Mass layoffs are expected throughout NASCAR this week, as team owners from all three national series adjust to the economic crisis. It's difficult to say how many will be put out of work, but some guess as many as 1,000 will lose their jobs.

The cutbacks are most evident at the top-level Sprint Cup Series, where layoffs began a mere two months into the season when BAM Racing stopped showing up at the track.

Then Chip Ganassi let 71 people go when he cut down to two cars in July.

The numbers have steadily grown since, reaching all the way to the elite teams of NASCAR. Hendrick Motorsports, Roush Fenway Racing and Joe Gibbs Racing -- three teams that combined to grab nine of the 12 spots in the Chase for the championship -- have all gone through a round of layoffs in the past month.

It all paled to last Wednesday, when Dale Earnhardt Inc. gave pink slips to 116 employees so it could ease the way for a merger with Ganassi.

"It's gut-wrenching to make those decisions," DEI president Max Siegel said.

Several other teams will probably share that experience this week.

Sponsorship woes have put famed Petty Enterprises and the Wood Brothers on shaky ground, while the bottom might well be about to drop at Bill Davis Racing. The team won the Truck Series championship with Johnny Benson on Friday night, but the owner struggled to muster even a small celebratory smile.

"The entire economy, worldwide, is something that I don't think many of us ... certainly myself, has never seen in 40 years of business," Davis said.

People are angry and confused that after almost a decade of growth, the sport has turned so fast.

Some resentment is directed at NASCAR, which finds itself trying to help its teams while not creating a welfare system. Unlike most professional sports leagues, NASCAR doesn't have franchises and all its participants are viewed as independent contractors free to come and go as they please.

So chairman Brian France isn't about to start floating loans of credit to keep teams in business. The sport is and always will be a survival of the fastest and fittest.

But France and his staff are willing to look at cost-cutting measures, and just last weekend suspended all testing in 2009 to help teams save millions of dollars. The decision comes with consequences: If there's no testing, teams no longer need employees dedicated to that part of the program.

It's a given that NASCAR's business model is best suited for NASCAR and its direct employees, and it should be noted the sanctioning body has no current plans for staff reductions. Car owners knew the rules when they decided to enter this big-time level of auto racing, and they can't fault NASCAR if their businesses are now failing.

At some point, when those once employed by DEI or any other prominent team look for someone to blame, they need to consider this: Bad business decisions and mismanagement have as much to do with team stability as the crumbling economy does.

"We've all overspent," seven-time series champion Richard Petty said.

"We all had it so good we just kept going forward without saying, 'What if it goes bad?' "

As the layoffs by Hendrick, Gibbs and Roush demonstrate, not every team that is downsizing is in financial crisis. Some are tightening the bulging staffs they created in their climb to the top. Teams added specialists for the Car of Tomorrow, which was meant to be phased in, but went to full-time use this season ahead of schedule.

"If you looked at where we were a year ago, we were running two different kinds of cars," owner Jack Roush said. "So that required a staffing increase for most of the teams that enabled or justified a reduction. Most of our reduction was in the area of car building."

But it's not going to end there, and it's likely to get much worse. Attendance is down at most tracks, sponsorships are harder to come by and the Big Three automakers are in deep financial trouble.

France said a little more than a week ago that NASCAR "won't live or die" by a manufacturer pullback or pullout.

But many teams most certainly will, and the trickle-down effect will be devastating to those who rely on racing to pay the bills.

"This is the way they pay their mortgages," driver Jeff Burton said.

"And this is the way they pay their car loans and send their children to school and pay their bills."

Edwards wrested the lead from Kyle Busch late in the race and stayed out front to the end of the 200-lap event at Homestead-Miami Speedway, earning his seventh Nationwide victory and keeping Busch from recording a record 11th Nationwide victory.

Edwards did all he could, other than getting the five-point bonus for leading the most laps, but it wasn't enough.

It was a disappointing finish for Edwards, who faces even bigger odds Sunday trying to make up a 141-point deficit against Jimmie Johnson in the Sprint Cup finale. Johnson can wrap up the title by finishing 36th or better, no matter what Edwards does.

