means Roger Penske can no longer watch the race from his preferred perch on the roof, and NASCAR will install a camera atop every roof to monitor things.

— Digital radios are now banned on the spotter stand, meaning spotters can no longer communicate on a private channel with a team. Spotters will also be limited to two analog radios, scanners and a handheld fan device. All communications from the spotter stand to the team can be monitored by the public.

— NASCAR said it will address new restart rules Sunday. Some drivers have complained about inconsistency on how restarts have been policed all season, and fans complained winner Carl Edwards jumped early last week past leader Paul Menard. It’s been overshadowed in the Chase controversy, and will apparently be addressed before Sunday’s race.

Kyle Busch wins Nationwide race

Pole-sitter Kyle Busch dominated from start to finish, leading 195 of 200 laps en route to winning the NASCAR Nationwide Series Dollar General 300 at Chicagoland Speedway.

Busch faced few serious threats, building his lead to seven-plus seconds to earn his 10th win in 20 Nationwide Series starts this season.

It was Busch’s 61st career win in 264 career Nationwide starts, and his 123rd overall win across all three of NASCAR’s top series.

Busch also won Friday’s Camping World Truck Series race and goes for a second career weekend sweep in Sunday’s opener of the 10-race Chase for the Sprint Cup championship playoffs. Busch previously won races in all three series on the same weekend at Bristol in August 2010.

Joey Logano finished second, followed by Nationwide Series points leader Sam Hornish Jr., Austin Dillon and Dale Earnhardt Jr.

Defending champion Czech Republic reached the Davis Cup final after winning its doubles match at Prague to eliminate Argentina.

Tomas Berdych and Radek Stepanek defeated Carlos Berlocq and Horacio Zeballos, 6-3, 6-4, 6-2, to give the Czechs an unbeatable 3-0 lead in the best-of-five semifinal.

At Belgrade, Serbia, Canada closed to within one victory of the other Davis Cup final berth. The Canadians beat Serbia in a five-set doubles match for a 2-1 lead. Daniel Nestor and Vasek Pospisil outlasted Nenad Zimonjic and Ilija Bozoljac, 6-7 (6), 6-4, 3-6, 7-6 (5), 10-8, in 41/2 hours on clay at Belgrade Arena.

The winner of the best-of-five semifinal will face the Czech’s for the title in November.

The semifinal probably will be decided in Sunday’s final match. Top-ranked Novak Djokovic is favored to open with a victory over Canada’s Milos Raonic. Then, Serbia’s Janko Tipsarevic and Pospisil could meet in the decider.

Christopher Horner, an American cyclist who turns 42 next month, built his lead on the slopes of Alto de L’Angliru in the next-to-last stage of the Spanish Vuelta and closed in on the biggest victory of his career.

Horner, who rides for RadioShack-Leopard, increased his lead from 3 to 37 seconds over Italy’s Vincenzo Nibali after the 20th stage. Horner shook off the Giro d’Italia winner on the final surge up the fogged-in peak to end the grueling, 88-mile mountainous ride.

All that awaits Horner is Sunday’s last stage and the traditional arrival in Madrid.