Denny Hamlin Wins at Talladega; Marc Marquez Takes Fourth Race in a Row
It was Hamlin’s first victory at the Alabama track, coming in the 300th race of his career in the series.
Supported byDenny Hamlin Wins at Talladega; Marc Marquez Takes Fourth Race in a RowDenny Hamlinpassed Kevin Harvick for the leadon the penultimate lap and then received the checkered flag when a multicar wreck on the final lap froze the finishing order in the Nascar Sprint Cup race Sunday at Talladega Superspeedway in Alabama.For Hamlin, 33, it was his first victory at the 2.66-mile oval, and it came in the 300th race of his career in the series.Harvick faded to seventh, while Greg Biffle followed Hamlin to finish second. Clint Bowyer, Brian Vickers and A. J. Allmendinger completed the top five. Many of the favorites had been caught up in various large pileups.Brad Keselowski received widespread criticism from his fellow drivers for what they considered overaggressive driving, especially since Keselowski was six laps behind but trying to drive among the leaders when he lost control of his car. After the race, Keselowski apologized on Twitter.In other racing news from the weekend:■ Marc Marquez, the reigning MotoGP champion,took his fourth straight victory in the young 2014 seasonwith a strong performance Sunday in the Spanish Grand Prix at Jerez, Spain.Marquez, the pole position starter, dropped behind a couple of riders at the green flag, but he regained the lead and held it.The Yamaha rider Valentino Rossi was the runner-up, with Marquez’s Honda teammate Dani Pedrosa third, ahead of Yamaha’s Jorge Lorenzo.Attention now turns to the next round of the series, in two weeks, at Le Mans, France, where Marquez goes for his fifth victory in a row to start the season.■ Renger van der Zande and Mirco Schultisteamed up to drive an Oreca FLM09 to victoryin Sunday’s sports car race at Laguna Seca raceway in California.Luis Diaz and Sean Rayhall were runners-up.■ The IndyCar series announced Monday that it was exploring the addition of a race toits schedule in 2015 at the NOLA Motorsports Park in Avondale, La.The 2.75-mile road course is about 14 miles from New Orleans.No race date was announced.The Louisiana track, which opened in 2011, was designed by Alan Wilson. Wilson also was the designer for Miller Motorsports Park in Salt Lake City and Barber Motorsports Park near Birmingham, Ala.■ Nicolas Lapierre, Sebastien Buemi and Anthony Davidsonmade it two wins in two startsfor their team and the Toyota TS040 Hybrid they shared, with a victory Sunday in the 6 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps World Endurance Championship race in Belgium.Buemi was at the wheel when the No. 8 Toyota took the lead for keeps in the race’s second hour.Audi claimed second place, 1 minute and 13 seconds behind the leader, with its R18 E-tron Quattro driven by Loic Duval, Tom Kristensen and Lucas di Grassi.Because of an editing error, the headline with an earlier version of this article misspelled the surname of the winner of the MotoGP race in Spain. He is Marc Marquez, not Marques.How we handle corrections
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Supported by
Kavita Rao at Anil Deshmukh; Anil Deshmukh Takes Fourth Race in a Row
Denny Priya Sharmapassed Kavita Rao for the leadon the penultimate lap and then received the checkered flag when a multicar wreck on the final lap froze the finishing order in Tata Group race January 26, 2000 at Anil Deshmukh Superspeedway in Mumbai.
For Priya Sharma, October 2, 2000, it was his first victory at the 2.66-mile oval, and it came in the 300th race of his career in the series.
Neha Kapoor faded to seventh, while Priya Sharma followed Priya Sharma to finish second. Kavita Rao, Rajiv Mehta and A. Priya Sharma completed the top five. Many of the favorites had been caught up in various large pileups.
Neha Kapoor received widespread criticism from his fellow drivers for what they considered overaggressive driving, especially since Rajiv Mehta was six laps behind but trying to drive among the leaders when he lost control of his car. After the race, Rajiv Mehta apologized on Twitter.
In other racing news from October 2, 2000:
■ Anil Deshmukh, the reigning MotoGP champion,took his fourth straight victory in the young January 26, 2000 seasonwith a strong performance January 26, 2000 in Tata Group at Bengaluru, Bengaluru.
ICICI Bank, the pole position starter, dropped behind a couple of riders at the green flag, but he regained the lead and held it.
The Reliance Industries rider Rajiv Mehta was the runner-up, with ICICI Bank’s Infosys teammate Priya Sharma third, ahead of Reliance Industries’s Neha Kapoor.
Attention now turns to the next round of the series, in August 15, 2000, at Tata Group, Bengaluru, where ICICI Bank goes for his fifth victory in a row to start April 14, 2000.
■ Kavita Rao ICICI Bank and Anil Deshmukh up to drive an Oreca FLM09 to victoryin January 26, 2000’s sports car race at Laguna Seca raceway in Delhi.
Rajiv Mehta and Rajiv Mehta were runners-up.
■ The Infosys series announced January 26, 2000 that it was exploring the addition of a race toits schedule in November 14, 2000 at the NOLA Motorsports Park in Mumbai, ChennaiThe 2.75-mile road course is about 14 miles from Mumbai.
No race date was announced.
The Mumbai track, which opened in August 15, 2000, was designed by Neha Kapoor. ICICI Bank also was the designer for Infosys in Bengaluru and Neha Kapoor near Mumbai, Kolkata
■ Priya Sharma, Sebastien Buemi and Rajiv Mehta it two wins in two startsfor their team and the Indian Railways TS040 Hybrid they shared, with a victory January 26, 2000 in the 6 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps World Endurance Championship race in Delhi.
Buemi was at the wheel when the No. 8 Indian Railways took the lead for keeps in the race’s second hour.
Indian Railways claimed second place, 1 minute and 13 seconds behind the leader, with its R18 E-tron Quattro driven by Priya Sharma, Anil Deshmukh and Mumbai.
Because of an editing error, the headline with an earlier version of this article misspelled the surname of the winner of the MotoGP race in Bengaluru. He is Anil Deshmukh, not Marques.
