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TALLADEGA, Ala. -- Midway through the final lap yesterday, more than 150,000 people gave out the strangest crowd reaction to a finish in the 37-year history of Talladega Superspeedway. They went nearly completely silent, gazing blankly at a cloud of dust rising from the backstretch. Seconds earlier they'd been jubilant but anxious as their favorite, Dale Earnhardt Jr., tried to hold off Jimmie Johnson for the win in the UAW-Ford 500. Either way it turned out, Earnhardt and Johnson both seemed sure to gain badly needed ground in the standings and liven up the Chase for the Nextel Cup. Then both were wrecked by a non-contender for the championship.

It's one full lap, as swimming goes: England to France and back. A 42-mile odyssey fraught with freighters, fog and frigid waters. Why swim the English Channel? "Because it feels good when you stop," Andy Grannell said. Grannell, 59, was part of a six-person relay team that combined to crisscross the channel earlier this month. Each swam an hour at a time. All are members of the Arundel Olympic Swim Center in Annapolis, where they planned the feat. Crossing from Britain to France is considered the grail of aquaculture, said team member Annette Holmgren, 41, of Chester.

LOUDON, N.H. -- They call him "Happy." That nickname might have never fit better than it did yesterday for Kevin Harvick. Nobody left New Hampshire International Speedway happier than Harvick, who jumped to the top spot of the NASCAR Nextel Cup standings after winning the Sylvania 300 before 101,000 at NHIS. The race was the first of 10 in the Chase for the Nextel Cup. Harvick started on the pole and had the dominant car most of the race, but at times he was forced to drive with some of the aggressive racing style that has marked his six years in Nextel Cup. Harvick had a two-second lead on the field in the late stages before a caution on Lap 292 set up a four-lap shootout among Harvick, Jeff Gordon and Tony Stewart.

You would know this only if you were a young parent who also happens to be a major Jayhawks football fan, but the University of Kansas reserves the right to rent your lap. That's right. Kansas and a number of other major college programs insist that everyone, including the smallest of infants, have a ticket to get into their football stadiums, something that a young couple found out the hard way at Saturday's season opener. Owen and Lisa Foust were turned back at the gate and told that they would have to pony up $35 for their 3-month-old daughter to sit on their laps while they watched the Jayhawks pound hapless Northwestern State.

FARMERSVILLE, Pa. -- In front of the Lancaster County home where prospective Tour de France champion Floyd Landis grew up is a sign that says, "The glory of young men is their strength." It's biblical, from the Book of Proverbs, and it refers to the remarkable comeback Landis made to lead the Tour de France as the cyclists make their way to Paris' Champs-Elysees today on a leg generally considered a formality, although there is precedent for trailing riders snatching victory on the final day. Today's final stage Sceaux-Antony to Paris TV: 7:30 a.m., OLN Inside: "I could not be happier," Landis says.

TOKYO -- Junichiro Koizumi is about to leave the building. After five years as Japan's prime minister, the curtain is coming down on the leader who alternately charmed and bullied his country into overhauling atrophied political and economic systems, while casting its lot more deeply with Washington. Japan is on the cusp of the post-Koizumi era. The race to succeed him is under way, lending a victory-lap aura to the prime minister's visit to Washington that begins tomorrow. Unless North Korea fires a long-range missile in the interim, there won't be much business on the table when he meets President Bush.

BROOKLYN, Mich. -- Kasey Kahne had been winning big on his newfound patience this year. Yesterday, he spiked it with some of his old impatience, and won again. Kahne started on the pole in the 3M Performance 400 but fell back to 38th, one lap down, with an early overheating problem caused by debris on the grille of his Dodge. With a methodical sense of urgency, he worked his way back to regain the lead just past the halfway point. While he was up front, rain shortened the race from 200 to 129 laps, and left him in Victory Lane at Michigan International Speedway.

BROOKLYN, Mich. -- Last time out in the Nextel Cup series, Bill Lester drove cautiously, just trying to learn and earn respect. This time, in today's 3M Performance 400, he plans to go racing - aggressively. At Atlanta in March, Lester became the first black driver to qualify for a Cup-level NASCAR race in 20 years. But in that race, Lester said Friday after qualifying 34th for his second Cup event of this season, "My objective in Atlanta was to earn the respect of my competitors. "Most of these guys had never raced against me," he said of NASCAR's best drivers, even though he's a veteran of the third-tier Craftsman Truck series.

INDIANAPOLIS -- Michael Andretti couldn't believe his eyes. With only three laps left in the 90th Indianapolis 500, his 19-year-old son, Marco, was leading the race in his first try - with Michael right behind him. "It was a fairly tale," said Michael, who came out of retirement to race with Marco at least once at Indianapolis Motor Speedway. "It was the dream we talked about." But it's still a dream because of high drama provided by Sam Hornish Jr., a tenacious Ohioan who was on his own mission to win his first 500 after failed attempts in six previous years.

Calendar NASCAR NEXTEL CUP Nextel All-Star Open and Nextel All-Star Challenge Site -- Concord, N.C. When -- Saturday, 7:30 p.m. (Open) and 9 p.m. (Challenge) TV -- FX (7 p.m.) Track -- Lowe's Motor Speedway (1.5-mile quad-oval) Format -- The winner of the 30-lap Nextel Open advances to the Nextel All-Star Challenge. The All-Star Challenge is a 90-lap dash for $1 million made up of three segments - two 40-lap runs followed by a 10-lap sprint. Between each of the segments, the field must make pit stops.