HARRISON, N. .J. -- With record-setting temperatures stifling Red Bull Arena, New York coach Hans Backe asked captain Thierry Henry if he wanted to sit the game out. Henry declined and scored in the 71st minute to lift the Red Bulls to a 1-0 victory over the Chicago Fire on Wednesday. "The boss asked me if I wanted to play," Henry said. "I told him that I needed to play. I needed to get back into a rhythm, because I havent been playing much lately. Im getting better, but to get better, I need minutes. I hadnt scored in a while, so I needed to do something to win the game." It was Henrys 10th goal of the season -- and first since April 28, when he scored the lone goal in a 1-0 win over New England. Henry missed four games in May due to a hamstring strain, returned for one game, then missed two games in June with a strained calf. The Red Bulls (10-5-5) moved into second place in the Eastern Conference and remained the lone MLS team to be undefeated at home (6-0-3). Chicago (9-7-4), which was 6-1-3 against the Red Bulls since 2008, remained in fourth place in the East. Bill Gaudette, playing in just his second game with the Red Bulls, got the shutout without having to make a save. The game drew an attendance of 15,815 in record-breaking 106-degree temperatures, the hottest July 18 ever recorded in New Jersey. "It was amazing," Henry said. "I never played in anything like this. Its the kind of day where you want to stay in the air conditioning and drink lots of water. You just do whatever you can." Backe thought his team played well despite the heat and humidity. "They were difficult conditions to play in, but it would have been more difficult if we were to lose," he said. "The players had to know how to handle the heat. They could go forward when we had the opportunity, but you can never tell in conditions like this. We made the most of our chances." After the majority of the game was played to a crawl, Henry blasted a left-footed shot that went off the far right goalpost and into the net. Rookie Connor Lade, who entered the match only a few minutes prior, made a fine play at midfield to move the ball up the field. Lade fed newcomer Sebastian Le Toux, who made a perfect 35-yard cross to Henry. The French superstar settled the ball with his chest, then put it to his left foot. The shot was from a tough angle, but Henry managed to get it high off the post and past Sean Johnson. "We wanted to win this game," Henry said. "I got a great pass from Seb and it was strikers instinct. It was one of those things. Sometimes, they go in. Sometimes, they dont." Le Toux, playing in just his second game with New York, saw Henry make the move to goal. "A forward like him knows how to score," said Le Toux, acquired last week in a trade with Vancouver. "He knows what to do in space. He made a great touch with his chest and it was a beautiful goal." The Red Bulls survived a scare in the 84th minute, when Gonzalo Segares header appeared to go past Gaudette, but an alert Brandon Barklage headed it out of danger to preserve the lead. The Red Bulls had the better of the play in the first half and had three excellent scoring chances. In the 21st minute, Mehdi Ballouchy hit a low shot that Fire goalie Sean Johnson stopped by making a diving save. Two minutes later, Ballouchy had another chance, but he fired his shot over the crossbar. In the 32nd minute, Le Toux made a brilliant attempt that sailed over the crossbar. Le Toux also had a shot in the closing minute than a sprawled Johnson managed to punch out of the goal. In the second half, the Red Bulls continued to control play and had a great scoring chance when Henry made a fine feed across to Markus Holgersson, whose header went over the crossbar. Chicago could not muster any kind of a consistent offensive attack in the sweltering heat. "It was extremely hot, but we werent the only ones playing in it," said Fire forward Dominic Oduro, a former Red Bulls player. "You cant run 100 per cent of the time on a day like this. The heat was really a factor. Unfortunately, they were the ones who got the goal and we couldnt do anything." Chicago midfielder Marco Pappa added: "Its hard to get anything going in this kind of weather. They had one nice shot from Henry and that was it. Our shape and fitness wasnt the best for a day like this." [url=http://www.ramsofficialteamstore.com/autographed-johnny-hekker-jersey-ys-77... Hekker Jersey . The Wilds first-round pick (7th overall) led all WHL defencemen in goals last season, posting 20. He also added 37 assists for 57 points in 69 games. . The top-ranked Swiss saved four consecutive set points in the second-set tiebreaker before the 34th-ranked Bellucci levelled the second-round match. It was not until match point that Federer, who held serve throughout, took the decisive breakpoint chance in the decider. [url=http://www.ramsofficialteamstore.com/autographed-austin-pettis-jersey-dq-28... . The Raptors announced Wednesday that they have signed the seven-foot centre rookie contract. [url=http://www.ramsofficialteamstore.com/autographed-rodger-saffold-jersey-rv-6... Saffold Jersey . The 23-year-old rookie has had three outstanding starts since coming back from Triple-A Reno. . Bobrovsky, 23, has a career record of 42-23-10 with a 2.73 goals-against average and .909 save percentage with