Rookie Austin Dillon cashes in with Nationwide win

SPARTA, Ky. - Rookie Austin Dillon took advantage of misfortune by Ricky Stenhouse Jr. and Elliott Sadler to win the Kentucky 300 at Kentucky Speedway on Saturday.

Sam Hornish Jr. was second, followed by Las Vegan Brendan Gaughan, Drew Herring and Sadler, who reclaimed the Nationwide Series points lead from Stenhouse.

Dillon seemed destined for a runner-up run behind Sadler, who got an opening when Stenhouse collided with Eric McClure on pit road on lap 33. That handed first place to Sadler, and he pulled away in pursuit of his fifth win this season.

But Sadler encountered steering issues with 50 laps left, and subsequent pit stops for corrections ultimately yielded the lead to his Richard Childress Racing teammate.

Sadler has a four-point lead over Stenhouse, who finished 17th. Dillon is 19 points back.

Dillon, who won the pole, swept the two Kentucky races this season.

Danica Patrick placed 14th after starting 11th.

■ NHRA - At Ennis, Texas, John Force won the Traxxas Nitro Shootout in the Texas NHRA Fall Nationals, beating Ron Capps to take the $100,000 top prize in the Funny Car bonus event.

The 63-year-old Force had a run of 4.218 seconds at 296.57 mph in his Ford Mustang.

In the second of the six playoff events in the NHRA Full Throttle Countdown to the Championship, Shawn Langdon (Top Fuel), Courtney Force (Funny Car), Allen Johnson (Pro Stock) and Hector Arana Jr. (Pro Stock Motorcycle) led qualifying.

■ FORMULA ONE - At Singapore, Lewis Hamilton claimed the pole for the Singapore Grand Prix, the fourth straight race a McLaren driver will start first. Williams driver Pastor Maldonado was second in qualifying.

Ferrari's Fernando Alonso, who has a 37-point lead over Hamilton in the championship standings with seven races to go, qualified fifth.