Motorsports: Jimmie Johnson Takes Nascar Points Lead The balance of power shifted atop the Nascar season standings, after five-time series champion Jimmie Johnson took the points lead with a victory at Martinsville Speedway. Johnson, with his seventh career victory at the rural Virginia short track, supplanted last week's leader, Brad Keselowski, who finished sixth, by just two points. Three races remain on the season's 36-race slate. Clint Bowyer, the fifth place finisher at Martinsville after leading 154 of the 500 laps, is 31 points behind in third. The biggest loser was Denny Hamlin who, after making a run at the leaders in recent weeks, faded from contention with a placing 33rd as a result of electrical problems. The race also marked the return of Nascar's most popular driver, Dale Earnhardt Jr., who had been sidelined since the Talladega race where he suffered his second concussion in recent weeks. Unfortunately, he wound up with another hard knock, courtesy of Carl Edwards, who crashed into him in the late going. Earnhardt, who had been treated for recurring headaches, said he believed he was unhurt. Nascar.com In other races from the weekend: Championship leader Sebastian Vettel stretched his margin in the chase for Formula One's title, with a wire to wire victory in Sunday's Indian Grand Prix. It was the Red Bull driver's fourth consecutive victory in the series. Vettel came into the event with a 6-point lead over Ferrari's Fernando Alonso, who finished second, and left with an 13-point margin. But Alonso said he felt his chances of overtaking Vettel in the season's final three races had actually improved. He started fifth, but noted that a runner-up finish was something to build upon. Before the race, he told news media that he "guaranteed" he would win the title for Ferrari. Vettel's teammate Mark Webber came in third, followed by the McLarens of Lewis Hamilton and Jensen Button. Vettel won the inaugural Indian Grand Prix last year. Formula1.com Sprint car driver Tyler Wolf was killed Saturday night at the Calistoga, Calif., half-mile dirt track. Wolf, 20, crashed head-on into the outside retaining wall on the third lap of a 30-lap feature event. He was transported to a local hospital where he was pronounced dead. Last year, at age 19, Wolf won the championship at Silver Dollar Speedway - the track's youngest champion ever. Chico Enterprise Record Local favorite Casey Stoner scored the victory Sunday in the Australian round of the Moto GP series, his fifth victory in the series this season. But Spaniard Jorge Lorenzo's runner-up finish for Team Yamaha was enough to give him an unbeatable margin in the season points championship. Yamaha rider Cal Crutchlow was third. Stoner, riding for Honda, took the lead from Lorenzo on the second lap, and held it to the end. Stoner's teammate, Dani Pedrosa, who had to score a victory to have any chance of besting Lorenzo for the championship, fell off on the first lap while dicing for the lead. That effectively handed the title to his fellow Spaniard. Motogp.com The Toyota TS030 hybrid driven by Alex Wurz and Nicolas Lapierre took the victory Sunday in the Six Hours of Shanghai in China. But an Audi R18 e-tron quattro driven to third place by Andre Lotterer, Benoit Treluyer and Marcel Fassler scored enough points to clinch the World Endurance Championship season title. An Audi driven by Allan McNish and Tom Kristensen came in second. The Shanghai stop was the final round of the WEC circuit in 2012. It was Toyota's third victory of the year, and the winners finished nearly a minute ahead of the lead Audi. Ron Capps won a dramatic showdown in the Funny Car final round against series points leader Jack Beckman on Sunday at the National Hot Rod Association event at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. The victory helped pull Capps to within 4 points of Beckman in the standings, with only one race remaining in 2012. The veteran Capps, who has never won the championship, scored his fifth final round victory of the season with a run of 4.07 seconds and 315.12 m.p.h. in the quarter mile. In other categories, Bob Vandergriff Jr. was the winner in Top Fuel, Allen Johnson took Pro Stock and Eddie Krawiec came out on top in Pro Stock Motorcycle. Top Fuel points leader Antron Brown stayed atop the leader board, despite going out of the competition in the first round. Johnson maintained a comfortable advantage in the Pro Stock points, as did Karwiec in the drag bike class.