AUTO RACING

Rain forces postponement of the opening Chase for the Sprint Cup championship race

Rain at Chicagoland Speedway forced NASCAR to postpone the opening race of the Chase for the Sprint Cup championship in Joliet, Ill.

NASCAR will attempt to run the race today at noon.

The forecast didn’t look good from the start, but because the facility has lights, NASCAR waited all day for a window to dry the track. Officials got the window and had the track almost dry, but the sky opened again roughly six hours after the scheduled start.

Matt Kenseth will start from the pole when the race goes off today. Six Chase drivers are starting in the top 10, with Kevin Harvick the lowest qualifying Chase driver at 30th. This is the second time in three weeks the series has been disrupted by rain.

INDYCAR SERIES: Pole-sitter Scott Dixon won the Indy Japan in Motegi, Japan, the last IndyCar series race to be held in Japan. The Target Chip Ganassi driver led for most of the 63-lap race and topped second-place finisher Will Power by 3.4375 seconds. Marco Andretti was third.

COLLEGES

CONFERENCE CHANGE: Pittsburgh and Syracuse are headed to the Atlantic Coast Conference. The ACC said that its council of presidents unanimously voted to accept the two schools from the Big East. The move increases the ACC’s membership to 14 and sends the Big East scrambling to replace two of its cornerstone programs.

It is unclear when the move will take effect. The Big East’s exit fee is $5 million, and schools wanting to leave must provide 27 months’ notice.

MEN’S SOCCER: Julian Gocksch scored twice to lead Trinity (1-1-2, 1-0-2 NESCAC) to a 2-0 win over Bates (1-3, 0-3) at Hartford, Conn.

• Nick Powell scored two goals as Bowdoin (3-1-0) earned a 3-0 win over USM (1-6-0) at Brunswick.

WOMEN’S SOCCER: Marina Moschitto scored her first goal of the season to lead Dartmouth (2-4-1) to a 1-0 win over Maine (3-3-1) at Hanover, N.H.

• Tina Tobin scored to lead Bates (0-2-2, 0-2-2 NESCAC) to a 1-1 tie with Trinity (3-0-1, 1-0-1) at Hartford, Conn.

FIELD HOCKEY: Sophie Doering scored twice to lead Trinity(3-1, 3-1 NESCAC) to a 6-1 vwin over Bates (1-3, 1-2) at Hartford, Conn. Laura Baran scored for Bates.

GOLF

LPGA: At 16, Lexi Thompson has become the youngest player to win an LPGA Tour event. She closed with a 2-under 70 to win by five strokes at the Navistar LPGA Classic over Tiffany Joh in Prattville, Ala.

CHAMPIONS TOUR: Jay Don Blake beat John Cook on the fifth playoff hole at the Songdo IBD Championship in Incheon, South Korea.

BOXING

MAYWEATHER WINS: Floyd Mayweather Jr. remained unbeaten, stopping Victor Ortiz at 2:59 of the fourth round to take the piece of the welterweight title Ortiz brought into the ring Satuday night in Las Vegas.

The end came just as the two fighters emerged from a break, in which Ortiz had embraced Mayweather in the center of the ring. As they broke, Mayweather shot out a left hand and followed it with a right that put Ortiz down in his corner. Ortiz struggled to get up as referee Joe Cortez called an end to the fight.

BASKETBALL

EUROPEAN CHAMPIONSHIP: Spain won its second straight European basketball title, beating France 98-85 in Kaunas, Lithuania, behind Juan Carlos Navarro’s 27 points.

Pau Gasol added 17 points and 10 rebounds for Spain.

— From staff and news services