AUTO RACING

Ken Squier, a longtime NASCAR broadcaster, has died. He was 88.

Squier died Wednesday night in Waterbury, Vermont, according to the management of the local WDEV radio station, which he owned.

“Though he never sat behind the wheel of a stock car, Ken Squier contributed to the growth of NASCAR as much as any competitor,” Jim France, chairman and CEO of NASCAR, said in a statement. He called him a superb storyteller whose voice is the soundtrack to many of NASCAR’s great moments.

Squier opened Thunder Road speedway in his home state of Vermont in Barre in 1960. Vermont Gov. Phil Scott, a stock car racer, called Squier “a true Vermont legend and dear friend to me and so many others.”

Squier was the lead announcer for the Daytona 500 on CBS from 1979-97, and also worked for TNN and TBS. He was inducted into the NASCAR Hall of Fame in 2018.

GOLF

EUROPEAN TOUR: Nicolai Hojgaard held a share of the first-round lead at the season-ending World Tour Championship after shooting 5-under 67 in Dubai, United Arab Emirates.

French players Julien Guerrier and Matthieu Pavon were tied with Hojgaard. Rory McIlroy and Jon Rahm faltered down the stretch to drop off the leaderboard. McIlroy made three bogeys in his final seven holes and shot 71, while Rahm finished bogey-bogey for a 72.

LPGA: Ruoning Yin opened with five birdies through eight holes, played bogey-free, and shared the lead at 9-under 63 with Nasa Hataoka  in the CME Group Tour Championship at Naples, Florida.

Minjee Lee was one shot back after making a 30-foot birdie putt from off the 18th green at Tiburon Golf Club.

PGA: Cameron Young birdied his last hole in the dark and held his game together during the worst of the rain to share the lead with Eric Cole and Davis Thompson at 6-under 66 among those who managed to finish the first round in the RSM Classic at St. Simons Island, Georgia.

Only 65 players from 156-man field completed the first round.

TENNIS

ATP FINALS: Novak Djokovic bounced back from his first loss in four months, earning a 7-6 (1), 4-6, 6-1 win over Hubert Hurkacz in his final group match in Turin, Italy.

Djokovic then got the help he needed from Jannik Sinner to qualify for the semifinals in the season-ending tournament for the year’s top eight players, advancing as the runner-up in his group when Sinner beat Holger Rune, 6-2, 5-7, 6-4.

SOCCER

EURO 2024 QUALIFYING: Hungary qualified for its third straight European Championship, thanks to an own-goal in stoppage time for a 2-2 draw against Bulgaria in a game marred by violent clashes outside an empty stadium.

Bulgarian fans threw makeshift bombs, stones and plastic bottles at the police, which responded with a water cannon after trash cans were set on fire in the capital of Sofia. Local media reported several protesters were injured.

• Teenager Lamine Yamal scored to help visiting Spain defeat Cyprus, 3-1, and remain in first place in its qualifying group.

Both Spain and second-place Scotland have already qualified for next year’s European Championships.

WORLD CUP QUALIFYING: Mohamed Salah carried his goal-scoring spree from Liverpool to Cairo, netting four goals in Egypt’s 6-0 rout of Djibouti.

It was Egypt’s first match in African qualifying for the expanded 2026 World Cup.

HOCKEY

NHL: Tim Stützle batted in a goal in mid-air with two seconds remaining in overtime as the Ottawa Senators edged the Detroit Red Wings 5-4 in Stockholm after wasting a 4-0 lead.

The game was the first of four in four straight days in the Swedish capital as part of the league’s Global Series.

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