FOOTBALL
One day before the season opener, Atlanta Falcons receiver Julio Jones finally got his long-awaited contract extension Saturday, agreeing to a three-year, $66 million deal.
The extension is nearly fully guaranteed when he signs. It locks in Jones through the 2023 season and removes a potentially major headache for the Falcons before Sunday’s game at Minnesota.
Jones first sought a new contract more than a year ago. He reported for training camp when the Falcons enhanced his current deal and agreed to discuss a lucrative new extension before this season.
• Los Angeles Chargers kicker Michael Badgley was downgraded to doubtful for Sunday’s regular-season opener against Indianapolis.
AUTO RACING
NASCAR: Kyle Busch held off Justin Allgaier for the final four laps to win the NASCAR Xfinity race at Indianapolis by 0.132 seconds.
The victory was the 96th of Busch’s career, the most by any driver in series history. It also was Busch’s fourth win in Indy’s Xfinity race. He’s also a two-time Brickyard 400 winner.
FORMULA ONE: Charles Leclerc secured a second straight pole position at the end of a chaotic qualifying session for the Italian Grand Prix at Monza to give Ferrari encouragement it can end a nine-year wait for success at its home race.
CYCLING
SPANISH VUELTA: Sam Bennett of Ireland won a sprint finish to claim the flat 14th stage, and Primoz Roglic of Slovenia held his lead.
Roglic avoided a crash near the end of the stage as the hard-charging peloton jockeyed for position to set up their sprinters. The pileup happened near the end, meaning no riders were penalized for time lost due to the crash.
RECORD BROKEN: Ashton Lambie of Lincoln, Nebraska, broke his own world record in the individual pursuit, capturing the gold medal at the Pan-American track cycling championships at Cochabomba, Brazil. His time was 4 minutes, 5.423 seconds late Friday.
GOLF
WALKER CUP: Alex Fitzpatrick and Conor Gough each won two matches to help Britain and Ireland take a 7-5 lead over the United States at Hoylake, England.
The biennial amateur event will conclude Sunday with four more foursomes matches and 10 singles matches.
EUROPEAN: Bernd Ritthammer of Germany rubbed out Robert MacIntyre’s four-stroke advantage to join the Scottish rookie for a share of the lead after the third day of the European Open at Hamburg, Germany.
SOCCER
MLS: Jesus Medina scored two second-half goals, the second on a penalty kick late in extra time, and New York City FC vaulted into the Eastern Conference lead with a 2-1 victory over the visiting New England Revolution.
New England took the lead in the second minute and went a man down in the ninth, but New York City couldn’t capitalize until Medina scored in the 70th minute. It appeared the Revolution would steal a point on the road until Andrew Farrell took down Alexandru Mitrita in the box. The call, six minutes into stoppage time, was made after review.
EUROPEAN CHAMPIONSHIPS: Harry Kane scored three times and set up Raheem Sterling’s goal as England beat Bulgaria 4-0 in qualifying at London.
HOCKEY
NHL: Goalie Jack Campbell agreed to a two-year, $3.3 million contract extension with the Los Angeles Kings.
Campbell is now under contract through the 2021-22 season.
SKIING
MAINER DIES: Tom Kendall, a Maine Ski Hall of Famer who also was chairman of the Auburn School Committee, died Friday night from injuries after falling off a roof he was repairing.
Kendall skied for Edward Little High and Dartmouth College in the late 1960s and early 1970s, and was well known as a timer for high school and college races. He was the cross country assistant chief of protocol at the 1980 Olympics and chief of timing at the 2002 Olympics.
– Staff and news service report
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