the Flyers. He posted a 14-10-2 mark with a 3.02 GAA and .899 save percentage in 29 games last season. CONCORD, N.C. -- The top title contenders ran 1-2-3 for a bit at Charlotte Motor Speedway, setting it up to separate themselves from the rest of the championship field. Then Brad Keselowski ran out of gas for the second night in a row, and Clint Bowyer was there to capitalize. The Chase for the Sprint Cup championship got a whole lot tighter Saturday night: Bowyers victory, his first of the Chase and career-best third of the season, pushed him into what could be a four-man title picture. He jumped up to fourth in the standings, 28 points behind leader Keselowski at the halfway point of the 10-race Chase. "Five races left, and were still in contention for a championship," Bowyer said. In part, because it was a disastrous night for Keselowski. He dominated the race but his Penske Racing team made its second mistake of the weekend, its strategy backfiring when his No. 2 Dodge ran out of gas with 58 laps remaining. Keselowski went from a likely win to a lap down and an 11th-place finish. He also had his lead in the standings sliced in half to seven points over five-time champion Jimmie Johnson. "Win some lose some guys, its all good," he immediately told his Penske crew in a pep talk over his radio. Keselowski, who also ran out of gas Friday night in the Nationwide Series race because of a fueling error, then asked his crew if he led the most laps Saturday night. Indeed -- he led 139 of the 334 -- but had little to show for his effort. "Its blackjack, youre not going to win every hand," he said. "When you got a bad deal you have to try not to have too many chips on the table." But Keselowski was able to see a silver lining in still finishing 11th. "It was the worst-case scenario," he said. "We minimized the damage as best we could." Denny Hamlin finished second and is third in the Chase, 15 points back, and Johnson finished third. Neither felt all that bad for Keselowski. "Live by the sword, die by the sword," Hamlin said. "I dont know how much it hurt him at the end of the day," Johnson said. "Ive been doing this long enough, too, when you see something happen, in your mind youre like theres an opportunity and before you know it, it happens to you." Both had to play their own fuel-saving game, especially in the closing laps. Hamlin couldnt make a run at winner Bowyer, and Johnson said he couldnt try to chase down Hamlin. "We were just being really cautious and didnt want to go out there and chase (Hamlin) and get ourselves in trouble," Johnson said. "Were getting really good at this fuel mileage stuff, iits hard to get it right. [url=http://www.ramsofficialteamstore.com/autographed-matt-giordano-jersey-id-26... Giordano Jersey. quot; Everyone had to keep one eye on the gas gauge starting very early in the race, even as Keselowski, Johnson and Hamlin ran out front midway through the race in a frustrating moment for the competition. "It was pretty cool to see the 2, the 11 and the 48 running 1-2-3 through a large portion of the night," Johnson said. But it was Bowyer in Victory Lane at the end, for the third time this season in his first year with Michael Waltrip Racing and manufacturer Toyota, a partnership thats working out far better than expected. "Who thought in a million years Id walk into the situation Ive walked into?" he asked in Victory Lane. The race was the first since 1979 without an Earnhardt as Dale Earnhardt Jr. sat out with a concussion. The announcement was made Thursday after Earnhardt sought medical attention for a lingering headache from the 25-car accident Sunday at Talladega. His doctor said he also sustained a concussion in an Aug. 29 crash at Kansas. Regan Smith got the start for Earnhardt, but it was short-lived. The engine in the No. 88 Chevrolet failed during the first third of the race, sending Smith to the garage for the night. Smith is scheduled to be back in the car next week at Kansas, which has two open days of testing and gives Smith more time to get acclimated with the Hendrick Motorsports crew. "Its a good team, its a good car and everybody at Hendrick Motorsports does a great job," Smith said. "Im looking forward to next week. Im getting comfortable with the cars, comfortable with the equipment. Should be fun to go to Kansas." Kurt Busch, who was hired to replace Smith at Furniture Row Racing next season, got a jump on that job early by taking over the job this week and finished 21st in his debut race. That opened up Buschs seat at Phoenix Racing, and Smith was scheduled to drive that car at Charlotte. But when Smith got the call to replace Earnhardt, the team gave a chance to AJ Allmendinger, who made his first start since his July suspension for failing a random drug test. Allmendinger, who had not raced since June 29, finished 24th. Greg Biffle, who set a track record in winning the pole, finished fourth. It moved him up three spots in the points to sixth. He was followed in the finishing order by non-Chase drivers Kyle Busch, Mark Martin and Carl Edwards. Kasey Kahne was eighth, but it cost him a spot in the Chase standings and hes now fifth. Joey Logano, winner of Friday nights Nationwide race, was ninth and Chase driver Martin Truex Jr. was 10th to give MWR all three of its drivers in the top 10. ' ' '