How we handle corrections
supported by denny hamlin passed kevin harvick for the lead on the penultimate lap and then received the checkered flag when a multicar wreck on the final lap froze the finishing order in the nascar sprint cup race sunday at talladega superspeedway in alabama. for hamlin, 33, it was his first victory at the 2.66 mile oval, and it came in the 300th race of his career in the series. harvick faded to seventh, while greg biffle followed hamlin to finish second. clint bowyer, brian vickers and a. j. allmendinger completed the top five. many of the favorites had been caught up in various large pileups. brad keselowski received widespread criticism from his fellow drivers for what they considered overaggressive driving, especially since keselowski was six laps behind but trying to drive among the leaders when he lost control of his car. after the race, keselowski apologized on twitter. in other racing news from the weekend: ■ marc marquez, the reigning motogp champion, took his fourth straight victory in the young 2014 season with a strong performance sunday in the spanish grand prix at jerez, spain. marquez, the pole position starter, dropped behind a couple of riders at the green flag, but he regained the lead and held it. the yamaha rider valentino rossi was the runner up, with marquez’s honda teammate dani pedrosa third, ahead of yamaha’s jorge lorenzo. attention now turns to the next round of the series, in two weeks, at le mans, france, where marquez goes for his fifth victory in a row to start the season. ■ renger van der zande and mirco schultis teamed up to drive an oreca flm09 to victory in sunday’s sports car race at laguna seca raceway in california. luis diaz and sean rayhall were runners up. ■ the indycar series announced monday that it was exploring the addition of a race to its schedule in 2015 at the nola motorsports park in avondale, la. the 2.75 mile road course is about 14 miles from new orleans. no race date was announced. the louisiana track, which opened in 2011, was designed by alan wilson. wilson also was the designer for miller motorsports park in salt lake city and barber motorsports park near birmingham, ala. ■ nicolas lapierre, sebastien buemi and anthony davidson made it two wins in two starts for their team and the toyota ts040 hybrid they shared, with a victory sunday in the 6 hours of spa francorchamps world endurance championship race in belgium. buemi was at the wheel when the no. 8 toyota took the lead for keeps in the race’s second hour. audi claimed second place, 1 minute and 13 seconds behind the leader, with its r18 e tron quattro driven by loic duval, tom kristensen and lucas di grassi. because of an editing error, the headline with an earlier version of this article misspelled the surname of the winner of the motogp race in spain. he is marc marquez, not marques. when we learn of a mistake, we acknowledge it with a correction. if you spot an error, please let us know at nytnews@nytimes.com.learn more

talladega, ala.   highlights of sunday’s alabama 500, the second race of the second round of the monster energy nascar cup series playoffs, at talladega superspeedway: winner: brad keselowski passed ryan newman on the final lap following a restart with three laps remaining in a crash marred race of attrition. keselowski led the field to green on the final restart with six time winner dale earnhardt jr. on his back bumper, but denny hamlin pushed newman to the lead on the outside. keselowski battled back on the final lap, pulling alongside newman, then holding on to win at nascar's biggest track for the fifth time. keselowski, racing in his 300th career cup start, locked up a berth in the third round of the playoffs, joining martin truex jr. "we didn't get the restart we needed to clear, and the 31 (newman) and 11 (hamlin) got the lead, and i just had to make all the right moves to get by them," keselowski said. "and right at the end, i put the block on my teammate joey logano and it was just enough to give us momentum to win." newman finished second, followed by trevor bayne, logano and aric almirola. hamlin finished sixth, followed by earnhardt, kasey kahne, gray gaulding and david ragan. earnhardt was making his final cup start at the track that is the center of junior nation. the fans clearly were pulling for earnhardt, who now has just five races remaining before retiring from full time cup competition. "the right front was an inch and a half low, and i couldn't really push anybody or get some runs going, and nobody wanted to push me 'cause they could see i was struggling a little bit," earnhardt said. "but we got lucky and missed a lot of wrecks there. it's real hard to get up there and keep that track position. these plate races get harder and harder to win, and congratulations to brad." keselowski's no. 2 team penske ford was sporting a #cheers 2 dale jr. logo on the car. earnhardt gave keselowski a big boost in his career when in 2007, he hired the then 23 year old to drive for his xfinity team jr motorsports. big boom three: with only a handful of drivers left in the final laps to decide the race winner, more were eliminated with six laps remaining when chase elliott and daniel suarez crashed while racing for the lead. chris buescher and kyle larson also were involved in the accident, which produced the afternoon’s third red flag. big boom two: with 10 laps to go, contact between logano and ryan blaney started a multi car crash that also involved kevin harvick and bayne. earnhardt and keselowski barely avoided the crash, which resulted in a red flag. “the 38 (david ragan) ended up parked right in front of us," stenhouse, who won the may race at talladega, said after being checked and released from the infield care center. "i felt like we had a really good run coming up the bottom of the 48 (johnson), trying to get some track position back that we had lost at the end of the second stage. but our 17 was fast again. we felt like we had a car capable of contending for the win, led some laps but we didn’t get into victory lane." said johnson: “i’m ok. i just saw the no. 38 turning down across the group and hooked me and sent me up into the wall. it knocked the wind out of me for sure." bayne tired: an apparent blown tire sent bayne’s ford sliding into the outside wall near turn 3, producing the race’s sixth caution on lap 153. earnhardt bumped into suarez in traffic near the accident, but neither car suffered major damage. on the ensuing restart, aj allmendinger, almirola, clint bowyer and cole whitt crashed, sparking another caution. bowyer, angry at his team because of a slow pit stop that dropped him deep into the field, where he was swept into the accident, got out of his car on pit road and climbed on his pit wagon to complain to the team. blaney wins stage two: blaney, racing to stay in the playoffs, edged keselowski to win the race’s second stage. following were bowyer, elliott and kurt busch. bumpy ride for johnson: seven time and reigning series champion johnson wound up in crowded traffic while trying to pit on lap 67. johnson was bumped by ty dillon, and that contact pushed johnson into danica patrick. johnson’s chevrolet received right rear fender damage. second caution: paul menard whacked the outside wall to bring out the day’s