AUTO RACING

Mayfield leaves Davis team for Haas

Jeremy Mayfield will take over a new NASCAR Nextel Cup ride four races early, replacing Jeff Green in the No. 66 Haas CNC Racing entry for the rest of the season.

Mayfield is leaving Bill Davis Racing, and the No. 36 BDR ride he is giving up will be shared for now by Craftsman Truck series regulars Mike Skinner and Johnny Benson.

Mayfield will replace Green in the 66 Chevrolet, beginning with Sunday's race at Atlanta Motor Speedway. The Haas team announced earlier this month that Scott Riggs, currently with Gillette Evernham Motorsports, would replace Green or No. 70 driver Johnny Sauter in 2008. It hasn't been determined which car Mayfield will drive next year.

"Every indication is that this is a team with unlimited potential," Mayfield said. "The shop is state-of-the-art, the equipment is first rate, there is an outstanding relationship with Hendrick Motorsports here, and it's my challenge to make it all equal success on the track," he said. "I'm ready to see how far I can take it."

Indy 500 winner Franchitti to make Busch Series debut at Memphis: Indianapolis 500 winner Dario Franchitti will make his Busch Series debut at Memphis Motorsports Park.

It will be the third race for Franchitti, the reigning IndyCar Series champion who is moving to NASCAR full-time next season. He's already raced in an ARCA event at Talladega and made his NASCAR debut last Saturday in the Truck Series race at Martinsville Speedway.

Franchitti will drive the No. 42 Dodge for Chip Ganassi Racing at Memphis. He plans to test on Wednesday at Kentucky Speedway in preparation for the race.

COLLEGE BASKETBALL

BYU coach gets contract extension

Brigham Young basketball coach Dave Rose has agreed to a contract extension that runs through the 2010-11 season.

The Cougars won the Mountain West Conference regular-season title last season and have reached 20 wins in the two years since Rose was promoted.

BYU is 45-18 under Rose, including last year's 25-9 campaign.

TENNIS

Johansson loses in straight sets to Gulbis

Former Australian Open champion Thomas Johansson was upset by Ernests Gulbis 6-2, 6-1 in the first round of the St. Petersburg (Russia) Open.

The 47th-ranked Latvian capitalized on the eighth-seeded Swede's double-faults in the first and the fifth games of the first set, and won four consecutive games in the second. He finished with 11 aces.

The 19-year-old reached the semifinals in his ATP debut in St. Petersburg last season. Johansson won the 2002 Australian Open and here in 2005.

Fifth-seeded Dmitry Tursunov also advanced, beating Jurgen Melzer of Austria 7-6 (6), 7-6 (0).

Gicquel avenges August loss to Robredo: France's Marc Gicquel upset second-seeded Tommy Robredo of Spain, 6-4, 7-6 (4) in the opening round of the Lyon (France) Grand Prix.

The 30-year-old Gicquel avenged a loss to Robredo in August, just before the U.S. Open. It was Gicquel's first win against an opponent ranked in the ATP's top 10 in six tries.

American Mardy Fish also scored a first-round upset, beating seventh-seeded Spaniard Nicolas Almagro 2-6, 6-3, 7-6 (4).

In other matches, France's Julien Benneteau defeated countryman Edouard Roger-Vasselin, 5-7, 6-3, 6-1, and another Frenchman, Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, beat American Vincent Spadea, 6-3, 6-4.