"Man, that's a great win, to be able to hold off that (No.) 18 (Busch), as strong as that group has been," Edwards said. "It's no good to finish second, but I know Clint will be a great champion."

Both Edwards and Bowyer, another Cup star, had consistent seasons, but the difference at the end was Edwards failing to finish two races.

"It's not tonight that decided this championship," Edwards said. "It's an all-season thing. We've got a great team here and on the Cup side. There's no shame in finishing second."

Golf: Course designer Dye joins Hall of Fame

Course architect Pete Dye , 82, was among those inducted into the World Golf Hall of Fame in St. Augustine, Fla.

This year's class also features New Zealand's Bob Charles , the first left-hander to win a major, the 1963 British Open; Denny Shute , who won three majors in the 1930s; Carol Semple Thompson , one of five people to win three U.S. Golf Association individual championships; Craig Wood , a two-time major winner who became the first wire-to-wire winner of the Masters, in 1941; and Herbert Warren Wind , who spent 43 years writing about golf for the New Yorker and Sports Illustrated.

Tennis:Nadal to miss final of Davis Cup

Rafael Nadal will miss Spain's Davis Cup final against Argentina. Top-ranked Nadal has tendinitis in his right knee.

His absence deals a big blow to Spain's bid for a third Davis Cup title since 2000.

Spain captain Emilio Sanchez Vicario has until today to announce his team. Spain plays Argentina on indoor hard court at Barcelona from Nov. 21-23. It has won two Davis Cups since 2000.

Federer loses: Gilles Simon defeated Roger Federer , 4-6, 6-4, 6-3, at the Masters Cup at Shanghai in Federer's first match since a sore back forced him out of his last tournament. Andy Murray beat Andy Roddick , 6-4, 1-6, 6-1.

Federer said earlier he didn't know what to expect when he played his first round-robin match in the season-ending event for the top eight players.

Jurisprudence: Trial for Castroneves set

Race car driver Helio Castroneves will stand trial in March in Miami federal court on tax evasion charges.

U.S. District Judge Donald Graham set the March 2 trial date for Castroneves, his sister and a Michigan lawyer, Alan Miller . Prosecutors say Castroneves and the others tried to hide $5.5 million in income from the IRS.

Castroneves is a two-time Indianapolis 500 winner and gained more fame as the 2007 winner of TV's "Dancing With The Stars" competition. He has pleaded not guilty and is free on $10 million bail.

"My goal is to outrun those guys," Johnson said. "My goal's to win the race, try to lead the most laps, gain points on those guys so that we go to Homestead with as many points as we can. That's truthfully the goal. I hope it works that way. No telling it will. But that's what we're working on."

If history is any indication, Johnson will deliver.

He finished second here in 2006 to widen his points lead from 17 to 63 over Matt Kenseth headed into the finale, where he locked up his first championship a week later.

A year ago, Johnson notched a fourth consecutive victory to stretch his 30-point lead over Jeff Gordon to a heartbreaking 86 points. When Johnson crossed the finish line, Gordon and his entire crew knew their Hendrick Motorsports teammate had just won a second-straight championship, and Homestead had been reduced to a coronation.

Now Johnson, winner of the last two Phoenix races, hopes a favorable outcome Sunday will reduce Homestead to a 400-mile victory lap. But he's taking nothing for granted.

"I'm just going to plan on the worst case scenario for myself, which is (Edwards is) going to have the fastest car and he's coming," Johnson said. "Then that way I'm prepared from A-to-Z on where I need to be mentally. So we'll just kind of see what happens."

The two contenders were neck-and-neck in Saturday's first practice session, which was paced by Kevin Harvick with Edwards and Johnson running a close second and third. The final session gave Edwards optimism: Johnson slipped to 16th on the speed chart, while Edwards finished in 12th.

Victories the last two weeks have pulled Edwards onto Johnson's bumper, but he's still got plenty of speed bumps remaining. No driver in NASCAR history has overcome the deficit Edwards is in, and since the Chase debuted in 2004, the leader at this point of the season has won the title every year.

Edwards has a carefree attitude about the task and is adamant he'll race Sunday as if it was any other race.

"We've got nothing to lose," Edwards said. "We can just go out and be aggressive and take chances. I can race as hard as I want. I mean, it's cool."

