Briefs | Auto racing: Gordon earns pole for event in Texas Figure skating

Auto racing

NASCAR drivers get to qualify, for a change: The sun was shining on NASCAR on Friday and Jeff Gordon took advantage of the chance to qualify for a Sprint Cup race for the first time in a month.

After qualifying was rained out three consecutive weeks, with NASCAR lining up the cars by points for those races, Gordon won the pole for Sunday's Dickies 500 on the 1.5-mile Texas Motor Speedway oval in Fort Worth. Gordon's fast lap of 188.469 mph yielded his first pole in 16 attempts in Texas.

Series leader Jimmie Johnson will start in seventh of 43. Greg Biffle of Vancouver, Wash., will start in 19th and Kasey Kahne of Enumclaw qualified in 28th.

F1 officials, Alonso denounce Web site's racist messages: Formula One officials and two-time world champion Fernando Alonso of Spain scorned a Spanish Web site's racist messages against F1 championship leader Lewis Hamilton of Britain.

"I want to express my total condemnation of this kind of behavior, which is totally unacceptable in the world of sports, as well as in life," Alonso said.

The Web site asks visitors to place virtual pins, nails and porcupines on a computer version of the track to try to keep F1's first black driver from finishing Sunday's decisive race in São Paulo, Brazil.

Visitors are invited to "leave a message to Hamilton," and many are full of racism and obscenities.

A representative for FIA, Formula One's governing body, denounced the site, pinchalaruedadehamilton.com (meaning burst Hamilton's tires).

Figure skating

Rochette leads Skate Canada: Canadian Joannie Rochette won the women's short program at Skate Canada in Ottawa. The 22-year-old Rochette had a personal-best score of 64.74 points, unveiling a new routine to George Gershwin's "Summertime."

Fumie Suguri of Japan was second with 57.92, and Caroline Zhang of the United States was third at 53.28.

Yuko Kawaguchi and Alexander Smirnov took the pairs short program with 65.02 points.

U.S. ice dancers Meryl Davis and Charlie White were first in the compulsory dance program with a score of 34.29.

U.S. pairs team Brooke Castile and Ben Okolski withdrew from the upcoming Cup of China because of her foot injury.

Tennis

Injuries sideline superstars Nadal, Federer in Paris: Injuries got the better of Rafael Nadal of Spain and Roger Federer of Switzerland in the Paris Masters quarterfinals.

Nadal, ranked No. 1 in the world, retired with a knee injury after losing the first set 6-1 to Nikolay Davydenko of Russia. Second-ranked Federer pulled out of a match against American James Blake with a sore back.

In today's semifinals, defending tournament champion David Nalbandian of Argentina meets Davydenko and Blake faces Jo-Wilfried Tsonga of France.

Soccer

UEFA sanctions team from Spain: Atletico Madrid of Spain must play its next UEFA Champions League home match in an empty stadium because of its fans' racist abuse of opposing players during an Oct. 1 match against French team Marseille. Atletico Madrid was fined $191,000.

Olympics

Softball federation seeks break with baseball: Softball's world governing body told members they must break their ties with baseball to help the sport get back into the Olympics.

The International Softball Federation has asked 35 of its 131 national bodies that are affiliated with other sports to become independent and present a stronger identity to the Olympic movement. Softball and baseball are competing to be restored to the 2016 Games after both were voted off the London 2012 program by the International Olympic Committee.

Horse racing

Alysheba is back in Kentucky: Alysheba, who won the 1987 Kentucky Derby and Preakness, arrived at Kentucky Horse Park in Lexington after spending eight years at his owner's stables in Saudi Arabia.

NHL

Canucks prevail in lengthy shootout: Mattias Ohlund's goal in the 13th round of a shootout gave the Vancouver Canucks a 7-6 victory over the host Anaheim Ducks.

Canucks goaltender Roberto Luongo stopped 12 of 13 Anaheim shooters in the tiebreaker.

Seattle Times news services