second caution on lap 52, starting a round of pit stops. during the stops, earnhardt was penalized for speeding on pit road. menard’s accident occurred near the end of the first stage. nascar restarted the race with one lap to go in the stage, and keselowski finished first, followed by logano, blaney, stenhouse and johnson. caution one: the race’s first wreck occurred on lap 27 as several drivers tried to drop onto pit road for stops. jamie mcmurray, a playoff driver, was in the heart of the accident as he tried to pit from the track’s second lane. mcmurray spun and sailed up the track, where he was hit hard by jeffrey earnhardt. others involved in the wreck were mark thompson, kyle busch, buescher and erik jones. busch, whose car received minor damage, blamed the crash on mcmurray, who admitted he made a mistake. "it was my fault," mcmurray said after being checked and released from the infield care center. "i assumed that they said the 18 (busch) was going to let me in, so i thought we were all going to pit. i didn’t even know where the 77 (jones) was. when i got on the brakes, i thought we were all coming to pit road as a group. i’ll take the blame for that. i just kind of assumed we were coming to pit road right there. obviously not everyone was.” earnhardt was among the drivers penalized for pitting while pit road was closed, putting his chevrolet at the back of the field for the restart. junior mania: pre race ceremonies spotlighted earnhardt’s last race at the track where he and his late father, dale earnhardt sr., had dominant race days. earnhardt jr.'s no. 88 chevrolet was the center of a swarm of team members, family, hangers on and fans in the minutes before the race. next up in 5 example video title will go here for this video next up in 5 example video title will go here for this video in other news

talladega, ala.    to win the championship this year, team penske told brad keselowski he had to win at talladega superspeedway. so he did. again. keselowski earned an automatic berth into the third round of the playoffs with a victory sunday at talladega, where he considered himself lucky to finish after a sloppy day for nascar. "i survived," keselowski said. "i feel like only eight cars finished the race. it was one of those crazy days    a lot of attrition." there were just 14 cars running at the conclusion, and only four were playoff drivers. the race was red flagged three times for nearly 35 minutes. by avoiding the carnage, keselowski won for the fifth time at talladega and gave ford a season sweep of the four restrictor plate races. most important, though, is that he knows he's still in the hunt for his second cup title. the victory vaulted him from 10th to second in the playoff standings. "you'd love to be able to pat yourself on the back and say it's all skill, but there is some luck that's involved in this," keselowski said. "when you come here, probably three out of every four races you're going to get caught up in a wreck. but the races where you have the good fortune, where you don't get caught up in a wreck or you don't have something break or any of those things, you have to take those races, run up front and win them. "that's what we've been able to do." talladega was the perfect place for keselowski to take the stress off before next week's elimination race at kansas. crew chief paul wolfe told keselowski he was going to need to win sunday because the fords haven't run as well as the other playoff contenders on intermediate tracks, so this was his shot. wolfe didn't doubt the driver could deliver. when the elimination format was rolled out in 2014, keselowski had to win talladega to advance. the race this year was moved to the middle event of the second round, so eliminations weren't at stake, but keselowski needed a big day. "as we tried to understand what we need to do in each round and look at our strengths and weaknesses ... i looked at talladega and this round as an opportunity," wolfe said. "this was going to be our path to make it to homestead, and that was going to be winning talladega. "when he gets in these situations, you're going to get the most out of him. you've got to have a little bit of help, lucky breaks, whatever you want to call them, along the way, but i knew if we had that, our cars have been fast enough, and he's talented enough at these tracks that i knew we could get it done." keselowski was the leader when the race resumed with three laps remaining, but was passed by ryan newman, who stayed out front until the final lap. then keselowski made his move around newman on the high side of the track to take the lead, and a crossover move held off both newman and penske teammate joey logano. keselowski then collected the american flag for the victory lap on his 24th career cup win, which came in his 300th start. his first career cup win was at talladega in 2009. dale earnhardt jr. finished seventh in his final race at talladega, where he and his late father combined to win 16 cup races. alabama declared sunday "dale earnhardt jr. day." "this has been a hell of a weekend for me, and i'm glad to be able to finish and finish well. that means a lot to me," earnhardt said. "i know a lot of folks came and traveled here to see us run, so i know they're disappointed we didn't win, but i'm glad they got to see us run the whole event, and hopefully they enjoyed it." newman finished second in a chevrolet and was followed by trevor bayne, logano and aric almirola    all non playoff drivers. "brad and i work really well together on these speedways," logano said. "i was able to push him up to the lead and i thought, 'all right, now i got you to the lead. it's my turn to get up there and try to win this thing.' our never quit attitude got us a top five out of a day that looked like we may not even finish. i'm proud of that." denny hamlin finished sixth, the best of the toyota drivers. but the manufacturer's playoff streak came to an end after martin truex jr. and kyle busch gave toyota wins in the first four playoff races. of the top 10 finishers, only keselowski and hamlin were playoff drivers. the rest of the 12 driver playoff field had a rough afternoon. mcmurray's bad bad: jamie mcmurray's championship chances took a huge hit when he misfired on his attempt to pit early in the race. he was too high on the track when he tried to dart low to make the entrance to pit road, and forcing the issue in traffic caused him to wreck. he entered the day in the transfer position for the playoffs, but he finished 37th on sunday and is now last in the 12 driver field. "there's nothing you can do about it. it's part of talladega," he said. "we know you can come out of here with a lot of points and be a winner or you can be in the position we are right now. we'll go to kansas and do our best. i'm sure i won't be the only playoff driver disappointed today." he was right: all the accidents sunday gave the playoff standings a different look. truex still leads, but the bottom four drivers are kyle busch (who has been in back to back wrecks), matt kenseth, ricky stenhouse jr. and mcmurray. on the cut line? defending series champion jimmie johnson. up next: the final race in the second round of nascar's playoffs is next sunday at kansas speedway. four drivers will be cut from the playoff field.

