In Brief

motor sports

Patrick nears Nationwide deal,
but still would run in Indy 500

Danica Patrick could still run the Indianapolis 500 even if she makes a full-time move to NASCAR, The Associated Press learned Tuesday.

Two people familiar with Patrick's 2012 plans said she is in the final stages of a deal to run a full-time Nationwide Series schedule with JR Motorsports and limited Sprint Cup Series races with the team owned by two-time NASCAR champion Tony Stewart. The deal won't be finished until she has secured a release from Andretti Autosport.

The talks include her continuing to run the Indianapolis 500, one person said.

JR Motorsports co-owner Dale Earnhardt Jr. said last weekend he wants Patrick to run a full Nationwide schedule with his team. She has driven 19 Nationwide races for his team in the past two seasons and has six more scheduled starts this year.

Earlier this year, Stewart said he would love to work with Patrick but only in the Sprint Cup Series. He has wanted to expand his two-car Stewart-Haas Racing organization but had no interest in fielding a Nationwide car.

The potential to continue to race in the Indianapolis 500 is a new wrinkle, considering JRM co-owner Kelley Earnhardt has said that it would be difficult for Patrick to run that race and compete for the Nationwide championship. Running the Indy 500 requires drivers to spend most of the month of May at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, and NASCAR this year ran three Nationwide races during that span.

miscellaneous

On the comeback trail, Hansen wins U.S. 100 breaststroke title

Three years after retiring following a disappointing Beijing Olympics, Brendan Hansen is once again a champion.

Hansen won the 100-meter breaststroke at the U.S. nationals at Stanford, Calif., adding a title to a comeback summer that he hopes carries him back to the Olympics next year.

"My swim made me realize I'm glad I came back last December and had not decided to start in September," Hansen said.

The former world-record holder won the U.S. title with a time of 1 minute, 0.08 seconds, the eighth fastest in the world this year. Hansen beat out Kevin Swander and Marcus Titus to win the championship he last held in 2008.

Earlier, Dana Vollmer won the women's 100 butterfly, the same event she won last week at worlds in Shanghai.

Elizabeth Beisel won the 200 individual medley in 2:10.75, beating out Katie Hoff and Madeline Dirado. Beisel previously won gold in the 400 IM in Shanghai.

Also: Eliminations winners Broad Bahn and Manofmanymissions will try to win Saturday's $1.5 million Hambletonian from the two inside posts.

Broad Bahn won the draw among the elimination winners to pick first, and trainer Noel Daley went with the No. 1 post for harness racing's most prestigious race. Trainer Erv Miller took the No. 2 post for 9-5 favorite Manofmanymissions. The post positions for the other eight 3-year-old trotters were determined in an open draw for the race at the Meadowlands Racetrack in East Rutherford, N.J.

James Blake of the United States upset defending champion David Nalbandian of Argentina 6-2, 6-4 to reach the third round of the Legg Mason Tennis Classic in Washington. Once ranked as high as No. 4, Blake had dropped to 173rd in March and began this week 90th.

ESPN analyst and former NBA player Jalen Rose reported to a suburban Detroit jail to begin a 20-day sentence for drunken driving. Rose crashed his SUV in March after drinking six large martinis. He pleaded guilty in May.

Tour de France champion Cadel Evans will race for the BMC Racing Team through 2014. Evans joined BMC as the reigning world road champion in 2010 and helped the squad earn its first berths in the Tour de France and Giro d'Italia the same season. He is No. 1 in the UCI WorldTour rankings.

Jeremy Wariner, a former world and Olympic gold medalist in the 400 meters, will miss the track and field world championships this month in South Korea because of a foot injury.