Mayfield Joins NASCAR Chase

The task was clear for Jeremy Mayfield: Win the race and don’t worry about the race to make NASCAR’s Nextel Cup Series playoffs.

Mission accomplished.

Mayfield won his first race in over four years Saturday night, taking the Chevrolet 400 in his Dodge at Richmond International Raceway after leader Kurt Busch’s Ford ran out of gas eight laps from the finish.

The victory locked Mayfield into NASCAR’s race for the Nextel Cup title in the final qualifying event.

“We had no choice but to try to win the race and lead the most laps,” Mayfield said. “We really put it all together because we had to win. We focused all week on that.”

But Mayfield was the only driver to jump into the chase. Kasey Kahne, his teammate at Evernham Motorsports, finished 12th in his Dodge and dropped out of the top 10.

“It was a pathetic race car,” Kahne said. “It was not a good day.”

Jamie McMurray felt the same way, finishing in ninth place and narrowly missing the chase. He’s 11th in the standings, but only 31 points out of the 400-point window that would have qualified him.

Bobby Labonte, Kevin Harvick and Dale Jarrett were the only other drivers with mathematical shots at racing into the playoff picture, but ended up as also-rans after poor performances.

The chase will start with Jeff Gordon as the points leader, followed in five-point increments by Jimmie Johnson, Dale Earnhardt Jr., Tony Stewart, defending champion Matt Kenseth, Elliott Sadler, Busch, Mark Martin, Mayfield and Ryan Newman.

Mayfield earned two five-point bonuses, one for leading a lap and one for leading a race-high 151 laps. Earnhardt was second in the race, followed by Gordon, Mike Bliss, Martin, Carl Edwards, Mike Wallace, Greg Biffle, McMurray and Rusty Wallace.

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Rubens Barrichello won the pole position for today’s Formula One Italian Grand Prix, edging Juan Pablo Montoya and Ferrari teammate Michael Schumacher. Barrichello covered the 3.6-mile lap in 1 minute 20.089 seconds on the Monza circuit.

Montoya, who broke his own lap record in pre-qualifying, drove his Williams-BMW in 1:20.620. Schumacher was timed in 1:20.637 and will start from the second row with Renault’s Fernando Alonso, who was timed in 1:20.645.

Schumacher has won 12 of the previous 14 races and clinched a record seventh world title at the Belgian Grand Prix on Aug. 29. He was seeking what would have been his 63rd career pole as he draws closer to Ayrton Senna’s record of 65.

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Sebastien Bourdais won his seventh pole in 11 tries this season, but this one was anything but routine for the Champ Car World Series points leader.

Trailing defending series champion Paul Tracy late in the qualifying session for today’s Grand Prix of Monterey at Maxda Raceway Laguna Seca, he locked up the left front tire on his Newman/Haas Racing Lola as he approached a turn.

Bourdais put his left wheels into the dirt and struggled hard to stay in control, finally jerking the car back onto the track. He had a fast lap of 1 minute 9.358 seconds (116.163 mph).

Patrick Carpentier, guaranteed a front-row starting spot after winning the provisional pole on Friday, will start alongside Bourdais.

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Buddy Rice has won five poles this year, one shy of the Indy Racing League single-season mark set in 1998 by Billy Boat. He had the fastest qualifying lap for today’s Delphi Indy 300 at Joliet, Ill., for about five minutes, only to get bumped by points leader Tony Kanaan and pole winner Helio Castroneves.

Castroneves had a fast lap of 214.759 mph in his Dallara-Toyota. Kanaan, in a Dallara-Honda, was second at 214.030. Rice, driving a Panoz G Force-Honda, qualified at 213.843 mph.

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Paul Gentilozzi won his fourth Trans-Am Series season championship, beating race winner Tommy Kendall in a tiebreaker after they finished with the same number of points.

Kendall won the season finale at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca for his second victory of the year, but Gentilozzi -- fourth in the race -- won the championship because he had five victories this season.

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Billy Helgeson and Joe Herold split the two 50-lap NAPA Auto Parts Super Trucks Series night at Irwindale Speedway.

The race came to a stop halfway through the second event after a three-truck crash. Kyle Evans had spun out and was perpendicular to the track at the start of the backstretch. As he tried to restart his truck, rookie Michael Mantel lost control and also spun out, colliding with Evans. Another rookie, Randy Colling, then crashed into the Evans and Mantel.

Evans was conscious after the accident, but had to be cut out of his truck. He was airlifted to Harbor-UCLA Medical Center in Torrance for observation.

Horse Racing

Ghostzapper, the 2-5 favorite, had to fight off 11-1 longshot Saint Liam through a stretch-long duel to win the $500,000 Woodward Stakes by a neck at Belmont Park. Bowman’s Band was a distant third.

Ghostzapper, winning his fourth in a row, remained as one of the favorites for the Breeders’ Cup Classic at Lone Star Park on Oct. 30.

In another Grade I stakes at Belmont, Magistretti, at 3-1, came from behind to beat Epalo by 1 1/4 lengths in the $500,000 Man o’War, and heavily favored Stellar Jayne beat Daydreaming to win the $250,000 Gazelle Handicap by one length.

Pro Basketball

Charlotte opened the game with a WNBA-record 21 consecutive points and the Sting defeated the visiting Minnesota Lynx, 60-50. The Sting beat the Lynx for the second time in four days and took sole possession of first place in the Eastern Conference. They have a half-game lead over Connecticut

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Detroit made 10 consecutive free throws in the final 1:10, including six by Deena Nolan , and the Shock defeated the host Phoenix Mercury, 80-72, ending their four-game winning streak.

Miscellany

Two-time All-Big East Conference guard Cappie Pondexter of Rutgers is going to sit out the first half of women’s basketball season.

Pondexter, a senior, did not give a reason in a statement she issued through the university. She refused to allow university officials, including Coach Vivian Stringer, to speak about her decision.