Before Edwards' Atlanta win, the consensus was that Johnson already had the title wrapped up. The back-to-back wins, coupled with Johnson's sub-par 15th-place showing last week in Texas, have turned this into a slight race and Edwards has no intentions of conceding just yet.

He likes Phoenix and Homestead, where his performance is above average: Edwards has five top-10s in eight Phoenix starts, and three in his four Homestead starts.

"Those are two great racetracks for us," said Edwards. "Phoenix is one of the most fun tracks we go to. ... I think we're in a good spot right now."

But should it not work out for Edwards, and he falls short in his bid to unseat Johnson, he'll have a peaceful offseason.

"What I've learned, and I'm still learning, is how to compete the best I can," he said. "The bottom line, you know, at the end of all of it is, generally, keep your head up and keep going as hard as you can, and you'll get whatever you deserve."

General manager Doug Melvin said the team made a contract proposal to Sabathia over the weekend but wasn't willing to discuss terms of the offer or assess the team's chances of keeping its prize pitcher.

Sabathia, who went 11-2 with a 1.65 ERA for the Brewers after he was traded from the Indians on July 7, filed for free agency over the weekend and is expected to draw interest from big-market teams that could outbid the Brewers.

• Red Sox general manager Theo Epstein has agreed to a new contract with the team. Epstein revealed the agreement on the first day of the annual general manager meetings in Dana Point, Calif.

Tennis:Nadal won't be in Masters Cup field

Rafael Nadal has withdrawn from the season-ending Masters Cup in Shanghai that starts Sunday.

Nadal, the world's top-ranked player, made the announcement in a statement on his Web site. Nadal, who won the French Open and Wimbledon this year, cited fatigue after a long season.

Motor sports: NASCAR fan wounded at track

A NASCAR fan in her recreational vehicle at Texas Motor Speedway in Fort Worth was wounded by a stray bullet after someone apparently fired a gun into the air, police said.

A bullet suddenly pierced through the motor home's roof Sunday morning before the Dickies 500 race, hitting a woman in the right arm.

The 62-year-old woman, whose name was not released by authorities, was taken to a nearby hospital with a "significant wound" and was listed in stable condition, police Lt. Paul Henderson said.

Running: Marathon reports second death

Two runners died after completing the New York City Marathon, one shortly after crossing the finish line and the other several hours later.

Carlos Jose Gomes , 58, had just completed the race Sunday when he complained about feeling ill, police said. He was taken by ambulance to a Manhattan hospital, where he died. The cause was a heart attack, the medical examiner's office said. The other runner who died was a man whose identity and cause of death weren't available.

Crew chief Lance McGrew was asked last week what his NASCAR Sprint Cup driver, Brad Keselowski , should be for Halloween.

"A first-time Sprint Cup driver," McGrew said.

Keselowski, the 24-year-old from Rochester Hills, didn't have to get dressed up. Instead, he spent his Halloween qualifying the No. 25 GoDaddy.com for Sunday's Dickies 500 at Texas Motor Speedway in Fort Worth, fulfilling McGrew's wish.

Keselowski, a regular in the NASCAR Nationwide series for JR.Motorsports, will be making his first career Cup start in an entry backed by Hendrick Motorsports. He will start 37th.

"Run all the laps," Keselowski said when asked his goals for Sunday. "A lead-lap finish would be a great way to start out. I try really hard not to make any goals. Everything after (making the race) is just a bonus and a great learning experience."

Keselowski was expected to make his first Cup qualifying attempt earlier last month at Lowe's (N.C.) Motor Speedway, but because of a rainout, the field was set by owner points.

Angelique S. Chengelis contributed.

Since it signed on with NASCAR in 1986, Kodak-sponsored cars have won the Daytona 500 four times -- with Ryan Newman 's car this year, Sterling Marlin 's in 1994 and 1995 and Ernie Irvan 's in 1991.

Baseball:Rockies pitcher cited for DUI

Rockies pitcher Luis Vizcaino was arrested in Tampa, Fla., after police said he was driving under the influence. The 34-year-old reliever was bailed out of jail later in the day.

