Nationwide

Auto Racing

NEW YORK – Jimmie Johnson believes his NASCAR Nextel Cup championship is something special, and not just because it came after several frustrating near misses.

Before stepping on stage at the historic Waldorf Astoria Hotel to collect a record-setting $15,770,125, including $6,785,982 from the series sponsor’s points fund, Johnson reflected on a season in which he won the Daytona 500, the Brickyard 400 and three other races, as well as coming back to take the title after stumbling out of the blocks in the 10-race Chase for the championship.

The other nine drivers in the Chase also were given big checks, along with 11th-place finisher Tony Stewart and rookie of the year Denny Hamlin of Chesterfield County.

Baseball

SAN FRANCISCO – The San Francisco Giants declined to offer salary arbitration to Barry Bonds before the deadline, prompting his agent to say the team has not made bringing the slugger back a priority.

The decision by the Giants was expected and does not necessarily mean baseball’s No. 2 career home run hitter won’t be back in San Francisco for a 15th season.

NEW YORK – Tom Glavine returned to the New York Mets and twenty-five free agents were offered arbitration by their former teams before the midnight deadline, a group that included Oakland’s Barry Zito and San Francisco’s Jason Schmidt, the top available starting pitchers on the market.

In the past, players not offered arbitration couldn’t re-sign with their former teams until May 1. But under baseball’s new labor contract, agreed to during the World Series, the deadline lost much of its importance.

Basketball

NEW YORK – The players’ association filed two unfair-labor-practice charges against the NBA over issues with the new ball and the league’s crackdown on player complaints.

The charges were filed with the National Labor Relations Board.

NBA commissioner David Stern enacted a policy cracking down on player reactions after the whistle, saying players were reacting too strongly after fouls are called, and it has led to an increase in technical fouls called this season.

With players fined for each technical they receive, union director Billy Hunter told The Associated Press last month that legal action could be the next step if Stern didn’t tell the referees to “back off.”

College Football

AUSTIN, Texas – Texas backup quarterback Jevan Snead will transfer, school officials announced, leaving the Longhorns with no experienced quarterback behind the injured Colt McCoy for their bowl game.

The statement did not say where Snead, a freshman, planned to attend.

Golf

LA QUINTA, Calif. – Australia’s Paul Gow took the third-round lead in the six-round PGA Tour final qualifying tournament, shooting a 7-under 65 to move two strokes ahead of Rich Barcelo and Cameron Beckman.

Gow had an eagle, six birdies and a bogey on PGA West’s Jack Nicklaus Tournament Course for a 13-under 203 total. Beckman had a 66, and Barcelo shot a 70, both on the Nicklaus course. The three leaders will play the Stadium Course on Saturday.

The top 30 players and ties at the end of Monday’s final round will earn PGA Tour cards for next year, with approximately the next 50 players earning full exemptions to the Nationwide Tour. The remaining players in the field will be conditionally exempt to the Nationwide Tour next season.

Sking

BEAVER CREEK, Colo. – A men’s World Cup super-combi race that was scrapped because of warm weather has been rescheduled for Dec. 10 in Reiteralm, Austria.`

World Cup officials announced Wednesday that the men’s downhill and super-combi races scheduled for Dec. 9-10 in Val d’Isere, France, were shelved because of a lack of snow, bringing to three the number of World Cup events canceled so far on account of unusually warm European weather.

The season-opening races on the glacier in Soelden, Austria, were wiped out because of heavy rain, and the women’s events set for St. Moritz, Switzerland, on Dec. 9-10 were canceled because of a lack of snow. The women also have races in Val d’Isere, but later in December.

Luge

PARK CITY, Utah – Christian Oberstolz and Patrick Gruber are 2-for-2 in World Cup luge this season.

The Italian team was good enough on the final run to edge Germany’s Patric Leitner and Alexander Resch by 0.011 seconds, winning their second straight World Cup race this season.

Italy’s Gerhard Plankensteiner and Oswald Haselrieder, who won bronze at the Turin Olympics, were third (1:26.916) and Americans Mark Grimmette and Brian Martin finished fourth (1:27.033).

Bobsled

CALGARY, Alberta – Olympic champions Andre Lang and Kevin Kuske of Germany won the season-opening World Cup two-man bobsled race, putting together a two-run time of 1 minute, 50.28 seconds to beat the U.S. duo.

Americans Steven Holcomb and Brock Kreitzberg were second in 1:51.38.

Canadians Pierre Lueders and Lascelles Brown, the Olympic silver medalists and defending World Cup champs in two-man bobsled, totaled 1:51.57 on their home track at Canada Olympic Park to finish tied for third with Switzerland’s Ivo Rueegg and Cedric Grand.

Rodeo

LAS VEGAS – Jess Davis won the bareback in only his second National Finals Rodeo round, scoring 86 points on Painted Smile.

The 25-year-old Davis, from Payson, Utah, moved into second place in the NFR aggregate standings behind first-round winner Wes Stevenson of Kaufman, Texas.

Stevenson was second with an 80, and Ryan Gray of Cheney, Wash., and Royce Ford of Briggsdale, Colo., tied for third with 78s.