Kyle Busch gets new crew chief

Kyle Busch will have a new crew chief after this weekend's race at Talladega Superspeedway, with Joe Gibbs Racing replacing Steve Addington on Tuesday after a season that fell far short of expectations.

Busch fell eight points shy of claiming a spot in the Chase for the Sprint Cup championship because of an inconsistent "regular season." Although he had four wins at the Chase cutoff, he also had 12 finishes outside the top 20.

Addington, who guided Busch to 12 victories in 68 races, will crew chief Sunday's race at Talladega and then be replaced by Dave Rogers. A Nationwide Series crew chief for JGR, Rogers will call the final three races of this season for Busch as preparation for 2010.

"We evaluate all of our teams on an ongoing basis and believe this is a change that will make the 18 team stronger as we prepare for next season," said JGR president J.D. Gibbs.

Addington, who spent the past five seasons as crew chief of the No. 18, will be reassigned to a different role at JGR.

"We think highly of Steve and the job he has done and we look forward to him remaining a part of the JGR family," Gibbs said.

The crew chief change comes after consecutive top-10 finishes for Busch, including his fourth-place run at Martinsville on Sunday. It was his highest finish since his August win at Bristol.

He will now be paired with Rogers, who is in his fourth season as crew chief for JGR's No. 20 Nationwide car. He guided that team to JGR's first owner's championship in NASCAR's second-tier series last season by guiding four different drivers to nine wins and 26 top-10 finishes.

Agassi used crystal meth

Andre Agassi's upcoming autobiography contains an admission that he used crystal meth in 1997, the year he dropped to No. 141 in the rankings.

In an excerpt posted on People magazine's Web site Tuesday, Agassi writes: "I can't speak to addiction, but a lot of people would say that if you're using anything as an escape, you have a problem."

Excerpts from the book are being printed this week by People and Sports Illustrated.

Agassi won eight Grand Slam singles titles before retiring in 2006.

His book's publishing date is Nov. 9.

Williams sisters have mixed results: Serena Williams overcame Svetlana Kuznetsova 7-6 (6), 7-5 in the group stage of the WTA Sony Ericsson Championships in Doha, Qatar, on Tuesday, improving her chance of ending the year as No. 1.

Williams saved two set points in the tiebreaker despite a sore right ankle and made the decisive break for a 6-5 lead in the second before serving out the match at love.

The win gives her a share of the lead in the Maroon Group with Elena Dementieva, who rallied from a set and a break down to beat defending champion Venus Williams 3-6, 7-6 (6), 6-2.

Victoria Azarenka made a successful tournament debut by defeating Jelena Jankovic 6-2, 6-3 to lead the White Group.

The tournament features the top eight players in the world. The top two from each group advance to the semifinals. Top-ranked Dinara Safina and No. 4 Caroline Wozniacki play their first match on Wednesday.

Coach's suicide takes twist

When the popular former manager of Israel's most famous basketball team, killed himself last week, it seemed like a sad tale of a heartbroken man who couldn't adjust to life after sports. Now it appears there's more to the story.

Authorities suspect Moni Fanan was running a multimillion dollar investment scheme for some of Israel's top sports figures, and that he was deep in debt. Huge losses, estimated at more than $20 million, are now believed to have driven Fanan to hang himself in his Tel Aviv apartment last week.

Top players are believed to have lost millions of dollars in shady investments, tax authorities have raided Maccabi's offices, and there are even suspicions that referees in charge of Maccabi Tel Aviv games had invested with Fanan.

Maccabi has dominated Israeli basketball for decades, winning 38 of the past 40 league titles. Its budget dwarfs that of all its competitors, and it has grown into a European powerhouse. Last week, Maccabi toured the U.S. for a series of exhibition games against NBA teams.

Since Fanan's death, Israeli newspapers have reported that he ran a private banking network in which he invested large sums of money for his players, opposing coaches and league referees in return for promises of double-digit returns.

One former player, Doron Jamchi, broke the wall of silence over the weekend when he told Israel's Channel 2 TV that "everyone on the team knew."

Harper speaks to sports club

Kellie Harper, the new women's basketball coach at N.C. State, will be the guest speaker Wednesday at the Raleigh Sports Club's weekly lunch meeting.

The meeting, which starts at noon, will be held at Highland United Methodist Church at 1901 Ridge Road.

The cost is $14 for members and $20 for nonmembers. Learn more www.raleighsportsclub.org.

From Club News Release

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