Motor Sports Monday

From staff & wire reports

NASCAR - With one championship under his belt and a back pocket full of bonus points, defending Nextel Cup champion Jimmie Johnson is dressed for success. And his victory Saturday night in Richmond, you could say, was just icing on the "Cup" cake. Jimmie Johnson won, Kevin Harvick secured the final Chase spot as Dale Earnhardt Jr. was eliminated shortly before his engine gave out at Richmond. With six wins this season, Johnson will have 60 bonus points heading to the 10-race playoff battle making him the top seed, the same position Johnson was in last season before he won the 2006 Nextel Cup Championship.

IRL - Dario Franchitti squeezed out a half-lap more than Scott Dixon on their final fuel load yesterday to win his first IndyCar Series title in what may be his farewell to open-wheel racing. Franchitti and Dixon came into the season finale at Chicagoland Speedway in Joliet, Ill., with Franchitti leading the standings by 3 points. Franchitti overtook Dixon on the final lap to win by 1.844 seconds. He won the title and the $1 million prize that goes with it by 13 points.


F1 - Fernando Alonso won the Italian Grand Prix at Monza, beating Lewis Hamilton and closing within 3 points of Hamilton, his McLaren teammate, at the top of the drivers’ standings. Alonso beat Hamilton by more than six seconds on the 3.6-mile Autodromo Nazionale di Monza course.