Officers said he was going 71 mph in a 45 mph zone early Monday. Police said Vizcaino's eyes were glassy and bloodshot and he smelled of alcohol, with a blood-alcohol level just over the legal limit.

The Rockies said they were "extremely disappointed" and have been in contact with the player and his representatives.

"We understand that they are working through the issues with local authorities and that Luis clearly understands the seriousness of the situation," the team said.

Vizcaino, who lives in Florida, was 1-2 this season with a 5.28 ERA.

Horse racing:Action postponed for Dutrow

Kentucky racing authorities have postponed possible action on trainer Rick Dutrow over a drug test on one of his horses.

The Kentucky Horse Racing Commission said it wanted more information. This summer, the commission found Dutrow in violation and suspended him for 15 days, but the trainer appealed.

Dutrow's horse Salute the Count had an excessive amount of the legal drug clenbuterol in his blood. That decision came one day before Dutrow-trained Big Brown won the Kentucky Derby.

Clenbuterol allows horses to breathe easier while exercising. Its use is legal at low levels but considered a performance enhancer at higher doses.

Golf:Snedeker ties course record at Kiwi

Brandt Snedeker tied a course record with a 6-under 66 to take a four-shot lead after the first round of the Kiwi Challenge at Wellington, New Zealand.

Snedeker finished the first day of the four-man event at Kauri Cliffs in New Zealand's Northland province ahead of Anthony Kim (70), Hunter Mahan (71) and Adam Scott (73).

The tournament continues today on the Cape Kidnappers course at Hawke's Bay in New Zealand's central North Island.

The winner's prize is $1.5 million.

"Are you kidding me?" a deflated Edwards asked when told Johnson had finished second. "You've rained on my parade. I could have done without that one. That's unbelievable, he does a great job."

A championship-winning job.

It's mathematically possible that Johnson could clinch his third title next week in Texas. If he leaves there up 323 points over the competition, Johnson would need only to start the final two races to become the first driver since Cale Yarborough (1976-78) to win three consecutive championships.

"I'm just as shocked as (Edwards) is," Johnson said. "I thought we would finish probably ninth or 10th today. I thought I was in big trouble."

So did everyone else.

NASCAR flagged Johnson for speeding on pit road early in the race, and the penalty dropped him a lap off the pace and to 30th in the field. He worked his way back onto the lead lap through cautions, then steadily moved back toward the top 10.

But as the laps wound down, that seemed to be the best Johnson could hope for.

Edwards, meanwhile, knew a victory would be the only chance he had to pull back into Johnson's championship rearview mirror. So he was aggressive on a restart with 17 laps to go to blow past Denny Hamlin and take command of the race.

A debris caution with 13 laps to go regrouped the field, and crew chief Chad Knaus used the break to call Johnson into the pits for a four-tire stop. He restarted the race in 11th with eight laps to go, but picked off cars one at a time to finish second.

"Man, I feel like I went 12 rounds with Tyson today," Johnson said. "That was just a great call, a risky call, but it just goes to show that Chad is out there racing. He's not trying to ride around and get points. He's out there to earn them. He called me in for tires and told me to put my cape on and off we went.

"We just fought and fought and fought. I leave here very happy -- it's almost like a win today."

Long after the finish, Edwards was still in awe.

"I looked up there on the scoreboard and I saw that he was running seventh, eighth, ninth, somewhere in there most of the second half of the race," Edwards said. "I truly didn't know until I looked at the scoreboard that Jimmie had made that back up. I got to see some video and they put on some tires and went for it and that's pretty amazing."

Hamlin finished third and was followed by Matt Kenseth, Kyle Busch and Kurt Busch. David Ragan was seventh and Jeff Gordon and Greg Biffle rounded out the top 10.

Despite his comfortable margin in the standings, Johnson has resisted laying claim to yet another title. He realistically won't clinch the championship for another two weeks in Phoenix.

But he has left Edwards with no room for error over the final stretch. He'll need to win at Texas -- and the winner of Atlanta has gone on to win the next week in Texas the past three years -- to stay in contention, and even that may not be enough.

"Three more good tracks for us," Edwards said. "But, man, Jimmie is magic. We've got to go win those next three and hope for the best."

