Kurt Busch triumphs at Texas

Johnson’s Sprint Cup points lead takes hit after wreck

? Jimmie Johnson’s drive to history took a hard hit against a wall, and Kyle Busch ran out of gas trying to complete an unprecedented NASCAR trifecta.

Kurt Busch drove to Victory Lane at Texas after his younger brother ran out of fuel with 21/2 laps left Sunday, finishing 129 laps ahead of the rebuilt car driven by Johnson, who saw his points lead slashed from 184 to 73 over Hendrick teammate Mark Martin with two races left.

“It was definitely not the day we wanted,” Johnson said. “It’s not as bad as it could have been. At one point, I was told to hop out of car and I was done. … It’s still a big ouch.”

Johnson, the series points leader trying to become the first Sprint Cup driver to win four consecutive season championships, wrecked on the third lap when he was knocked into the wall by Sam Hornish. Johnson finished 38th after his crew needed more than an hour to repair and basically rebuild his No. 48 Chevrolet.

“I’m still in great position. We’re going to dust ourselves off,” Johnson said. “There’s not much we can do. We were in the wrong place at the wrong time.”

Coming out of Turn 2 on the third lap, Hornish got loose after being tapped by David Reutimann. Hornish made contact with Johnson, who scraped the outside wall. It looked as if Johnson might save his car before he was hit again by Hornish, then slammed into the inside wall.

“By the time that I knew that I was hit, I was already sideways,” Hornish said. “Obviously, you don’t ever want to detract from the championship when you’re not really even involved in it.”

Kurt Busch got his second victory of the season in the No. 2 Dodge. His 20th career victory came with an average speed of 147.137 mph and by a nearly 26-second margin over second-place Denny Hamlin. Matt Kenseth was third.

College football

OU ousted from top 25

New York — Over the past decade, Oklahoma has rarely been out of the AP Top 25, and Stanford rarely has been in.

On Sunday, the Sooners and Cardinal sort of swapped places.

Oklahoma dropped out of the college football poll for the first time since 2005, and No. 25 Stanford moved into the rankings for the first time since 2001.

The first six spots were held by major-college football’s six unbeaten teams, with Florida, Texas and Alabama making up the top three for the second consecutive week. Florida received 39 first-place votes, Texas received 10 and Alabama 11.

TCU moved up two spots to No. 4, bumping No. 5 Cincinnati and No. 6 Boise State back a spot.

Best released from hospital

Berkeley, Calif. — California star tailback Jahvid Best was released from the hospital Sunday and will miss at least one game after sustaining a concussion on a terrifying fall in the end zone.

LSU RB Scott sidelined

Baton Rouge, La. — LSU running back Charles Scott has a fractured collarbone and will miss the rest of the regular season. Scott was injured in the second half of the Tigers’ 24-15 loss to Alabama on Saturday.

Florida State QB out

Tallahassee, Fla. — Florida State says quarterback Christian Ponder has a separated right shoulder and will miss the Seminoles’ next game against Wake Forest on Saturday.

Ponder injured the shoulder of his throwing arm while making a tackle in the fourth quarter of Saturday’s 40-24 loss to Clemson. Florida State is 4-5. Red-shirt freshman E.J. Manuel is expected to replace Ponder and would be making his first career start.

Golf

Mickelson bests Woods

Shanghai — Thousands of fans caused a bottleneck at the entrance to the HSBC Champions, all of them eager to see the Sunday showdown at Sheshan International between Phil Mickelson and Tiger Woods.

The Shanghai surprise? Woods turned out to be merely a spectator, too.

Mickelson built a six-shot lead over the world’s No. 1 player on the front nine, then rallied to beat another familiar foe, Ernie Els, with two clutch putts for a one-shot victory in the final World Golf Championship of the year.

Mickelson closed with a 3-under 69 and won for the first time playing with Woods in the final group.

Song tops at Mizuno

Shima, Japan — South Korea’s Bo Bae Song won the Mizuno Classic on Sunday for her first LPGA Tour title, closing with a 4-under 68 for a three-stroke victory over top-ranked Lorena Ochoa, Brittany Lang and Hee Young Park.

Tennis

Agassi truth comes out

It turns out Andre Agassi was lying all along.

To fans. To opponents. To tennis authorities. To first wife Brooke Shields. To friends, including Barbra Streisand. To the media. And, he says, to himself.

“I can’t live with that anymore,” Agassi said in a telephone interview with the Associated Press.

“These lies — some of them came, certainly, out of fear. A lot of them came out of real confusion. A lot of it was thinking out loud. A lot of it was just getting stuff wrong. And a lot of it started with lies to myself,” Agassi said.

His book “Open,” in stores today, allows Agassi to unburden himself of secrets he’s carried for years. Secrets about using crystal meth, about evading punishment for a failed drug test, about wearing a hairpiece and about what he calls a long-standing hatred of tennis.

Federer falls in final

Basel, Switzerland — Top-ranked Roger Federer lost his hometown tournament on Sunday, falling, 6-4, 4-6, 6-2, to Novak Djokovic in the Swiss Indoors final.

Djokovic earned his fourth title of the season with a victory that ended Federer’s run of three straight titles at the tournament where he once was a ballboy.

Murray captures 6th title

Valencia, Spain — Andy Murray won his sixth title of the season Sunday in his first tournament back from a wrist injury, beating Mikhail Youzhny of Russia, 6-3, 6-2, in the Valencia Open final. The fourth-ranked Scot hadn’t played since the U.S. Open in September.

Blake beats Santoro

Paris — James Blake of the United States beat French veteran Fabrice Santoro, 6-4, 6-3, in the first round of the Paris Masters Sunday.

NBA

Parker could miss week

San Antonio — Spurs guard Tony Parker is not expected to play today because of a sore left ankle. The Spurs said Sunday that Parker’s injury was a mild sprain that could sideline him for a week.

College basketball

UCLA freshman shelved

Los Angeles — UCLA freshman forward Tyler Honeycutt will be out 3 to 4 weeks with a stress reaction in his right tibia. The Bruins open the season on Nov. 16 against Cal State Fullerton. UCLA plays host to Kansas University on Dec. 6.

MLB

Feliz’s option declined

Philadelphia — The Philadelphia Phillies have declined their $5.5 million 2010 option on third baseman Pedro Feliz. He’ll receive a $500,000 buyout. General manager Ruben Amaro Jr. says he won’t rule out bringing back Feliz.