In brief: Will Power wins IndyCar series title

Auto Racing: Will Power won his first IndyCar Series championship Saturday night in Fontana, Calif., finishing ninth in the final race and claiming the season title after a career filled with agonizing misses.

Tony Kanaan won the 500-mile, double-points race at Fontana for his first victory of the season, but Power drove an intelligent race with just enough aggression to preserve his healthy points lead.

After briefly taking the lead late, Power comfortably held off second-place teammate Helio Castroneves and wrapped up Team Penske’s first IndyCar title since 2006.

• Harvick dominates to win Atlanta Nationwide: Kevin Harvick led the final 159 laps to beat Joey Logano and win an unusually wreck-free NASCAR Nationwide Series race at Atlanta Motor Speedway in Hampton, Georgia.

Pettersen tied for Portland Classic lead

Golf: Defending champion Suzann Pettersen shot her second straight 5-under 67 on for a share of the third-round lead in the LPGA Tour’s Portland Classic in Portland.

Trying to match Nancy Lopez’s record with her third victory in the event, Pettersen had an eagle, four birdies and a bogey at Columbia Edgewater. The fourth-ranked Norwegian star is winless this season after winning four times last year to push her career total to 14.

• With heavy heart, Kuchar hovers around lead: Jason Day thought he might be able to pull away from the field at the Deutsche Bank Championship in Norton, Massachusetts. Nine holes later, the second FedEx Cup playoff event was wide open.

Matt Kuchar made six straight birdies around the turn and shot 66. He was one shot behind in what is shaping up as an emotional week. The wife of his caddie, Lance Bennett, died of a seizure Wednesday. Several players are contributing to a trust fund for the couple’s 4-year-old daughter.

• Sway shoots 63 for share of Calgary lead: Bob Tway shot a 7-under 63 for a share of the second-round lead with Joe Durant and Joe Daley in the Champions Tour’s Shaw Charity Classic in Calgary, Alberta.

Durant and Daley shot 68 to match Tway at 10-under 130 at Canyon Meadows.

The 55-year-old Tway is winless on the Champions Tour after winning eight times on the PGA Tour, including the 1986 PGA Championship. He had an eagle, seven birdies and two bogeys.

Indiana holds off Chicago in opener

Basketball: Briann January scored 19 points and Shavonte Zellous added 18 to help the Indiana Fever beat the Chicago Sky 77-70 on in the opener of the Eastern Conference finals in Indianapolis.

Sylvia Fowles led Chicago with 20 points and 14 rebounds. Elena Delle Donna and Quigley added 14 apiece.

Indiana trailed Chicago only in the first two minutes of the game.

Game 2 will be in Chicago on Monday.

• US dominates Finland in basketball worlds: The U.S. held Finland without a basket in the second quarter, opening defense of its title with a 114-55 romp in the Basketball World Cup in Bilbao, Spain.

Klay Thompson, a former WSU Cougar, scored 18 points and Anthony Davis had 17 for the U.S., which will play Turkey on Sunday in a rematch of the 2010 world basketball championship gold-medal game.

The event has since been renamed, but nothing else looks different for the Americans, who won their 55th straight game.

• World Cup has record 45 NBA players: The FIBA World Cup started with a record 45 current NBA players on the rosters of the 24 teams.

There were 75 players in the tournament who have played in the NBA, along with 17 more who have been drafted and whose rights are owned by NBA teams.

All 12 players on the U.S. roster are on NBA teams. Host Spain is next with six.

Itsmyluckyday wins at Saratoga

Miscellany: Itsmyluckyday dueled with Moreno from the gate into deep stretch, surging in the shadow of the wire to win the Grade 1 $600,000 Woodward by a half-length at Saratoga Race Course in Saratoga Springs, N.Y.

Ridden by Paco Lopez, the 4-year-old Itsmyluckyday ran 1 1/8 miles on the main track in 1:48.84 and paid $7.70, $3.70 and $3 as the 5-2 second choice in a field of nine older horses.

Moreno, the front-running winner of the Grade 1 Whitney at Saratoga on Aug. 2, returned $4.20 and $4. Prayer For Relief paid $6 to show.

• Bouhanni wins 8th Vuelta stage, Valverde leads: Nacer Bouhanni of France won a windy eighth stage of the Spanish Vuelta on Saturday in Albacete, Spain, while Alejandro Valverde kept the overall leader’s red jersey.

Strong winds divided the peloton over the final part of the 207-kilometer (128-mile) ride from Baeza to Albacete, but there was no change among the race favorites.