The Boston Globe from Boston, Massachusetts • 37

D8 The Boston Globe MONDAY, AUGUST 6, 2007 Auto racing roundup Busch can taste thrill of Chase Out after a swing and miss Right knee injury shelves Parkhurst 'A' ..4 i I 'if" AS 1 1 1 By Frank Dell'Apa GLOBE STAFF FOXBOROUGH Michael Parkhurst departed from Gillette Stadium with a pair of crutches after hyperextending his REVOLUTION NOTEBOOK 1 zzr S1 MATT ROURKE7ASSOCIATED PRESS Kurt Busch and crew are bubbling with enthusiasm after their Pocono victory. HIIIMmilHIIMIHIIIIMIIIHIIIIMIMIIIIIIHII Busch on tap Kurt Busch's victory in yesterday's Pennsylvania 500 at Long Pond, vaulted him past Dale Earnhardt Jr. into 12th place in the Nextel Cup standings after 21 races and back into position to qualify for the JIM DAVISGLOBE STAFF Luciano Emilio, who scored twice for D.C. United, drew gasps with his performance. burn painful or woefiil Revolution By Frank Dell'Apa GLOBE STAFF Chase for the Cup.

Points Wins 1. Jeff Gordon 3,236 4 2. Denny Hamlin 2,870 I 3. MattKenseth 2,825 1 4. Jeff Burton 2,763 1 5.

Tony Stewart 2,749 2 6. Carl Edwards 2,682 1 7. Jimmie Johnson 2,624 4 8. Kyle Busch 2,611 1 9. Kevin Harvick 2,600 1 10.

Clint Bowyer 2,552 0 11. Martin Truex Jr. 2,437 1 12. Kurt Busch 2,399 1 He zooms to 12th, ends 51-race skid ASSOCIATED PRESS Kurt Busch's winless drought is over. His absence from the Chase may not last much longer, either.

Busch dominated Pocono Raceway in Lond Pond, from the opening lap yesterday and raced his way back into championship contention, giving himself a perfect belated birthday gift: a trip to Victory Lane. A day after he turned 29, Busch snapped a 51-race winless streak and moved into the 12th and final spot for the Chase for the Nextel Cup standings with five races left until the championship races start. "It's been 50-something races and that was a tough burden," Busch said. Yesterday's race didn't include Robby Gordon, who was suspended by NASCAR for his conduct at the Busch Series race in Montreal Saturday. Gordon refused to forfeit his position on the track when ordered to by NASCAR late in the race.

Officials said Gordon intentionally knocked Marcos Ambrose out of the race, and then refused to pull off the track as ordered, ignoring repeated black flags. Gordon also celebrated at the same time as race winner Kevin Harvick, overshadowing what had been a wonderful debut weekend for the series in Canada. Busch, who missed the Chase last year after qualifying in 2004 and '05, hadn't been in the top 12 since a 100-point penalty for reckless driving in June knocked him six spots down to 17th. Now he's back and on his biggest roll of the season. He turned a 13-point deficit behind Dale Earnhardt Jr.

into a 29-point edge. Earnhardt was second and Denny Hamlin, who swept both races at Pocono last year, finished third. Points leader Jeff Gordon and Jimmie Johnson rounded out the top five. IRL Tony Kanaan held off protege Marco Andretti for the final 27 laps and won the Firestone Indy 400 in Brooklyn, a race marred by a spectacular wreck in which Andretti Green Racing teammate Dario Franchitti took a wild, upside-down ride. "We did not have the fast car, and the kid was my wingman," Kanaan said after crossing the finish line less than a car-length ahead of Andretti, who recently moved to Miami to live and work out with the Brazilian driver.

"He protected me, but he was also trying, believe me. I said, 'OK, let's play it to the The race began 4 hours late because of rain. Only eight of 20 cars that started the 200-lap event were running at the end. There were a couple of crashes early in the race, including one that took out defending winner Helio Castroneves and Vitor Mei-ra, but the big one came on Lap FOXBOROUGH The Revolution ABOUT THE STANDINGS: The top 12 drivers after 26 races qualify for the Chase for the Cup. All 12 drivers will have their point totals reset to each will then receive a 10 -point bonus for each race victory they had during the first 26 races.

The Chase drivers will be "seeded" to start the Chase based on the number of wins amassed during the season. right knee in a 3-0 loss to D.C. United yesterday. But Parkhurst was carrying the crutches in his right hand, not using them for support. "I'll use them, just to make sure I don't overcompensate," Parkhurst said.

Parkhurst, the Revolution's starting central defender, whiffed on a ball in the 36th minute, took a few steps, then fell in the penalty area. "I went to clear and the ball took a weird bounce," Parkhurst said. "I swung and missed. My leg expected contact and I hyperex-tended it. I've missed before and it hurts a little.