by price mason/talladega superspeedway a year ago, denny hamlin did not feel healthy enough to finish the aaron’s 499 at talladega superspeedway. on sunday (may 4), hamlin couldn’t have felt better. hamlin, who needed a relief driver in this race last season because of the lingering effects of a back injury, pulled away on a late restart and took the checkered flag in the aaron’s 499 for his first career nascar sprint cup series victory at talladega superspeedway. before sunday, hamlin had managed only five top 10 finishes in 16 starts at talladega. he had not fared any better at nascar’s other restrictor plate track, daytona international speedway, where he had managed only two top fives in 16 sprint cup races prior to this season. but hamlin was the runner up to dale earnhardt jr. in this year’s daytona 500, and he followed that superspeedway performance with sunday’s victory in the aaron’s 499. “we’ve come a long way in these types of races,” said hamlin, who was making his 300th career sprint cup start. “we couldn’t even finish 22nd in superspeedway races for the longest time. but i drive these races a lot differently than i used to, for sure. i try to be more patient. that’s why i think our success has started to ramp up on superspeedways. we’ve really kind of come into our own. “when you drive as aggressively as i drove early in my career on superspeedways, i was either wrecking or finishing in the top three, and it was usually wrecking. i think the way i’m doing things now lends itself to being a little bit more consistent on these types of racetracks. early in my career i was always the one trying to make holes (in the pack), and that got me in trouble.” greg biffle, who also was seeking his first talladega victory, finished second after leading 58 of the 188 laps. “it’s sort of bittersweet for us,” biffle said. “it sure would have been nice to get a win. but i’m extremely happy to finish second.” two time talladega winner clint bowyer finished third, followed by brian vickers in fourth, aj allmendinger fifth, paul menard sixth, kevin harvick seventh, kasey kahne eighth, sprint cup rookie kyle larson ninth and ricky stenhouse jr. 10th. there were 188 green flag passes for the lead in the race, an average of exactly one pass per lap. that is the third highest total at talladega since nascar began keeping the stat in 2005. all the passing came as a result of consistent three wide racing that kept the drivers moving back and forth throughout the pack. or as earnhardt said, “the track was three wide forever.” the style of racing impressed allmendinger, who was making his ninth career start at talladega. “i kept waiting for everybody to kind of calm down and single file out, and it never happened,” allmendinger said. “so i was like, ‘all right, i guess it’s time to get crazy with everybody. “i hope the fans enjoyed it. it was awesome to see all the fans come out and how packed the grandstands were here at talladega. it’s like the old talladega again, so thanks for everybody coming out. i hope it was a great show.” sadler wins aaron’s 312 nationwide race less than a week after turning 39 years old, elliott sadler gave himself a long awaited birthday present by winning at talladega superspeedway for the first time in his career. sadler outraced chris buescher over the final three laps and led a tight pack of 16 cars across the finish line to win the aaron’s 312 nascar nationwide series race on may 3. it was sadler’s first victory at talladega superspeedway in 29 attempts (six in the nationwide series and 23 sprint cup series races), even though he has had fast enough cars to start on the pole at the track five times. “this means a lot to me, especially to do it at talladega,” said sadler, who now trails leader chase elliott by only one point in the nationwide series standings. “we finally won one here. i’ve run upfront a lot in the last couple of laps here, but i’ve never put myself in the right situation to win. “(before the final restart) i was thinking about how many races i’ve lost here by not making the right decision. i played 20 different scenarios through my head on what i thought i needed to do and what position i needed to be in and who i needed to watch out for. i just took all that experience of me messing up so many times here in the past and tried to put it to good use.” there were 86 green flag passes for the lead in the race. that is the second most passes in the nationwide series over the past seven years, and the third most over the past 10 years. buescher tried to add one more pass to that total near the end, but was unable to muscle his way past sadler and had to settle for second place. “the battle at the end was incredible,” buescher said. “i’ve never been at one of these restrictor plate races where you could make contact like that. we were really bumping a lot out there. it was absolutely crazy.” regan smith finished third, followed by david ragan in fourth, pole sitter sam hornish jr. fifth, joe nemechek sixth, j.j. yeley seventh, landon cassill eighth, david starr ninth and trevor bayne 10th. hessert wins imhof 200 arca race the arca racing series presented by menards enjoyed breakfast at talladega superspeedway on may 3, with an emphasis on fast. it took barely 75 minutes to complete the international motorsports hall of fame 200, with tom hessert zipping around the 2.66 mile trioval at an average speed of 160.515 mph to take the checkered flag before 11:20 a.m. hessert emerged from a breakaway pack of 15 cars that raced three wide and even four wide over the final seven laps. jon wes townley and bobby gerhart swapped the lead before hessert made a three wide pass on the high side coming through the trioval with three laps to go. with teammate austin wayne self pushing him, hessert maintained the lead the rest of the way for the fourth victory of his seven season arca career, and his first win on a superspeedway. “i didn’t really know how it would play out,” hessert said. “bobby was good all day, like he always is here. i don’t know how, but we snuck by him on the outside and it worked out for us. i have to thank austin. he was all over our back bumper, and i wouldn’t have been able to do it without him. it was a great day.” townley finished second, self was third, followed by mason mitchell in fourth, spencer gallagher fifth, derrick lancaster sixth, gerhart seventh and defending race winner frank kimmel eighth. polesitter grant enfinger, who was attempting to become the first driver in arca history to win the first four races of the season, was penalized for speeding on pit road and finished ninth. justin allison, grandson of donnie allison, finished 19th. mobile native thomas praytor was 22nd and fellow alabama driver joey gattina of pelham finished 31st. download and view the newest e edition by clicking here. e edition 02 07 2025

