A win Sunday night would be Johnson’s fourth in NASCAR’s longest race, trailing only Darrell Waltrip’s five victories at Charlotte Motor Speedway. Johnson could also strengthen his series points lead with his third win this season as he chases his fifth Sprint Cup title. And a win would be a record seventh at Charlotte.

It’s a resume already worthy of NASCAR’s Hall of Fame, but it’s not something the 37-year-old Johnson’s ready to think about. Johnson said it’s hard to consider his place in the sport when he’s still competing.

Johnson won his record fourth All-Star race here last week.

In the first all-German final, Borussia Dortmund is playing Bayern Munich later Saturday in European football’s showpiece match.

“It’s very important for German football that two of our teams are in the final,” 27-year-old Dortmund fan Peter Moffe said outside Wembley.

Yellow Dortmund shirts were dominating the north London streets around the stadium and in Trafalgar Square in the hours before the game amid a low-key security operation, days after a British soldier was killed in south London on Wednesday.

But the official Champions League final dinner on Friday was disrupted by three people infiltrating a London venue and reached UEFA President Michel Platini to protest against the under-21s European Championship being hosted by Israel next month.

UEFA described the incident as a “minor disturbance,” and said three arrests were made, although police said only two people were detained.

“A 24-year-old-man and a 24-year-old woman evaded private security at the UEFA Champions League Celebrity Party, being held at Billingsgate Market in the City of London, and managed to reach the stage and launch a protest,” City of London Police said in a statement to The Associated Press. “They were quickly ejected from the event by the private security and the event organizers made a complaint to the City of London Police. Shortly after both were arrested on suspicion of aggravated trespass and assault and are currently being held in custody.”

The force said it is continuing to investigate “the circumstances of the incident.”

Nibali attacked with three kilometres to go on the steep ascent to Tre Cime di Lavaredo, the three-week race’s highest point at an altitude of 2,304 metres.

On the final stages of the climb, the road was surrounded by huge banks of snow.

It was Nibali’s second stage victory of the race, having also won Thursday’s mountain time trial.

His performance came in stark contrast to the developments at the race Friday, when the 19th stage was cancelled due to snow and it was announced that 2007 Giro winner Danilo Di Luca tested positive for EPO in a surprise check at his home before this year’s race.

“I wanted to leave a mark,” Nibali said. “After what happened yesterday I wanted to show something.”

An Italian with the Astana team, Nibali clocked five hours 27 minutes 41 seconds over the 211-kilometre leg, which began in Silandro and passed through the renowned ski resort of Cortina d’Ampezzo.

The 20th stage was originally supposed to include a few more climbs but the route was altered due to the adverse weather conditions and snow covering some roads.

Colombian pair Fabio Duarte and Rigoberto Uran finished second and third, 17 and 19 seconds behind, respectively.

Uran moved up from third to second overall, 4:43 behind Nibali. Cadel Evans, the 2011 Tour de France winner, dropped to third, 5:52 back.

Evans finished about 1 1/2 minutes behind Nibali in the stage, which was also characterized by sub-freezing temperatures.

Nibali had to have hot tea poured over his hands to relieve the cold after crossing the line, so he could take off his wet gloves without pain.

Along the final climb, Nibali had to push fans away who kept clinging to him.

“I was worried one of them might slip,” he said.

Before the stage started, Dutch rider Robert Gesink, one of the pre-race favourites, withdrew from the race.

The race ends on flat ground in Brescia on Sunday with a 197-kilometre stage starting in Riese Pio X.

Nibali also took the red points jersey from Mark Cavendish, but the British sprinter can reclaim it by winning the final stage.

The first bout of spraying will take place in Etobicoke on Sunday morning.

Officials say infestation levels have reached a point where the usual manual control methods are no longer effective.

These methods include egg scraping, sticky traps and ground spraying of pesticides.

In the face of these techniques failing the aerial spraying program is designed as a stronger method to control the Gypsy Moth population.

