Bad Streak Ends for Earnhardt Jr.

The turnaround is complete, and Dale Earnhardt Jr. is back in Victory Lane.

Coming off the worst season of his career, Earnhardt ended a 27-race winless streak Saturday night at Richmond International Raceway in Virginia with a victory that proves just how far his team has come since missing out on the Chase for the Championship last year.

“I think we are there,” he said. “We keep taking our shots, but we’re pretty competitive. Everything is working really great. I couldn’t ask for any position on this team to be any better.

“I’m just glad to be back in Victory Lane. It feels really great.”

Long overdue for a win, he celebrated the 17th victory of his Nextel Cup career and third at Richmond.

Earnhardt won last July in Chicago -- his only victory of 2005 -- but backed into the win because of fuel strategy.

Denny Hamlin, driving with his hand heavily bandaged after he needed 19 stitches to close a gash he received “horseplaying” with his crew, finished second.

Kevin Harvick, who dominated the race and led 272 of the 400 laps, was third.

World Champion Fernando Alonso secured his first pole position of the season with a blistering lap in qualification for the European Grand Prix at Nuerburgring, Germany.

Alonso clocked 1 minute 29.819 seconds on the 3.2-mile Nuerburgring circuit. Last year, Nick Heidfeld won pole position in 1:30.081.

Seven-time world champion Michael Schumacher will start today’s race from second place after posting a time of 1:30.028 in qualifying.

His Ferrari teammate, Felipe Massa, was third in 1:30.407. Honda driver Rubens Barrichello was fourth in 1:30.754.

Alonso, a Renault driver, won his 10th career pole position.

TENNIS

Clijsters, Kuznetsova Reach J&S; Cup Final

Top-seeded Kim Clijsters and Svetlana Kuznetsova recorded straight-set wins to advance to today’s final of the clay court J&S; Cup at Warsaw.

Clijsters defeated Elena Dementieva, 7-5, 6-4, avenging a loss to her in Fed Cup play almost two weeks ago.

In the other semifinal, Kuznetsova overpowered Anna Chakvetadze, 6-1, 6-1 to advance to her third straight J&S; final.

Former champions David Nalbandian and Nikolay Davydenko will play in the Estoril Open final today at Oeiras, Portugal.

Top-seeded Nalbandian, the 2000 champion, beat Albert Portas, 7-5, 6-1, and second-seeded Davydenko, the 2003 winner, rallied to defeat Carlos Moya, 3-6, 6-2, 6-2.

In the women’s event, sixth-seeded Zheng Jie will play eighth-seeded Na Li in an all-Chinese final.

Zheng beat top-seeded Flavia Pennetta, 6-2, 6-3, and Li, last year’s runner-up, topped seventh-seeded Emilie Loit, 7-5, 6-2.

Kristof Vliegen beat third-seeded Jarkko Nieminen, 6-1, 6-2, setting up an all-Belgian final in the BMW Open at Munich, Germany.

Vliegen will be playing for his first title today when he faces fifth-seeded Olivier Rochus, who defeated Jurgen Melzer, 6-4, 6-7 (1), 6-3, in the other semifinal.

SOCCER

Bayern Munich Clinches German League Title

Bayern Munich celebrated its sixth German league title in eight years after second-place Hamburg lost, 4-2, to Hertha Berlin.

Munich tied 1-1 with FC Kaiserslautern but would still have won the title with a loss because of Hamburg’s defeat.

FC Barcelona beat crosstown rival Espanyol, 2-0, in its first game at home since clinching the Spanish league title for the second straight season. An own-goal by Daniel Jarque and Ronaldinho’s goal gave Barcelona its 25th win.

FOOTBALL

Hamilton Leads Orlando to Arena League Playoffs

Joe Hamilton threw five touchdown passes and the Orlando Predators clinched a playoff spot with a 63-42 victory over the expansion Kansas City Brigade in an Arena Football League game at Kansas City, Mo.

Hamilton completed 18 of 22 passes for 175 yards, and Jimmy Fryzel led the Predators (10-5) in receiving with nine catches for 102 yards and two touchdowns.

Raymond Philyaw threw two touchdown passes for the Brigade (3-12).

In other games: Tony Graziani threw six touchdown passes and ran for another score to help the Philadelphia Soul (8-7) to a 51-48 victory over the league-leading Dallas Desperados (12-3) at Philadelphia.... Nick Browder threw five touchdown passes and also ran for a score to help the New York Dragons (10-5) clinch a playoff spot with a 47-35 victory over the Georgia Force (8-7) at Uniondale, N.Y.... John Kaleo threw six touchdown passes -- three to Carl Bond -- to help the Columbus Destroyers (8-7) to a 51-48 win over the Tampa Bay Storm (7-8) at Columbus, Ohio.... Bobby Sippio caught 10 passes for 217 yards and six touchdowns to help the Chicago Rush (6-9) to an 84-48 rout of the Utah Blaze (6-9) at Rosemont, Ill.

MISCELLANY

Gatlin, Powell Run World-Leading Times

Justin Gatlin and Asafa Powell, two of the fastest men in the world, each ran world-leading times in the 100 meters at separate meets.

Gatlin, the world and Olympic champion, got the start he wanted and won in 9.95 seconds at the Osaka Grand Prix in Japan.Gatlin has said one of his goals this season will be to break Powell’s world record of 9.77.

Powell matched Gatlin’s time by winning the Jamaica International at Kingston.

Olympic champion Jeremy Wariner clocked his second of the world’s fastest three times this year in the 400 and easily won at the Modesto Relays in 44.84 seconds Saturday.

In April, Wariner clocked a 44.12 in the 400 to establish the fastest mark in the world this year.

Olympic champion Sweden beat Ukraine, 4-2, behind Fredrik Emvall’s two goals in an opening qualification-round game at hockey’s world championships in Riga, Latvia.

In the other Group B game, Switzerland beat Italy, 3-1. Russia got three goals apiece from Alexander Ovechkin and Alexander Semin and beat Kazakhstan, 10-1, in its opening Group C game.

Belarus upset Slovakia, 2-1, behind two power-play goals and 36 saves from goalie Andrei Mezin in the other Group C game.

David Vyborny, the Columbus Blue Jackets’ all-time scoring leader, signed a two-year contract.

As expected, Detroit Piston assistant Sidney Lowe was introduced as the men’s basketball coach at North Carolina State, his alma mater.