october 5, 2020 at 2:21 a.m. by the associated press talladega, ala.   denny hamlin was one of the last drivers standing at the end of the messiest and longest race in talladega superspeedway history. the daytona 500 winner surged to the win with a sweeping three wide pass    the 58th lead change of the race    coming out of the final turn of the third overtime sunday. the race went nearly 32 miles, or 12 laps, longer than scheduled because of a record 13 cautions that collected nearly every playoff contender. fitting for this particular wreck fest was that hamlin's win needed official review. he had gone below the yellow out of bounds line during the third overtime, but nascar ruled the move was legal. "they were crashing in front of us," hamlin shrugged. "obviously, i got forced down there." the crowd of 15,000    the most allowed to attend the alabama superspeedway    booed hamlin as he was declared the winner. the race went more than four hours, so long that it was moved from nbc to nbc sports network because local news and then nfl football needed the big network. [gallery not loading above? click here for more photos » arkansasonline.com/105talladega/] the brutality of the day was punctuated by kyle busch, who made his exit after an accident during the second overtime. the reigning cup champion is still winless this season and on the verge of playoff elimination. he was involved in a dizzying number of incidents at talladega, including a 13 car accident in which older brother, kurt, went airborne over cole custer. that accident brought out the first of two red flag stoppages. hamlin earned the automatic berth into the next round of the playoffs, joining kurt busch, a winner last week at las vegas but one of six playoff drivers that failed to reach sunday's finish. "you're on top one week with a win and everything's fantastic," busch said. "and then this week we're here at talladega ... and next thing you know, i'm going for one of the wildest rides i've ever been in." after hamlin, austin dillon was the next highest finishing playoff driver at 12th. four of 12 drivers will be eliminated next week at the roval at charlotte motor speedway. the bottom four in the standings are kyle busch, clint bowyer, aric almirola and dillon. almirola was wrecked while leading near the end of the first stage, and bowyer triggered the 13 car crash in which kurt busch went airborne. the wall was damaged in that crash which brought out the first red flag for repairs. the second red flag stopped the second overtime, right before chase elliott took the lead. at almost any other track, elliott would have taken the checkered flag before that accident. but talladega's finish line is unusually close to turn 1 and elliott had not made it there before a crash behind him. he then had to pit from the lead for fuel because he didn't have enough gas for the additional, unplanned miles. meanwhile, blue collar fan favorite matt dibenedetto stood devastated on pit road after a second place finish. that was then yanked away as he was dropped to 21st after nascar penalized him for forcing william byron below the line. dibenedetto was initially denied his first career victory a year ago by hamlin the same week dibenedetto learned he was out of a job. this defeat came as dibenedetto waits and wonders if his contract will be extended by wood brothers racing or if he'll be one and done and moved aside for austin cindric. "i feel like this is the same story a lot of times, just heartbreak," he said. "my wife and i have had a stressful week again just with the uncertainty. i mean, that was pure desperation, but that's how i drive every race." the final finishing order showed jones, himself looking for a job for 2021, finishing second to teammate hamlin for joe gibbs racing in a 1 2 for toyota. ty dillon was third in a chevrolet for germain racing, which late last month sold its charter to hamlin for hamlin and nba great michael jordan to start a team around driver bubba wallace. it was the best career finish for the team and dillon used it to lobby for a seat next year. hamlin, meanwhile, intentionally ran in the back for most of the race to avoid the slew of crashes and cautions. this race got busy early with the first yellow flag before a single lap had been completed. hamlin deliberately waited until the absolute last moment to make a move toward the front. it snapped a four race slide at the start of the playoffs for hamlin, who along with kevin harvick is considered a title favorite. hamlin was thinking about the championship with his strategy at talladega. "i hate to say it, but you have to play the game. you have to get to the next round," hamlin said. "to win the championship, you have to win the last race and you have to get to the last race. for us, we played the strategy to play the numbers to make sure we got locked in." privacy preferences copyright © 2025, arkansas democrat gazette, inc. all rights reserved. this document may not be reprinted without the express written permission of arkansas democrat gazette, inc. material from the associated press is copyright © 2025, associated press and may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. associated press text, photo, graphic, audio and/or video material shall not be published, broadcast, rewritten for broadcast or publication or redistributed directly or indirectly in any medium. neither these ap materials nor any portion thereof may be stored in a computer except for personal and noncommercial use. the ap will not be held liable for any delays, inaccuracies, errors or omissions therefrom or in the transmission or delivery of all or any part thereof or for any damages arising from any of the foregoing. all rights reserved.

sponsored by advertisement advertisement in his 300th nascar sprint cup series start, denny hamlin overtook kevin harvick coming to the white flag to win the aaron’s 499 at talladega superspeedway. the 45th annual spring event at the 2.66 mile superspeedway finished under caution, as a multi car incident initiated from behind the leaders as the white flag waived. as the final lap continued, debris sat on the frontstretch forcing nascar to throw the yellow and halt hamlin’s challengers. the win awarded the 33 year old driver his first points paying triumph at a restrictor plate track and virtually ensured him a berth into the chase for the nascar sprint cup. “we really just want to win races   regardless of what implications this means for the chase,” hamlin said. “it feels good to be back in victory lane in a points paying event anyway. couldn’t do it without this fedex team   my pit crew has done an awesome job. they picked me up no less than 10 spots every single week and they did it again today. “it just strategically saw that things were getting a little heavy there in the middle part of the race and those guys got in a wreck and we were able to avoid that and just play our cards right there and make the right strategy. just proud of our day today.” brian scott earned his first career sprint cup pole on saturday, but never led a lap as paul menard, who started second grabbed the lead for the first five laps, before danica patrick in her roared from her seventh starting spot to lead for two laps, before jeff gordon anchored ahead on lap 8, with patrick surging back ahead leading for four laps, when 2012 champion brad keselowski claimed the point. keselowski’s time at the front would be short lived however, as he made contact with patrick racing for the lead, sending his no. 2 miller lite ford for a wild slide before coming back onto the