Brad Keselowski

INDIANAPOLIS -- Danica Patrick's return to the Indianapolis Motor Speedway in a stock car ended in a hard crash less than halfway through Saturday's Indiana 250. Patrick, the former IndyCar driver who now races in NASCAR's second-tier Nationwide Series, was running about 20th when the top five race leaders made pit stops. Patrick remained on the track and was running behind Reed Sorenson. As the two entered Turn 1 on lap 39 of the 100-lap race, Patrick's No. 7 Chevrolet tapped the back of Sorenson's No. 98 Ford, sending Sorenson into a spin.

Grigor Dimitrov stunned Novak Djokovic in the second round of the Madrid Open on Tuesday, beating the top-ranked Serb, 7-6 (6), 6-7 (8), 6-3, for the biggest win of his career. The 28th-ranked Bulgarian saved three set points in the first before taking the lead, and Djokovic then appeared to hurt his right ankle while trailing 4-2 in the second. Djokovic, who ended Rafael Nadal's eight-year winning streak at the Monte Carlo Masters last month, said the loss had more to do with poor preparation than an injury.

If there's anyone who can appreciate what it means to have 28-year-old Brad Keselowski as NASCAR's new Sprint Cup Series champion, it's Jeff Gordon. Gordon won his first Cup title in 1995 when he was 24, earning the nickname "Wonder Boy. " He would go on to win three more. Now 41, Gordon was asked about Keselowski's ability to be NASCAR's leading face, after Gordon won the season's final race Sunday at Homestead-Miami (Fla.) Speedway and Keselowski captured the championship, the first driver born in the 1980s to do so. "He'll do great," Gordon said.

This ought to give Aaron Rodgers better memories of the NFL draft. The Green Bay Packers signed their franchise quarterback Friday to a five-year contract extension through the 2019 season, eight years after they stopped his slide down the draft board and took him with the 24th pick in the first round. The deal, according to a person with knowledge of the contract who spoke to the Associated Press on condition of anonymity because the team has not released the details, is worth as much as $110 million, with $40 million guaranteed.

Brad Keselowski had a memorable interview with ESPN after winning the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series championship, one in which he drank Miller Lite beer -- his main sponsor -- from an oversized glass and acknowledged he had "a little buzz going here. " If anyone had a problem with that, Keselowski wasn't among them. "It looked like a guy that was having fun, which is what I was having," Keselowski, 28, said Tuesday on a conference call with reporters. "I'm proud of that moment.

Brad Keselowski, the newly crowned NASCAR Sprint Cup Series champion, said Tuesday he has no plans to keep his title trophy at home. "It's not at my house, it's at Penske Racing on display for the team guys," Keselowski, 28, said during a break in testing at Charlotte Motor Speedway in North Carolina. "I don't keep trophies at my house," Keselowski said, according to a transcript provided by Ford Racing. "I don't believe in building a shrine to myself. It's kind of weird. " Penske, which formerly ran Dodge race cars, has switched to Ford for 2013 and Keselowski was testing his No. 2 Ford Fusion at Charlotte.

Brad Keselowski held off points leader Kyle Busch on the final lap to win the Kroger On Track For the Cure 250 in a green-white-checker finish in Saturday's Nationwide Series race. Keselowski was leading at Memphis Motorsports Park in Tennessee when a caution came out with two laps to go because Stephen Wallace spun after tangling with Matt Kenseth. Wallace banged into Kenseth's car after the race and the two had words on pit road. Keselowski held on to the lead through the overtime segment.

Brad Keselowski is NASCAR's new man to beat. The 28-year-old third-generation driver seized the Chase for the Sprint Cup series lead with a late surge and a 3.1-second victory over favorite Jimmie Johnson in Sunday's Geico 400 at Chicagoland Speedway in Joliet, Ill. Whether it lasts is another matter. Nine races remain in the circuit's championship series. "It feels like Round 1 of a heavyweight title bout," said Keselowski, whose father, grandfather and uncle also raced.

Brad Keselowski got a huge push from Kyle Busch to take the lead with a lap to go Sunday, then used a calculated move to prevent Busch from taking the win away from him at Talladega (Ala.) Superspeedway. A nine-car accident with four laps remaining brought out the yellow flag, setting up a two-lap overtime sprint to the finish. Keselowski ended up in Victory Lane for the second time this season, and continued a hot streak for team owner Roger Penske , who won for the first time in the Sprint Cup Series at Talladega.

When Dodge announced last month it was leaving NASCAR's Sprint Cup Series after 2012, the automaker was careful to say it would still help its sole Cup team, Penske Racing, try to win a title this year. Dodge might just get that done. Penske's Brad Keselowski has the early lead in NASCAR's 10-race Chase for the Cup championship playoff after winning the Chase opener last weekend at Chicagoland Speedway. And although Keselowski, 28, is only in his third full year in the Cup series, few discount his ability to keep pace with his more experienced Chase rivals, including five-time champion Jimmie Johnson and reigning titleholder Tony Stewart.