This time I tried to straighten it but it was too painful." The Revolution went to a Jay Heaps-James Riley-Avery John back line for the remainder of the match and likely will start with that combination against the Har-risburg City Islanders in a US Open Cup quarterfinal Wednesday. "We have a great opportunity to advance," coach Steve Nicol said of the Open Cup match. "We'll get ourselves ready mentally and see who feels good and who feels bad. We want to win the game." One that got away Goalkeeper Matt Reis appeared to have stopped the shot that led to the first goal, but he lost control as Josh Gros ran in to score in the 22d minute. "I got the ball but not cleanly," Reis said.

"And Gros nicked it and scored. It was uncharacteristic of us, top to bottom. We were out of sorts. We've got to look at ourselves, then leave this one behind and move on." Over in a snap The Revolution had unbeaten streaks of six games overall and five matches at home snapped. This was the Revolution's worst home defeat since a 4-1 loss to the Miami Fusion Aug.

11, 2001 at Foxboro Stadium. Jay Heaps (still with the Revolution), Rusty Pierce (Columbus), and Andy Williams (Real Salt Lake) suited up for New England during that game, as did William Sunsing, who scored twice for Brujas FC in a 2-2 tie with Herediano in Costa Rica yesterday. This was the Revolution's worst home defeat under Nicol and the worst loss since they fell, 4-0, at FC Dallas May 20, 2006. "The first goal was bad and it got worse after that," Heaps said. "We didn't play well from top to back, from back to front.

We tried to fix it but we didn't do it early enough. In the second half it was all heart and energy, but that wasn't enough. "This was the first game this year we didn't compete from the first whistle and for us not to compete hurts." On top of things The Revolution still lead MLS in points per game (1.74) and goals per game (1.74) D.C. United (8-6-3, 27 points) played without Christian Gomez (ankle), Brazilian midfielder Fred (suspended), and defender Greg Van-ney (ankle). best chance to recover.

United mostly slowed the game down early, Ben Olsen receiving a caution (27th minute) from referee Alex Prus for delaying a restart. But United's patience and 01-sen's runs on the right and Marc Burch's on the left wing paid off. Emilio's header off a Burch cross was tipped over the bar by Reis (19th). But United remained on the offensive, and Clyde Simms bounced a left-foot shot that Gros finished into an open net after Reis lost control. Emilio stretched the lead after Guy-Roland Kpene slid a perfect ball from the penalty arc past James Riley, Emilio going in alone on Reis.

"The first goal was avoidable; we should have pushed up higher," Nicol said. "Matt made a mess of it, but we have a lot of points that are down to Matt and we are not going to hang him out to dry on making a mistake. It was bad defending on the second goal." The Revolution remained on the defensive. Jay Heaps bruised a calf in a collision (34th) but recovered. Parkhurst went down after an attempted clearance in the penalty area.

After three minutes of treatment, during which Jeff Larentowicz moved into central defense in a 3-4-2 alignment, Parkhurst was taken to the bench on a stretcher and replaced by left back Avery John, Riley moving to central defense. The Revolution went to a direct style of play, Shalrie Joseph launching the ball to Pat Noonan, who won a corner at the end line. Twellman headed toward the near post and, with goalkeeper Troy Perkins beaten, Olsen slightly defleoted the ball and it bounced straight back off the post. "It hit the back of my head," Olsen said. "If not, it might have hit the inside of the post." Emilio scored the final goal after appearing to have maintained possession with a handball in the center circle, then winning a free kick.

While Riley protested the decision, Olsen fed Emilio, who ran free into the penalty area and shot past an advancing Reis in the 76th minute. "The third goal, there was a handball in the middle of the park," Nicol said. "Most people saw it but the referee didn't At 2-nil, we've still got a chance, as poor as we were. But that finished the game off. But we can't blame anyone but ourselves; we were poor." Nicol went to an all-out attack in the second half, adding Adam Cristman and Wells Thompson and moving Noonan to the right wing.

Cristman twice broke through, failing to get off a shot and rolling a left-footer wide in the 89th minute. "There was only one team on the field and it wasn't us," Revolu-tion midfielder Steve Ralston said. "We were second to every ball and we couldn't keep the can't remember us playing that badly. Our egos are hurt. We wish we could play them again tomorrow.

But we just have to come back and do better next time." sustained their worst home defeat at Gillette Stadium in a 3-0 loss to D.C. United yesterday and lost central defender Michael Parkhurst (right knee hyperex-tension) for at least one game. "We were just awful," Revolution coach Steve Nicol said. "You name it and we didn't do it." The Revolution (9-4-6, 33 points) remained in first place in the Eastern Conference but had a two-game winning streak and six-match unbeaten streak snapped. "We put a lot into the game Thursday a 2-0 win over Kansas City and we looked tired yesterday," Nicol said.

"We were sec- ond to every ball and we made bad decisions. Everything that could go wrong for us went wrong." Parkhurst went down late in the first half, after Josh Gros (22d minute) and Luciano Emilio (31st) had scored, and will miss the Revolution-Harrisburg City Islanders US Open Cup match Wednesday. Asked if Parkhurst's absence affected the team's performance, Nicol said: "We were awful before that." The Revolution struggled to set the pace and seemed slow to react after falling behind. Goalkeeper Matt Reis's bobble led to the first goal and Taylor Twellman headed off the post in the 39th minute on the Revolution's 144 when Dan Wheldon, trying to overtake leader Franchitti, appeared to drive his right front tire into Franchitti's left rear. Suddenly, Franchitti's car soared high in the air, backward and upside down.

