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Filed under: Formula One

ABU DHABI, United Arab Emirates (AP) -- Sebastian Vettel became the youngest champion in Formula One history Sunday, clinching the title when he won the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix and Fernando Alonso faltered in the season-ending race.

The 23-year-old Red Bull driver started from the pole trailing Alonso by 15 points in the standings. While Vettel had a fairly trouble-free race, Alonso finished seventh after Ferrari made an ill-advised decision to pit early and the Spaniard got stuck behind Nico Rosberg and Vitaly Petrov for nearly 40 laps.

"It has been an incredible journey, to lead the championship after the last race is unbelievable," Vettel said. "It's been extremely intense, and a tough season mentally."

The German is six months younger than Lewis Hamilton was when he won the title in 2008.

Vettel's championship caps a season in which Red Bull regularly dominated the field in qualifying, but often failed to convert its unrivaled speed into race victories because of reliability problems and driver errors.

 

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Filed under: Jeff Gordon, Jimmie Johnson, Chase for the Sprint Cup, Crew Chiefs, Pit Crews, Sprint Cup, Hendrick Motorsports, Sports Business and Media, NASCAR

CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) -- Chad Knaus defended the decision to dump Jimmie Johnson's crew with two races remaining, a move he said was done for the overall good of Hendrick Motorsports.

Knaus downplayed the significance of making a move viewed by many as cutthroat for a four-time championship winning team.

"I hate to say this as bluntly as it is, but it's like changing a spring or changing a shock," he said. "You have to put the best components together to try to win the championship. Unfortunately, we're not in the situation where (Gordon) can win the championship right now from this building, and that's what it's about -- this building."

"I don't think people understand it's not an easy decision," the crew chief said Tuesday, a day after Hendrick Motorsports said Jeff Gordon's crew would pit Johnson for the rest of the Chase for the Sprint Cup championship.

"There are emotions involved. We love our guys. We eat, sleep, drink with them. We win with them and we lose with them. But ultimately it is bigger than seven guys. We are 520-people strong here (at Hendrick Motorsports)."

 

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Filed under: Formula One

SAO PAULO (AP) -- Sebastian Vettel took the lead at the first corner and cruised to victory at the Brazilian Grand Prix on Sunday, setting up a showdown for the Formula One title at next weekend's season-ending Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.

Red Bull teammate Mark Webber was second, championship leader Fernando Alonso of Ferrari third and Lewis Hamilton of McLaren fourth.

Taking the top two places at the 2.6-mile Interlagos track gave Red Bull its first constructors' championship.

Alonso was the only driver who could have won the championship Sunday, but his third-place finish was not enough. Alonso remains atop the standings with 246 points, while Webber has 238 and Vettel 231. Hamilton has 222 points and remains mathematically in contention. Alonso can clinch his third F1 title with a second-place finish in Abu Dhabi.

"In terms of points we are happy," Alonso said. "The championship is very open now. With the win, Sebastian is another strong contender. We will see what we can do in Abu Dhabi."

 

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Filed under: Jeff Gordon, Chevrolet, NASCAR Sponsors, Sprint Cup, Hendrick Motorsports, NASCAR

CONCORD, N.C. (AP) -- Rick Hendrick never panicked as the season stretched on and he still didn't have a sponsorship deal for Jeff Gordon.

Why? Because he always had a contingency plan to fall back on. It gave him the ability to be discerning when it came to the four-time NASCAR champion.

Then came the potential pairing with the AARP Foundation, which began talks on a sponsorship program with Hendrick Motorsports in September. The deal quickly fell into place, and the foundation's "Drive to End Hunger" campaign was announced Wednesday as Gordon's primary sponsor for the next three years.

"We had a deal in our pocket. It was a verbal agreement," Hendrick said of the second suitor, which he refused to identify. "But this one came only faster, quicker and had more potential."

More potential for both sides.

 

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Filed under: Carl Edwards, Reed Sorenson, Nationwide Series, Danica Patrick, NASCAR

MADISON, Ill. (AP) -- Brad Keselowski won the NASCAR Nationwide 5-Hour Energy 250 on Saturday, rolling past Reed Sorenson with two laps remaining at Gateway International Raceway.

Keselowski, who has a large lead in the series standings, earned his sixth Nationwide victory of the season and No. 12 for his career.

Mike Bliss finished second, followed by pole-sitter Justin Allgaier.

Keselowski took on four tires during a pit stop with 10 laps remaining. The move paid off as he rallied from fifth place with five laps left.

