MOTOR SPORTS

Busch bounces past Larson at Bristol Speedway finish

Kyle Busch held off rookie Kyle Larson at the finish Saturday to win the Nationwide Series race at Bristol Motor Speedway in Bristol, Tenn.

Larson stalked Busch around the course as he looked for the right place to make his move. It came as they closed in on the finish line with both drivers held up by lapped cars.

Busch chose the low line and Larson went high, then tried to squeeze his way past Busch. Larson’s car bounced off of both the wall and Busch’s car, but he was nipped at the finish by Busch.

It was Busch’s second victory of the season and fifth career Nationwide victory at Bristol.

Brian Vickers was third, followed by Sam Hornish Jr. and Kevin Harvick.

GOLF

PGA: Kevin Streelman figured a good round would at least get him in the mix at the Tampa Bay Championship, but it wound up giving him a share of the lead with Justin Leonard and George Coetzee at Palm Harbor, Fla.

After a surprising retreat at Innisbrook, 16 players are separated by only three shots.

EUROPEAN TOUR: South African Thomas Aiken shot a 10-under 62 to lead the Avantha Masters by three shots after three rounds at Greater Noida, India.

LPGA: Ai Miyazato pulled back in front by four strokes in the Founders Cup, with three birdies in a four-hole stretch on the back nine and saving par with a long putt on the par-4 finishing hole at Phoenix.

SKIING

WORLD CUP: Mikaela Shiffrin delivered an astonishing second run to overtake Tina Maze and clinch the slalom title with an improbable come-from behind victory at Lenzerheide, Switzerland.

The American teenager trailed Maze by a massive 1.17 seconds after the first leg and needed to finish ahead of the Slovenian to win the slalom crystal globe in her first full season on the circuit.

Shiffrin, who was fourth in the morning, had a tentative start to the second run but blazed down the bottom part of course for the fastest time of the afternoon.

Shiffrin, who turned 18 Wednesday, is the first American woman to be World Cup slalom champion since Tamara McKinney in 1984.

FREESTYLE: Dual moguls world champion Alex Bilodeau beat Canadian teammate Mikael Kingsbury in the World Cup at Are, Sweden, while Bradley Wilson of the United States took third place.

Hannah Kearney of the U.S. defeated Yulia Galysheva of Kazakstan to win the women’s dual moguls.

TENNIS

BNP PARIBAS OPEN: Rafael Nadal rallied to beat Tomas Berdych 6-4, 7-5 in the semifinals at Indian Wells, Calif., reaching his fourth ATP Tour final in as many events.

SOCCER

MLS: Jack McInerney scored in the 76th minute for Philadelphia against New England in cold conditions. The Revolution, coming off a 1-0 victory at Chicago in its opener, had to sit goalkeeper Matt Reis with a groin injury. He was replaced by Bobby Shuttleworth.

EUROPE: Manchester United opened a 15-point lead in the English Premier League with nine games remaining, beating Reading 1-0 on a Wayne Rooney goal as second-place Manchester City lost 2-0 at Everton.

— From news services

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