Daytona Beach, Fla. -- The NASCAR schedule for 2008 was released Wednesday and about the only thing that will change is the name.

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Beginning next year, the championship series of races will be known as the Sprint Cup rather than the Nextel Cup.

The season will open Feb. 17 with the 50th Daytona 500 and will end Nov. 16 at the Homestead-Miami Speedway. There will be no new venues and few changes in the order of the races.

Among the slight alterations will be a delay of the first open date until after the fifth race of the season. There was an open date in 2007 immediately following the Daytona 500.

The race in Joliet, Ill., scheduled for July 12, will be held a Saturday night instead of a Sunday afternoon.

The 10-race chase for the championship will involve the same locations as this year -- Loudon, N.H.; Dover, Del.; Kansas City, Kan.; Talladega, Ala.; Concord, N.C.; Martinsville, Va.; Hampton, Ga.; Fort Worth, Texas; Phoenix and Homestead.

Daytona Beach, Fla. -- Carl Edwards, who won Sunday's Dodge Dealers 400 at Dover, was penalized 25 driver championship points Tuesday for rule violations.

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The points loss dropped Edwards from third to sixth in the Chase for the Nextel Cup standings. He is now 28 points behind leader Jeff Gordon.

Edwards' Ford Fusion was found, in a post-race inspection, to be too low in the right rear area, which violated three sections of the NASCAR Car of Tomorrow Technical Bulletin.

In addition to the points lost, Edwards crew chief Bob Osborne was fined $25,000. There also will be a 25-point penalty of car owner championship points for Roush Fenway Racing. Osborne also has been placed on probation until Dec. 31.

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Copyright 2007 by United Pres

Dover, Del. -- Jimmie Johnson won the pole Friday for Sunday's Dodge Dealer 400 at Dover, Del., the second of 10 races in the NASCAR chase for the championship.

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It was only the second pole victory of the season for Johnson, but his second in three weeks. He drove a lap around the track known as the "Monster Mile" in 23.261 seconds.

Juan Pablo Montoya had the second-fastest time, followed by Denny Hamlin and Kurt Busch.

Johnson will go into this week's race trailing only Jeff Gordon in the points chase.

Gordon qualified 27th. Tony Stewart, third in points, was 28th quickest on Friday.

Clint Bowyer, who won the first "chase" race last week -- and thus vaulted from 12th to fourth in the standings -- will start 42nd after a poor qualifying run.

There's nothing quite like the joy of a new (or a nearly new) car. Everything works exactly as it should, the paint shines, the motor purrs, the interior is clean and has that wonderful new-car smell, and if anything should go wrong, the dealer will fix it under warranty.

Mason, Ohio -- Suspended NASCAR driver Aaron Fike pleaded innocent to a heroin charge stemming from his arrest at an Ohio amusement park.

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Aaron Fike could be sentenced to up to a year in prison if he is convicted of possession of heroin, The Cincinnati Enquirer reported. He was allowed to remain free after a court appearance Wednesday in Warren County, northeast of Cincinnati.

Cassandra Davidson, a member of Fike's crew and his fiancee, pleaded guilty in August. She is to be sentenced next month.

The couple were arrested in July at the Kings Island park in Mason, Ohio. Both have been suspended by NASCAR.

Fike, a Craftsman Truck Series driver and contender for Rookie of the Year honors, had been scheduled to compete at the Kentucky Speedway a week after his arrest.

Dallas -- Dale Earnhardt Jr. announced Wednesday he will be sponsored by Mountain Dew next season, and his Chevrolet will use No. 88.

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He said last month he is ending his nine-year partnership with DEI Enterprises to join Hendrick Motor Sports, but was unable to come to terms with his stepmother, Theresa, on the No. 8.

He had used No. 8 since his partnership with DEI began in 2000 with Budweiser's sponsorship.

Budweiser will be the primary sponsor of the No. 9 Dodge driven by Kasey Kahne next season, with Mark Martin and rookie Aric Almirola sharing the No. 8 Chevrolet.

Earnhardt will join, among others, Jeff Gordon and Jimmie Johnson.
The U.S. Army, Martin's sponsor this year, will continue as his sponsor in 2008.

Spa Francorchamps, Belgium -- Pole winner Kimi Raikkonen never trailed in Sunday's Belgium Grand Prix at Spa Francorchamps.

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The No.6 Ferrari driver crossed the finish line 4.695 seconds ahead of teammate Felipe Massa.

The win was Raikkonen's third straight at Spa, fourth of the season and 13th of his Formula One career.

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Copyright 2007 by United Press International.

Loudon, N.H. -- Clint Bowyer Sunday won his first Nextel Cup race, in the opening event of the 10-race "Chase for the Nextel Cup" at the New Hampshire International Speedway.

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Bowyer, the No.07 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet driver, made just his 64th start and crossed the finish line 6.469 seconds ahead of Jeff Gordon in the Sylvania 300.

The win helped Bowyer move from 12th and last in the "Chase" to fourth.
Bowyer, who won the Sylvania 300 pole Friday, brought the field to the green flag for 300 laps around the 1.058-mile NHIS oval.

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Copyright 2007 by United Press International.

Paris -- The McLaren Formula One racing team Thursday was fined $100 million for possession of confidential technical data belonging to rival Ferrari.

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The fine came after McLaren's admission of its part in the F1 spying scandal.
The team also was stripped of its points in the constructors' standings after the ruling by the FIA World Motor Sport Council (WMSC).

"The team can score no points for the remainder of the season," FIA said in a statement. "However, due to the exceptional circumstances in which the FIA gave the team's drivers an immunity in return for providing evidence, there is no penalty in regards to drivers' points."

"Fortunately, this means our drivers can continue to compete for the World Championship," McLaren said in a statement.

Monza, Italy -- Fernando Alonso was dominant Sunday in winning the Formula One Italian Grand Prix auto race at Monza, Italy.

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The No. 1 McLaren driver crossed the finish line 6.062 seconds ahead of teammate Lewis Hamilton for his fourth victory this season and 19th of his Formula One career.

The two-time world champion won on a day when the rookie Hamilton had no answer to Alonso's relentless pace.

Alonso set a fastest lap of the day on Lap 12 to slightly edge away from the runner-up.

"A perfect weekend for me," Alonso said. "Sometimes everything seems to go in the right direction (and) to win here in Monza for the first time is a very special win."

Kimi Raikkonen, Felipe Massa, and Nick Heidfeld finished third, fourth and fifth, respectively.