For more information on Gypsy Moths and the control program click here.

The newspaper cites numerous anonymous sources as part of its 18-month investigation into the Ford family. 680News has not verified the allegations in the Globe article.

On Saturday morning a CityNews reporter spoke to Doug as he left his home. Below is his reaction to the allegations by the Globe.

“Our backs are against the wall,” Bosh said.

He’s absolutely correct. Advantage, Indiana.

Over the first two games of these Eastern Conference finals in Miami, it was Indiana that primarily had control, never allowing the reigning NBA champions to hold anything more than a five-point lead. The Pacers got a split for their efforts, and now head home to Indianapolis for Game 3 on Sunday night, surely aware that they’ve already taken a huge step toward pulling off what would undoubtedly be called a huge upset.

“It’s even. It’s 1-1,” Pacers star Paul George said. “They have the possibility of a split as well and taking home-court advantage back. So it’s even. We don’t feel like they’ve got the upper hand on us. We don’t feel like we’ve got the upper hand on them.”

If they were inclined, the Pacers could be justified to feel otherwise.

Other than letting Game 1 slip away when LeBron James was allowed basically unfettered access to the rim for an easy score on the final play of overtime, Indiana couldn’t have asked for more out of its few days in South Florida. The Pacers handed the Heat what became their fourth loss in 50 games. They grabbed home-court advantage. They had the Heat juggling rotations more than at any point so far in this post-season.

Maybe most importantly, they get a sports rarity: A do-over.

A year ago, the Pacers split two games in Miami, took the series back to Indianapolis and couldn’t ultimately finish the job. Losing to the Heat last season has haunted the Pacers to some extent ever since, so perhaps it’s fitting that a year later — albeit one round deeper into the playoffs — the same scenario has presented itself again.

“This whole team is showing great desire and great heart and great belief,” Pacers coach Frank Vogel said. “And that’s the only way to put what these guys are doing right now, is they believe we can win this series, and they’re giving it all their might. All their might. And they’re playing with confidence and they are rising to the challenge. I’m very, very proud of them. We still have a lot of work to do. We all understand that.”

So far in this post-season, work has seemed easy for the Pacers in Indianapolis.

Indiana is 6-0 at home in these playoffs, winning by an average of 14 points. The Heat are 4-0 on the road this post-season, also winning those games by an average of 14 points.

Welcome to the “something’s got to give” scenario.

“We just stay even-keeled,” James said. “We don’t get too high, we don’t get too low in the series. We know we’re going to go into a hostile environment against a very good team, and we look forward to the challenge.”

It wouldn’t be surprising if James spent the 45 hours spanning the end of Game 2 to the start of Game 3 replaying two passes in his mind, over and over again.

With the Heat down two, James twice tried to get passes to Ray Allen in the final 45 seconds. Both were broken up by West for turnovers that doomed Miami’s comeback hopes, and it was just the second time in James’ last 442 games where he was charged with two turnovers in the final minute of a fourth quarter, according to STATS.

Indiana’s defensive brilliance in this series goes beyond making passing lanes disappear late in Game 2.

The Pacers defended the 3-pointer better than anyone in the league during the regular season, while Miami had the second-best percentage from beyond the arc. That matchup has been all Indiana so far, with the Pacers keeping the Heat to a 30 per cent clip. Ray Allen, the most prolific 3-point shooter in league history, is 1 for 6 from that distance. Shane Battier is 0 for 6. Norris Cole, who came up big in the Chicago series, is 1 for 4.

“We’re a growing and evolving team,” Pacers centre Roy Hibbert said. “I think our defence really won us the game for us. … A lot of times teams just start buckling, and we’ve been through the wringer before. We’re young guys, but we know what we’re doing.”

Hibbert — a matchup nightmare for Miami — has made 19 of 33 shots in the series, averaging 24 points and 9.5 rebounds. George has scored 49 points in the two games. West has scored 39, got to the foul line more than anyone else in the first two games, and made the two huge defensive plays late in Game 2 while being asked to guard a sharpshooter like Allen, no less.

