Briefs: Toyota gets first NASCAR pole
Motor sports: Toyota gets first NASCAR pole
It was a monumental day for Toyota, which finally took a first in something in its inaugural NASCAR Nextel Cup season.
Dave Blaney gave the manufacturer its first pole in the Cup series Friday, leading the field with a lap of 129.437 mph for Sunday’s Lenox Industrial Tools 300 at New Hampshire International Speedway in Loudon. Toyota qualified four of its seven cars.
“If you ask any of the Toyota drivers or teams, they wanted to be the first to get a pole, and we’re no different, but we didn’t set out to do that,” Blaney said. “I am proud that the Caterpillar team was the first one, and hopefully we can be the first to win a race. I think we’ve been making some progress as far as making some speed out of the cars. Toyota has definitely been making up ground as we all thought they would.”
Sailing:Alinghi takes 3-2 America’s Cup lead
The Kiwis lost half their sail, and the lead, and defending champion Alinghi rallied to win the fifth race of the America’s Cup by 19 seconds to go ahead, 3-2, in the best-of-nine series off Valencia, Spain. The next race is today.
Notable: Cuban has hip replacement surgery
Mavericks owner Mark Cuban had hip replacement surgery. He is expected to remain in the hospital for 2-3 days after having his left hip replaced. Cuban will have to use crutches to get around for about three weeks after that. Team officials said Cuban, 48, is expected to make a full recovery, and that the replacement will not prevent him from doing his regular activities.
MSU gets commitment from Lake Orion guard
Ethan Ruhland , a 6-foot-4, 262-pound guard from Lake Orion, made a verbal commitment to play football at Michigan State. He is the third commitment received by the Spartans for the class of 2008.
Investigators had not yet discovered the bodies of pro wrestler Chris Benoit , his wife and their 7-year-old son when someone altered Benoit’s Wikipedia entry to mention his wife’s death, authorities said. An anonymous user with the same IP address as the person who made the edits confessed on an online discussion page attached to the Web site, saying the changes were based on rumors and speculation, not hard evidence. The authenticity of the posting could not be confirmed. On Friday, for a second time, federal agents raided the office of a doctor who prescribed testosterone to Benoit. The agents did not say what they were looking for or what they found.
Poker pro wins $2.3M at World Series in Vegas
Las Vegas poker pro Freddy Deeb won $2.3 million, beating a field of 148 players in the World Series of Poker. Deeb won the $50,000 buy-in HORSE event after a 15-hour final table match that began play at 2 p.m. Thursday in Vegas.