IRL

Ryan Briscoe thought Sunday's Indy 300 in Surfers Paradise, Australia was a great way to cap off the year. Will Power thought it featured the worst mistake of his career.

No trouble figuring which one of these Aussies won, and which might not have reached the finish line.

Briscoe took the lead when polesitter Power crashed into the wall on the 17th lap, giving Team Penske its first victory Down Under since 1992, when Emerson Fittipaldi was the winner. It was also the first victory by a homegrown driver.

NASCAR's research and development division began planning and designing the bigger, bulkier CoT shortly after the sport's biggest star, Dale Earnhardt, died in a crash during the 2001 Daytona 500.

It first competed at Bristol in March 2007 and was used in 16 races that season before running all the races this year -- a year earlier than originally planned.

NASCAR's stated intention was to build a safer car also promoting close racing and helping keep team costs under control by requiring fewer different cars for a variety of racetrack configurations. Most of that has been accomplished, but the transition from the old cars hasn't always been smooth.

It's difficult to find the balance on the CoT during the races, and there have been times when Goodyear has failed to come up with a good tire match for the new car. Add in that the CoT is harder to drive and there has been a lot of dissatisfaction bubbling up in Cup.

Dale Earnhardt Jr., who has complained about the handling of the CoT at times, said, "The car is definitely still a work in progress.

"I think ... the car isn't a finished product. Whenever they decide to move forward and evolve and let that car change and become a better race car, we will be ready to do that. But until then, we really don't have a choice in the matter."

Jimmie Johnson, winner of six races and seemingly well on his way to a record-tying third straight Cup title heading into Sunday's race at Atlanta, got off to a slow start this season as he and crew chief Chad Knaus acknowledged they were having problems figuring out the new car at some tracks.

The difficulties surfaced early in the year. Johnson's team arrived in Las Vegas in March thinking it had a decent setup. He finished 29th after a frustrating day in which the usually consistent Johnson was a nonfactor.

The rest of the season was a series of ups and downs for Johnson, who seems to have found the right combination during the 10-race Chase for the championship.

In August, just before the start of the Chase, Johnson said solving the CoT has been difficult for Knaus, considered one of the top minds in the sport.

"It's been tough for him, and it's been a huge, huge challenge for him," Johnson said. "But more importantly, the go-to moves that we've always had with the old car do not work with the CoT. And to kind of retrain (Chad's) brain and look at things in a different way, that is the hardest part for him."

Despite their recent success, Johnson thinks the CoT could be better.

"I think a lot of us have some ideas for changes and we'd like to see them put in. I feel that as the season's gone on, we've all gotten a lot smarter and we've helped the car," he said. "But there still are some things that I feel should be looked at and considered.

"At least we're putting on good shows. The cars are easier to drive in traffic. ... And the racing is going well on the big tracks. I still think it could be better."

Kasey Kahne, who has won two Cup races this season, said he believes it would be a good idea to let the crew chiefs and team engineers have more input into the development of the new car.

"The car has come a long ways from where we were a year ago," Kahne said. "Engineers and crew chiefs could make this a better race car if they're allowed to."

Johnson's sixth victory of the year extended his points lead from 69 to 149, and while his closest challengers vowed that the Chase race isn't over, the plaudits keep coming, too.

"There's a lot of great teams that were huge in the sport," Dale Earnhardt Jr. said, lumping Johnson and crew chief Chad Knaus in with his father and Richard Petty, both seven-time champions, and Hall of Famers David Pearson, Yarborough and Junior Johnson.

"To pack it in three years and just dominate like that, there's only a half a dozen teams that have ever done anything like that, been that strong consistently," Earnhardt said.

Earnhardt was second, followed by Carl Edwards and Jeff Gordon, giving Hendrick three of the top four spots. Denny Hamlin was fifth and Casey Mears, the fourth Hendrick driver, was sixth.

The 1-2 finish was the 23rd for the multicar team, and third at Martinsville.

Notable

Steve Lawson , a popular NASCAR official, was found dead in his hotel room at Martinsville, NASCAR officials said. He was 51. The cause of death was not announced.

... Lewis Hamilton won the Chinese Grand Prix at Shanghai. Hamilton led from start to finish in the Formula One race, finishing 14.9 seconds ahead of Felipe Massa .