The Nationwide stop likely was the final race at Gateway. Dover Motorsports, owner of the track, has put the property up for sale and has not requested any racing dates for 2011.

 

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FONTANA, Calif. (AP) -- A woman crashed a replica Indy race car into a wall at a high rate of speed and died while taking part in the Mario Andretti Driving Experience at a Southern California motor speedway.

The San Bernardino County coroner's office says 24-year-old Ashley Phalen of Los Angeles was killed early Friday when her vehicle slammed into a wall and overturned at the Auto Club Motor Speedway in Fontana. She died at a nearby hospital.

Phalen was participating in what is described on andrettiracing.com as the "World's Fastest Racing Experience." The website says people can drive a race car with 600 horsepower for an eight-minute session and reach speeds up to 160 mph.

The San Bernardino Sun reported that the crash occurred at 9:32 a.m. PT Friday and that the car struck an inside wall before overturning.

An after-hours phone message for the Andretti Driving Experience wasn't immediately returned.

Copyright 2010 The Associated Press. The information contained in the AP news report may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or otherwise distributed without the prior written authority of The Associated Press. Active hyperlinks have been inserted by AOL.

 

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Filed under: NASCAR Awards, NASCAR Hall of Fame, NASCAR

CONCORD, N.C. (AP) -- Darrell Waltrip, winner of 84 races and three championships on the track, lost a popularity contest among his peers that stung more than any other defeat in his illustrious career.

Snubbed by the NASCAR Hall of Fame voting committee in his campaign to be included in the second class, Waltrip was clearly hurt by his exclusion. The color drained from his face as he watched the five names called -- David Pearson, Bobby Allison, Lee Petty, Ned Jarrett and Bud Moore -- and although he gamely spun his chair away from the podium and toward the cameras to work an hour-long, live television program, he was wounded.

Waltrip took to Twitter immediately after leaving Wednesday's announcement -- "just having a small pity party right now," he posted -- and was still smarting a day later. Instead of celebrating his selection Thursday, he played golf with younger brother Michael.

"My feelings are hurt," Waltrip told The Associated Press in a candid conversation Thursday night at Charlotte Motor Speedway.

"Do I take it personal? No. I can't. I couldn't live in this community if I did. I take it as that group of people that voted on those five guys had a stronger connection to their past and to those five guys than they did to me and what I did."

 

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Filed under: NASCAR Media Watch, Sports Business and Media

FARMINGTON, Conn. (AP) -- An ESPN producer who was charged with public indecency after a peeping Tom complaint at a Connecticut apartment complex has left the network.

ESPN spokesman Mike Soltys confirmed Monday that 52-year-old Neil Goldberg no longer works for the company. Goldberg had been the coordinating producer of motorsports coverage for Bristol-based ESPN.

Goldberg surrendered to police last week after a complaint from a neighbor who said she was walking her dog when she saw him standing on a stool and looking into a window while masturbating. Goldberg is due in Hartford Superior Court on Wednesday.

A message seeking comment was left at a phone listing for him.

Copyright 2010 The Associated Press. The information contained in the AP news report may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or otherwise distributed without the prior written authority of The Associated Press. Active hyperlinks have been inserted by AOL.

 

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Filed under: Jimmie Johnson, NASCAR

EL CAJON, Calif. (AP) -- Jimmie Johnson likes to give back to his hometown, then come back to see how the money is spent.

On Tuesday, that meant pulling into a school yard in a replica of his No. 48 Chevrolet, thrilling several hundred students at Emerald STEM Magnet Middle School in this blue-collar community on the eastern edge of San Diego's suburban sprawl.

A few minutes later, Johnson and his wife, Chandra, were in the automation and robotics lab watching 13-year-old J.T. Duboise demonstrate a computer-controlled model car.

Duboise told Johnson he thought about adding a horn, then decided against it.

"Who wants a horn?" Johnson replied, reassuring the eighth grader that his car was just fine.

 

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Filed under: Chase for the Sprint Cup, NASCAR

KANSAS CITY, Kan. (AP) - Greg Biffle is back in the title hunt, and Jimmie Johnson has resumed his normal spot atop the NASCAR leaderboard.

Kansas Speedway once again played a major role in the Chase for the Sprint Cup championship, which got a whole lot tighter after a fast-paced Sunday race dominated by the title contenders.

Biffle was the first of seven in the Chase to cross the finish line, pulling himself out of a deep hole with seven races remaining to determine the championship.

"Everybody asked us if we're out of the Chase, have we given up?" the Roush-Fenway Racing driver said. "The 16 team will never give up. A win here propelled us up there. Maybe we'll go do the same next week."

 

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