Matt Kenseth and his Joe Gibbs Racing team were hit with major penalties from NASCAR on Wednesday following Kenseth's victory Sunday at Kansas Speedway. NASCAR said that in its post-race inspection of Kenseth's No. 20 Toyota, it found the car had an unapproved engine part -- a connecting rod that was too light. Although Kenseth was able to keep his victory, the driver was stripped of 50 Sprint Cup Series championship points, dropping the former Cup champion from eighth in the standings to a tie for 14th with Jeff Gordon.

Turns out an engine part on Matt Kenseth's Toyota was three grams too light when the NASCAR driver raced to victory Sunday at Kansas Speedway, the equivalent of about two cotton balls in the words of his engine builder. But in terms of Kenseth's bid to win his second Sprint Cup championship, the violation carried the weight of an anvil. Kenseth on Wednesday drew a massive 50-point penalty from NASCAR for having the unapproved part, knocking Kenseth from eighth in the Cup standings to a tie for 14th with Jeff Gordon.

NASCAR on Wednesday levied stiff fines against the teams of reigning Sprint Cup Series champion Brad Keselowski and teammate Joey Logano because their cars were found to have unapproved suspension systems before Saturday's race at Texas Motor Speedway. Keselowski's crew chief Paul Wolfe, Logano's crew chief Todd Gordon and some other team members of the two Penske Racing Fords were suspended for the next six points-paying races along with the non-points Sprint All-Star Race on May 18. The crew chiefs also were fined $100,000 each.

Dale Earnhardt Jr. said Thursday he had no issues with Texas Motor Speedway's decision to have the National Rifle Assn. as the title sponsor of the NASCAR Sprint Cup race Saturday night. The track's willingness to hold a race called the NRA 500 amid the heightened national debate over gun-control laws has raised eyebrows. It's also a tradition for the speedway to have the winner fire blanks from two six-shooters in Victory Lane. But Earnhardt, arguably NASCAR's most popular driver, told reporters before testing at the Fort Worth track, "I think it's a good fit for Texas.

During his remarkable career that includes five consecutive NASCAR Sprint Cup titles, Jimmie Johnson has calmly endured an undercurrent of hostility from some fans who find his winning ways, well, a turnoff. But with the help of Twitter, Johnson is firing back at his critics. After winning the Cup race at Martinsville (Va.) Speedway for the eighth time Sunday, Johnson sarcastically tweeted: "You haters have it right. I'm a bad teammate. I have a cheated up car, I'm lucky and the race was fixed.

It took about 10 minutes of listening to Brad Keselowski to ponder whether NASCAR really appreciates what it has. First, he can drive. He is no big mouth with nothing to back it up. He is the defending Sprint Cup champion and will try to build on his points lead in Sunday's Auto Club 400 in Fontana. But, wow, can he talk. The phrases turn faster than the Miller Lite Ford he drives. And there is substance. This is not Floyd Mayweather Jr. spewing macho claptrap for the sole benefit of Floyd Mayweather Jr. The world of big-time stock-car racing certainly knows this, but to those of us who wouldn't know a lug nut from a hickory nut, it is fascinating, even startling.

CONCORD, N.C. - A week after the restrictor-plate tentacles of Talladega got their grip on a bunch of drivers, another nemesis popped up at Charlotte Motor Speedway: The Fuel Mileage Monster. It zapped Chase leader Brad Keselowski and was benevolent to Clint Bowyer. Bowyer won Saturday night's Bank of America 500 and, most important, shaved precious points off Keselowski's lead as the man to beat in the Chase. Keselowski is now just seven points ahead of Jimmie Johnson and 15 points ahead of Denny Hamlin.

AVONDALE, Ariz. — Brad Keselowski not only is a talented NASCAR driver, he's also confident, aggressive and self-assured. Good thing, because standing between Keselowski and his first Sprint Cup Series championship is perhaps the most daunting challenge he could face: Jimmie Johnson. Johnson, seeking a remarkable sixth Cup title in the last seven years, has a seven-point lead over Keselowski in the title standings with two races left, starting with Sunday's AdvoCare 500 at Phoenix International Raceway.

Matt Kenseth won on his 41st birthday for his new Joe Gibbs Racing team, barely holding off Kasey Kahne in NASCAR's Sprint Cup Series for his third victory at Las Vegas Motor Speedway on Sunday. Kenseth earned the 25th victory of his career in only his third start in the JGR Toyota after leaving Roush Fenway Racing in the off-season. He took the lead away from Kahne out of a late restart and fended off Kahne's Chevrolet over the final laps, adding another trophy to his Las Vegas victories in 2003 and 2004.