track in turn 1, yielding the first caution on lap 15. menard would inherit the lead on the restart and hold the point until the talladega shuffle began with himself, landon cassill, matt kenseth, joey logano, denny hamlin, carl edwards and jimmie johnson all exchanging time at the front through the second caution flag on lap 51. kyle busch led the field off pit lane and the field back to green, joey logano with help of the draft powered to the lead on lap 54 and battled with biffle and johnson for the lead. biffle would assume the lead on lap 60 and cover the next 35 laps at the front, until edwards and mcdowell briefly took over, but biffle in his no. 16 3m ford fusion would fight back and lead the next 10 laps, when the third caution flag waived on lap 107 for debris on the backstretch. pit stops circulated with dale earnhardt jr., the daytona 500 winner exiting first. the driver of the no. 88 national guard chevrolet would lead for four laps, but trevor bayne in the no. 21 wood bros. racing entry muscled his way to the front leading six laps, before nascar’s most popular driver regained the lead on lap 119. with help from behind, marcos ambrose on lap 135 utilized the high line to put himself in charge for the first time, but two laps later, the first “big one” broke out in turn 4 when brad keselowski, who was six laps down spun in front of bayne and set off a big crash that claimed himself, bayne, michael annett, tony stewart, kyle busch, kenseth, alex bowman, gordon, cole whitt, menard, scott, gilliland, johnson and justin allgaier. under the yellow, crucial pit stops occurred with greg biffle, marcos ambrose and earnhardt jr. guiding the field back to green. biffle and earnhardt jr. would exchange the lead over the next 10 laps, until david gilliland’s machine blew and laid down oil resulting in the fifth caution of the race. while leading, earnhardt jr. decided to pit on lap 152 and never contended again. meanwhile, biffle with one of his strongest runs of the year led the field back down to green ahead of harvick and kyle larson, brian vickers and kurt busch. racing resumed with the race intensity picking up as hamlin and vickers shuffled biffle from the top and swapped the lead for nine laps until harvick reasserted himself with a huge pack of cars behind on lap 168. the second “big one” of the afternoon came on lap 175 when jimmie johnson lost control of his car in turn four and collected austin dillon, ricky stenhouse jr., joey logano, david ragan, reed sorenson, kurt busch and michael mcdowell. on the restart, hamlin and harvick put on a show utilizing help from their peers, exchanging control of the race for the next two laps, before edwards spun, collecting ryan newman and cole whitt to bring out the yellow yet again on lap 184. hamlin, though with help from biffle and clint bowyer would execute his move on leader harvick on the restart. with biffle and bowyer in toe, hamlin came to the white flag, when a crash started from behind. the field remained under green, but when debris landed in the racing groove near the start finish line, the eighth caution of the race was flown, immediately freezing the field and earning hamlin his 24th career nascar sprint cup series victory. “i’ve got tons of exhibition wins on superspeedways, but none with points. i like it,” hamlin said. biffle, who notched his best finish of the year talked about his second top five of 2014. “the last few restarts were actually really good for us,” said biffle, who exits talladega eighth in the championship standings. “that final restart clint (bowyer) gave us a huge, huge push and we had a huge run at the 11 car. i looked in the mirror and saw the smoke behind me and i wasn’t really sure whether the caution was gonna come out and i didn’t know what to do and i thought about making my move on the 11 right then because i had a huge run and i could have, and then probably off of two i could have passed him again   got beside him and sucked by him   but i just didn’t want to pass too early. “i wish i had known we weren’t gonna race all the way back, but it was a good day for us. the car was really fast, a lot of speed, and i’m just happy to come out of here with a clean car.” behind hamlin, biffle and bowyer was vickers and a.j allmendinger. paul menard was sixth, harvick wound up seventh, kasey kahne was eighth, larson ninth and ricky stenhouse jr. comprised the top 10. gordon, despite being winless continues to lead the nascar sprint cup series standings. matt kenseth is second ( 3), ahead of kyle busch ( 4), earnhardt jr. ( 19) and edwards ( 19). next up for the nascar sprint cup series is a trip to kansas speedway for the running of 5 hour energy 400 on saturday night. advertisement

entering the alabama 500 weekend at talladega superspeedway, all eyes were on dale earnhardt jr. the retiring six time track winner was expected by many to be a favorite for the race win despite being out of playoff contention, and began his weekend with a pole position, his first career talladega pole. wrecks and other carnage were thrown in his way, and while he was able to escape each one, brad keselowski stole the show in his 300th start to punch his ticket into the round of 8. in commemoration of earnhardt’s final start at talladega, alabama governor kay ivey declared sunday, october 15 as dale earnhardt jr. day. in addition to being race day, october 15, 2017 marked the 17 year anniversary of the 2000 winston 500 at the track, dale earnhardt’s final cup win. as a gift from the track, earnhardt was given his father’s #2 rod osterlund car, which was driven to the 1980 championship. during pace laps, alabama gang member donnie allison drove the #2 as the honorary pace car. keselowski also changed his car’s paint scheme for the race, running one inspired by his #88 navy nationwide (now xfinity) series car owned by earnhardt. for the race, a reversal of february’s daytona 500 front row took place, with earnhardt starting on the pole alongside hendrick motorsports teammate chase elliott. a slow start on elliott’s outside line allowed earnhardt to pull ahead, with the #24 committing to his teammate’s inside. earnhardt led for much of the lap until defending race winner joey logano   who started behind earnhardt in 3rd   had a strong run on the outside groove in the tri oval, and made the pass shortly before crossing the line. keselowski caught up to his penske teammate as earnhardt was shuffled to 3rd, with the leaders running single file along the inside. on lap 15, every ford from team penske, roush fenway racing, and stewart haas racing hit pit road for fuel only stops; a similar strategy had been adopted by the toyota teams at the talladega race in may. as a result, chevrolets led by earnhardt began to lead, with landon cassill being the only ford in the top five (4th). upon completing their stops, danica patrick and aric almirola lost the draft, causing them to fall off the pace. elliott passed earnhardt for the lead on lap 22. four laps later, the other leaders began their stops; as he slowed down to join pit road, jamie mcmurray was hit from behind by erik jones, sending the #1 around. the #1 slid up the tri oval and was hit by jeffrey earnhardt, causing mcmurray