“Take nothing away from their ‘Big Three’ and what they have going,” George said, referring to James, Dwyane Wade and Bosh. “But we’ll take a ‘Big Five’ any day. And that’s what we have. We have a ‘Big Five’ where we have guys who can make plays and we don’t lean on one guy. It’s a team contribution and that’s how we play the game.”

James has scored 66 points in the series, one less than what Wade and Bosh have combined for against the Pacers. He also leads the Heat in free throws made and attempted, offensive rebounds, total rebounds and assists in the series.

Even the Pacers’ George Hill compared James to God after Game 2. And it was James who, with a brilliant effort in Indianapolis last year, found a way to save Miami in that series. He sounds eager to try and make it happen again.

“I am very disappointed in my judgment and my plays down the stretch,” James said. “But I’ll make up for them.”

The Columbus Dispatch reports that Perry was drawn to Finland Middle School on Friday after seeing a TV report about teacher Mary Mulvany starting a foundation to raise scholarship money to cover fees.

South-Western schools earned national attention when athletics and extra-curricular activities were eliminated after a failed levy in 2009. The ballot request was later approved by voters, and sports, clubs and other activities were resurrected for a fee.

Perry says he wants to sponsor as many children as possible and wants part of the money to go toward Finland and some to the foundation.

The newspaper cites numerous anonymous sources as part of its 18-month investigation into the Ford family. 680News has not verified the allegations in the Globe article.

A lawyer representing Doug Ford, however, denies the allegations in the article.

Ford told CityNews he had not read the article in its entirety but that it was disgusting.

“They try to attack my family, attack me – it’s disgusting,” he said outside his Etobicoke home Saturday morning. “Don’t they have anything better to do? I give back my salary, I donate my time. Is that not good enough for you guys?”

Ford then called the media sleaze balls and said the whole situation was “absolutely sickening.”

Roughly a week ago, allegations surfaced in the Toronto Star and gawker.com that a video was being shopped around showing Mayor Ford doing crack cocaine and making homophobic and racist remarks. He has since denied those allegations.

“There’s been a serious accusation from the Toronto Star that I use crack cocaine. I do not use crack cocaine nor am I an addict of crack cocaine,” Mayor Ford said during a news conference at city hall Friday.

“As for a video, I can’t comment on a video that I’ve not seen or does not exist.”

680News has not seen that video and cannot verify the drug-use allegations as being true.

The German driver finished ahead of teammate Lewis Hamilton and, with Monaco’s track the hardest to overtake on in Formula One, Mercedes has a great chance to clinch a first win of the season on Sunday.

Red Bull has won the last three Monaco GPs — all from pole — but this time defending champion Sebastian Vettel will start from third ahead of teammate and last year’s winner Mark Webber.

Ferrari driver Felipe Massa goes from the back of the grid. The Brazilian was unable to start qualifying after a heavy crash in the morning’s third and final practice session, in which he was unharmed. He would anyway have incurred a five-place grid penalty because Ferrari had to fit a new gearbox following his crash.

Rosberg climbed slowly out of the cockpit and clenched both of his fists.

It was almost like a win on home track for the German, who has spent much of his life in Monaco.

Kimi Raikkonen is only four points behind championship leader Vettel, but the Finn will have his work cut out after finishing fifth. After his victory at the Spanish GP two weeks ago, Fernando Alonso will start from sixth.

Massa, Frenchman Romain Grosjean and German Adrian Sutil had all crashed in practice.

There was a brief but sharp shower before the start of qualifying and the track was still damp when drivers started.

In the morning, Massa and Grosjean both crashed at Sainte Devote — where Grosjean had also crashed in Thursday’s second practice session.

Massa’s impact was considerable as the front-left of his Ferrari took the full force before the car slid around into another barrier.

Sutil lost his Force India on the run up the hill through Massanet, hitting the barriers to his right.