TALLADEGA, Ala. — Brad Keselowski won his first Sprint Cup Series race by pushing Carl Edwards into the lead, then driving off to victory when contact between the two cars sent Edwards sailing into the fence at Talladega Superspeedway.
Keselowski, driving in just his fifth Cup race, helped Edwards pass Ryan Newman and Dale Earnhardt Jr. on the final lap of Sunday’s NASCAR race. As they closed in on the finish line, Keselowski looked inside to pass Edwards.
Edwards tried to block, and the two cars touched. Edwards spun into Newman’s path, and his car flew over Newman’s hood and into the safety fence.
• Scott Dixon took advantage of Ryan Briscoe‘s tough-luck pit stop with 47 laps left, then held off Helio Castroneves down the stretch to win the Road Runner Turbo Indy 500 in Kansas City, Kan.
Briscoe led for 54 laps when he decided to go into the pits for tires and fuel. Just as he crossed into the pits, Dario Franchitti slammed into the wall, sending up the caution flag. Briscoe wasn’t allowed to stop and lost position.
• Jenson Button used a brilliant first lap to win the Bahrain Formula One Grand Prix in Sakhir, pushing his championship lead to 12 points.
Button won by 7.1 seconds over Sebastian Vettel.
Kelly captures Zurich Classic
AVONDALE, La. — Jerry Kelly rallied with two birdies on the back nine to win the Zurich Classic.
Kelly offset bogeys on No. 8 and No. 10 with birdies on Nos. 5, 11 and 14 for a 1-under-par 71 in the final round. He finished with a 274, one stroke ahead Charles Howell (68), Rory Sabbatini (67) and Charlie Wi (68).
• Lorena Ochoa shot a 5-under 68 to hold off Norway’s Suzann Pettersen (68) by a stroke and win the Corona Championship for the second straight year.
• Tom Lehman made a par putt on the second playoff hole to become the 13th player to win his Champions Tour debut, teaming with Bernhard Langer to beat Craig Stadler and Jeff Sluman (61) at the Liberty Mutual Legends of Golf in Savannah, Ga.
• Thongchai Jaidee won the Ballantine’s Championship in Jeju Island, South Korea, after a three- way playoff against Kang Wook- soon and Gonzalo Fernandez- Castano.
Footnotes.
Rafael Nadal won his fifth straight Barcelona Open title, beating fellow Spaniard David Ferrer 6-2, 7-5.
• The U.S. and Italy reached the Fed Cup final, with the Americans saving a match point in the decisive match of the best-of-five series against the Czech Republic and the Italians eliminating defending champion Russia.
• Luciano Emilio and Chris Pontius scored in a span of 36 seconds in the closing minute, giving D.C. United a stunning 3-2 win over the New York Red Bulls.
• Danny Dichio‘s first goal of the season gave Toronto FC a 1-0 win over the Kansas City Wizards.
• Martin St. Louis had a hat trick as Canada beat Hungary 9-0 to advance at the world hockey championships in Bern, Switzerland.
The Associated Press