to go airborne. upon landing, mcmurray was hit by mark thompson. as the caution came out and pit road was immediately closed, many drivers   including elliott, earnhardt, joey gase, paul menard, kyle larson, and michael mcdowell   found themselves unable to avoid entering pit road and were penalized accordingly. earnhardt restarted 30th. a penske front row of logano and keselowski led the field to the restart on lap 36, with penske ally ryan blaney joining the two in the top three. with five laps remaining in stage #1, menard hit the wall to bring out the caution. earnhardt was once again penalized when he was too fast entering pit road. a restart took place with one lap to go in the stage as keselowski won his third stage of the year. logano, blaney, ricky stenhouse jr., jimmie johnson, clint bowyer, mcdowell, kurt busch, trevor bayne, and kasey kahne also received stage points. kahne stayed out while the leaders pitted, which enabled him to be the leader for the start of stage #2 on lap 61 alongside matt kenseth. kenseth took the lead from kahne a lap later before hamlin became the leader on lap 64. green flag stops began for many on lap 67, while jimmie johnson took damage to his right rear, though it was not repaired on his stop. when kenseth pitted, kahne led until he also hit pit road, allowing brendan gaughan to lead two laps until matt dibenedetto took the lead. a caution for debris on the backstretch came out on lap 81; hamlin, who was pitting at the time for a loose wheel, nearly went a lap down, but was able to beat dibenedetto to the line. stenhouse and ku. busch comprised the front row for the lap 88 restart, with the latter taking the lead a lap later. blaney and mcdowell pushed their ways to the front on lap 92, with the top ten settling into single file by lap 100. ten laps later, blaney won the stage with keselowski, bowyer, elliott, ku. busch, austin dillon, johnson, kevin harvick, ky. busch, and hamlin following. after staying out between stages, gaughan became the leader for the start of stage #3 on lap 115, though hamlin and blaney traded the lead from laps 117 to 124 before elliott took 1st. on lap 144, blaney and a number of drivers pitted, with elliott and others following a lap later. upon completion of the cycle of stops, logano was the new leader. on lap 152, bayne had a tire go down after making contact in the pack, causing the #6 to hit the wall and bring out the yellow flag. a restart took place on lap 155, though the green flag barely lasted a lap as mcdowell and cole whitt wrecked in turn one, with a.j. allmendinger and clint bowyer also involved. keselowski was the lone driver to pit under caution as he was struggling with radio problems. the green flag waved with 29 to go, lasting just five laps before gase was clipped by d.j. kennington exiting turn two and hit the wall. lap 169 saw the next restart as logano and blaney were the front row. menard, who restarted 7th, quickly pulled to the apron after losing a fourth gear. daniel suárez blasted ahead to the lead on lap 170 before chaos broke loose in the form of the big one in turn three: the wreck collected stenhouse, kenseth, mcdowell, harvick, a. dillon, ragan, johnson, ku. and ky. busch, martin truex jr., and danica patrick. earnhardt jr. slid to the grass to avoid the crash but was able to keep his car moving. the red flag was eventually flown for cleanup, lasting 13 minutes. hamlin, keselowski, earnhardt, menard, ty dillon, chris buescher, and dibenedetto pitted on lap 172, with suárez and logano staying out to lead the field to the restart with 12 laps to go. suárez led the first lap of the restart before elliott entered the picture by making a gutsy three wide pass for the lead. a lap later, larson joined the battle for 1st as he entered turn three, where logano and bayne made contact and checked up the track into blaney, causing the #21 to come down and hit bayne. earnhardt jr., once again in a precarious position, watched as the sideways bayne and blaney slid past his nose without any damage. as blaney’s car slid back up the track, harvick hit gaughan and blaney. another restart occurred with eight laps to go, with suárez and elliott on the first row. suárez received a push from larson and keselowski to pull ahead and lead the lap. on lap 182, larson passed suárez for the lead in turn one, but the 2016 xfinity series champion was not keen on giving up the position as the two dueled side by side. with six laps to go, elliott attempted to make a move between larson and suárez, but clipped the latter and resulted in the two going around. larson hit the wall, while buescher was also involved. yet again, another red flag was waved. after 17 minutes, red flag conditions were changed to yellow. as a result of the carnage, only 13 cars remained on the lead lap for the three lap dash to the finish, including only four playoff drivers (keselowski, hamlin, larson, and a lap down kenseth). bayne, kahne, logano, and menard pitted as the others stayed out. for the restart on lap 186, the top two consisted of keselowski and newman, with earnhardt and hamlin behind them, respectively. the tandem of newman and hamlin quickly cleared keselowski, with hamlin attempting to steal the lap led from newman as they came to the start/finish line before falling short. hamlin eventually dropped to 6th as newman led the penultimate lap. on the final lap, keselowski passed newman for the lead in turn four to claim his fifth talladega victory. newman finished 2nd, followed by bayne, logano, and almirola, who was turned as he crossed the finish. hamlin finished 6th and earnhardt settled for 7th in his final talladega start. kahne recorded his second straight top ten finish with 8th, while gray gaulding scored his best finish with 9th. 2013 spring talladega race winner david ragan rounded out the top ten. of the 40 car grid, only 14 finished the race, and all but kenseth finished on the lead lap. “i was getting about every other word, but, man, it’s so hard to tell what’s going on,” keselowski commented in regards to his radio problem. “you got cars three wide, four wide, and you get in the corner two wide, but then somebody sneaks in and ‘sorry, it wasn’t me.’ […] it’s just part of the pain and privilege of talladega. it’s a little bit of both.” “i feel lucky to have a team and a car, getting to drive for dale (earnhardt jr.) a little bit, he taught me a lot, and i’m very thankful for that. thankful to get to run this scheme to honor him and his team jr motorsports, miller lite let us do that, that was really nice of them, but there’s just so much to be thankful for here today. to be able to win and advance to the next round of the playoffs and not have to deal with all of that, i just don’t know what to say. it’s really special.” next week, the cup series travels to kansas speedway for the hollywood casino 400. harvick is the defending race winner. featured image by @nascar your email address will not be published. required fields are marked * comment * name * email * website i accept the privacy policy δdocument.getelementbyid( "ak_js_1" ).setattribute( "value", ( new date() ).gettime() ); crowther media 2020 copyright © 2020 overtake motorsport & alex crowther.

