Dale Earnhardt Jr. won a rain-delayed Daytona 500 on Sunday, a decade after his first victory in the "Great American Race."

Earnhardt snapped a 55-race winless stretch that dated to 2012, and also ended a frustrating sequence at Daytona International Speedway that had seen him finish second in three of the previous four 500s.

Rafael Nadal returned from a troublesome back injury to win the Rio Open on Sunday, defeating Alexandr Dolgopolov of Ukraine 6-3, 7-6 (3).

Nadal's victory comes four weeks after losing the Australian Open final to underdog Stanislas Wawrinka after tweaking his back while warming up.

Atletico Madrid slumped to a stunning 3-0 loss at Osasuna on Sunday, leaving Real Madrid as the sole leader of the Spanish league for the first time since May 2012.

Osasuna beat Atletico at its own game, both in its tough, physical approach and its set piece strategy to take a three-goal lead at the break after one of Atletico's worst first halves in three years under coach Diego Simeone.

Russia guaranteed top spot in the Sochi Olympics medals table on Sunday after a clean sweep of the podium in the men's 50km cross country race.

Alexander Legkov won gold in the blue riband distance in 1hr 46min 55.2sec, a fraction of a second ahead of his teammates Maxim Vylegzhanin and Ilia Chernousov, who took silver and bronze.

Smoothly run and sometimes dazzling, the Sochi Olympics fulfilled President Vladimir Putin's promise of a "spectacular event", even if doubts about the sustainability of the infrastructure and the political background were never fully banished.

To make his dream a reality, Putin in half a decade turned largely untouched marshland south of Sochi into an Olympic park with six stadiums and the almost virgin mountains above into a world-class snow resort.

In the desperate search for the fractions of a second that separate winners from losers, Olympic bobsleigh teams are harnessing the cutting-edge technology of Formula One.

The British team have a tie-up with F1 giants McLaren and British defense company BAE Systems, Marussia helps the Russians, while the Italian team can call on Ferrari's know-how.

David Moyes, the Manchester United manager, admitted it would have been impossible to replace talisman Wayne Rooney at Old Trafford.

Rooney celebrated signing a new five-and-a-half year contract by sealing United's 2-0 Premier League win at Crystal Palace with a superb volleyed finish to double the advantage following Robin van Persie's penalty.

Arsene Wenger insists he never doubted Olivier Giroud's ability to recover after a difficult week for the Arsenal striker.

Giroud made a public apology to his family and his club after finding himself the subject of lurid newspaper reports about his private life.

Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho turned his thoughts to Wednesday's Champions League showdown with Galatasaray after John Terry kept his side atop the Premier League with the winning goal against Everton.

The Blues were grateful to their returning skipper's intervention in the 93rd minute at Stamford Bridge on Saturday as he got the slightest of touches on a Frank Lampard free-kick to earn Chelsea a narrow 1-0 win.

England manager Roy Hodgson has not given up hope of persuading captain Steven Gerrard to lead the team in their quest to qualify for the 2016 European Championship.

Gerrard, 33, will captain England at this year's World Cup in Brazil, which begins in June, and has declared that he will consider his international future after the tournament.