He came down on top of the car driven by Scott Dixon and, before it was over, cars driven by A.J. Foyt IV, former Michigan winner Tomas Scheck-ter, three-time series champion Sam Hornish, and Ed Carpenter were also involved. "I'm a lucky guy," said the uninjured Franchitti, who watched his teammates battle for the win from his pit. Formula One Lewis Hamilton of McLaren won his third Formula One race of the year at the Hungarian Grand Prix in Budapest, outrunning Kimi Raikkonen and NickHeidfeld. Defending Fl champion Fernando Alonso was fourth.

With six races to go, Hamilton extended his lead over Alonso in the standings to 80-73. Any Given Saturday cruises to Haskell win second choice in the betting, returned $5.60, $4, and $2.10. Hard Spun, the Kentucky Derby runner-up, paid $5 and $2.10, while Curlin returned $2.10. The winning time was 1 minute 48.35 seconds. "He's a much better horse than he was earlier in the spring, more mature mentally and physically," Pletcher said.

It was the second straight Haskell win for Pletcher and co-owner Winstar Farm, Blucgrass Cat having won last year's edition. With the Breeders' Cup to be run at Monmouth for the first time Oct. 26-27, Pletcher has to feel good with the way Any Given Sat-urday handled the track. The trainer said the goal is to return for the $5 million Breeders' Cup Classic, but the bay colt's next start will be determined later. Curlin, meanwhile, was disappointing in his first race in two months, with jockey Robby Alba-rado saying he "didn't accelerate the way I wanted him to" in the stretch.

"We're going to have to figure out why he ran third," Curlin's trainer Steve Asmussen said. "He ran the worst race of his career and we'll have to find out why." ASSOCIATED PRESS OCEANPORT, N.J. Any Given Saturday spoiled Curlin's return to the races by pulling away in the stretch and winning the $1 million Haskell Invitational at Monmouth Park yesterday. With the biggest win of his career, Any Given Saturday gives trainer Todd Pletcher a top 3-year-old colt to go with his star 3-year-old filly, Belmont Stakes winner Rags to Riches. Curlin, meanwhile, never threatened in the stretch of the lV6-mile Haskell, and the Preak-ness winner finished third in his first race since losing the Belmont by a head June 9.

As the field of seven turned for home, Hard Spun took the lead from pace-setter Cable Boy, with Any Given Saturday making his move under Garrett Gomez as the crowd of 43, 1 06 cheered. Any Given Saturday surged into the lead inside the eighth pole and cruised to a 4V4-length victory over Hard Spun, with 4-5 favorite Curlin a head back. Imawildand-crazyguy was fourth, followed by Cable Boy, Xchangcr, and Reata's Shadow. Any Given Saturday, the 9-5 Frank Dell'Apa can be reached at fdellapaglobe.com. 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 D.C United 3, Revolution 0 at GIMte Sodium D.

Untied (-6-3) 7 1-1 New England 04-6) 0 0-0 Scoring: Joshua Gros 1 (unassisted) 22d minute: Luciano Emilio 11 (Guy-Roland Kpene, Marc Burch) 31st; Emilio 12 (Ben Olsen) 76th. Saves: DC, Troy Perkins 2: NE. Matt Reis 6. Shots: D.C. United 11: NEW ENGLAND 10.

Shots on goal: D.C. United NEW ENGLAND 2. Fouls: D.C. United 24: NEW ENGLAND 14. Offsides: D.C.

United NEW ENGLAND 0. Comer kicks: D.C. United 5: NEW ENGLAND 1 1. Yellow cards: DC, Rod Dyachenko 17th, Ben Olsen 27th, Domenlc Mediate 84th; NE, Jay Heaps 46th, Jeff Larentowicz 65th, Pat Noonan 76th. Avery John B3d.

Referee: Alex Ftus. Attendance: 19... D.C. UNITED: Troy Perkins: Bryan Namoff (Do-menic Mediate 78th), Bobby Boswell, Devon Mc-Tavish, Marc Burch: Ben Olsen, Rod Dyachenko, Clyde Simms, Joshua Gros; Luciano Emilio, Guy-Roland Kpene (Jaime Moreno 46th, Brian Carroll 74th). NEW ENGLAND: Matt Reis; Jay Heaps, Michael Parkhurst (Avery John 37th).

James Riley; Steve Ralston, Shalrie Joseph, Jeff larentowicz (Wells Thompson 72d), Andy Dorman (Adam Cristman 46th), Khano Smith; Taylor Twellman, Pat JIM DAVISGLOBE STAFF Jeff Larentowicz resorts to a shirt tug as he attempts to slow D.C.'s Guy-Roland Kpene..