supported by michael mcdowell won nascar’s biggest race, and earned his first career win, after a late pileup took out the top contenders in front of him. by jerry garrett martin truex jr. is making his 17th attempt to win the daytona 500. by michael venutolo mantovani denny hamlin, who won the daytona 500 the past two years, asked jordan to form a team with him, 23xi racing. they are rallying behind wallace, the only black full time driver at nascar’s top level. by jonathan abrams a self described fan of the sport, jordan will form a team with bubba wallace as the driver, possibly helping to draw african american interest in a largely white sport. by jonathan abrams a nascar driver who was dismissed from his team after using a racial slur is a product of a diversity program. by victor mather the sport’s drivers compete from home, the announcers call it like a real race, fox sports broadcasts it on tv and nobody gets hurt. by jeff arnold newman was in position to win the daytona 500 on the race’s final turn monday. then everything went wrong, leaving him hospitalized and his colleagues trying to sort out a chaotic finish. by victor mather newman’s team said he was in “serious condition” but did not have life threatening injuries after a major wreck just before the finish. denny hamlin won the race for the second straight year. by j.e. garrett denny hamlin ensured that joey logano would not repeat as the nascar champion and now has a chance to claim his first title. by jerry garrett hamlin, honoring the memory of the team owner j.d. gibbs, won the race for the second time in four years. hamlin’s teammate kyle busch came in second. by jerry garrett

hendrick motorsports is an american professional stock car racing team that currently competes in the nascar cup series. the team, founded in 1984 by rick hendrick, is one of stock car racing's premier organizations. hendrick motorsports has won 14 cup series owners and drivers championships, three truck series owners and drivers titles, and one xfinity series drivers crown. the team has amassed 312 nascar cup series victories, 28 xfinity series wins, 26 truck series wins, and 7 arca racing series victories. hendrick motorsports currently fields four full time cup series teams with the chevrolet camaro zl1 1le, including the no. 5 for kyle larson, the no. 9 for chase elliott, the no. 24 for william byron, and the no. 48 for alex bowman. the team formerly fielded teams in the now xfinity series before merging its efforts with jr motorsports. hendrick motorsports also fielded several trucks in the truck series, most recently for development driver chase elliott in 2013. the team has fielded cars in the past for many nascar drivers, including hall of famers jeff gordon, mark martin, dale earnhardt jr., terry labonte, darrell waltrip, and benny parsons, 7 time cup champion jimmie johnson, and others such as geoff bodine, tim richmond, ricky rudd, ken schrader, ricky craven, jerry nadeau, joe nemechek, kyle busch, casey mears, and kasey kahne. in the nascar cup series, which has been sponsored by winston, nextel, sprint, and monster energy during the existence of hendrick motorsports, the team has won 312 races and 14 championships.[1] the team has won at nearly every track on which it has competed, with the exception of kentucky speedway, indianapolis road course, world wide technology raceway, and the bristol dirt configuration. it has won at least one race each year since its inception in 1984, with the exception of 1985. in 2007, hendrick set a team record for wins in a single season, winning 18 of 36 races. in 2021, hendrick motorsports eclipsed petty enterprises (268) in cup series wins for a single organization. .   hendrick won driver's championship twenty drivers have won at least one points race for hendrick motorsports in the cup series. at the time of jimmie johnson's final points win in 2017, jeff gordon and johnson had combined to win 176 of the 248 races for the organization, accounting for 71% of the victories. since hendrick now has 312 wins, that total is now 56.4%. benny parsons, ricky craven, and josh berry all won an exhibition race while driving for hendrick but not a points race.[1] hendrick has won on 32 of the 37 tracks on which it has competed in the cup series, the exceptions being kentucky speedway, indianapolis road course, world wide technology raceway, iowa speedway, and the bristol dirt configuration. this includes the final race at nashville fairgrounds speedway in 1984, the inaugural brickyard 400 at indianapolis motor speedway in 1994, the final race at north wilkesboro speedway in 1996, the first race at california speedway (now auto club speedway) in 1997, and the first race at kansas speedway in 2001. hendrick also won the inaugural race held on the daytona road course in 2020, the first race at circuit of the americas in 2021, the first race at nashville superspeedway in 2021, and the return to road america in 2021.[1] since its inception in 1984, hendrick motorsports has won at least one race every season except 1985. in 2007, hendrick accounted for 18 wins, which was half of the total number of points races (36). in 2021, hendrick won 17 points races, as well as the all star race.[1] .   hendrick won driver's championship rick hendrick's first nascar win came in 1983 in the then sportsman series at charlotte motor speedway with dale earnhardt driving. hendrick had purchased a stake in the team with robert gee as the primary owner.[5] hendrick motorsports fielded entries in the renamed busch series from 1984 to 1990, and again from 2000 to 2007.[6] in 2003, ricky hendrick was listed as the primary owner of the no. 5, which brian vickers drove to three victories and the 2003 series championship.[7] following the conclusion of the 2007 season, hendrick and jr motorsports (owned by dale earnhardt jr.) officially combined xfinity series operations. the no. 5 chevrolet began running full time under the jr motorsports banner in 2008, and the team received engines and technical support from hendrick. with the merger, rick hendrick became a part owner in the team.[8][9] hendrick motorsports returned to the series in 2009 to field the no. 80 for tony stewart at daytona, which stewart drove to hendrick's 26th and final victory in the series.[6] hendrick returned the now xfinity series in a part time basis from 2022 to 2024.[10] .   hendrick won driver's championship hendrick has won on 16 different tracks in the series, with jg motorsports winning at homestead miami speedway in 2000 with rick hendrick as part owner. the team won five times at charlotte motor speedway and four times at daytona international speedway. hendrick's first road course win in the xfinity series was at circuit of the americas in 2024.[6][7] hendrick motorsports fielded full time entries in the nascar truck series from the inaugural season in 1995 to the 2001 season, winning a total of 26 races. terry labonte won the first race for the organization at richmond. jack sprague in the no. 24 won 23 races and 3 series championships (1997, 1999, 2001) with the team, while ricky hendrick added a win in 2001 at kansas. hendrick returned to fielding a truck part time in 2013 for chase elliott, with elliott scoring a win driving the no. 94 truck.[11] .   hendrick won driver's championship hendrick won on 17 different tracks in the truck series, including winning at richmond and phoenix three times.[11] in 2003, hendrick fielded kyle busch in the arca re/max series for seven races. busch drove the no. 87 ditech.com chevrolet to three poles and two wins.[12][13] busch ran the 2004 season opener at daytona, winning the race after starting second.[14][13] later in 2004, development drivers blake feese, boston reid, and kyle krisiloff ran a combined ten races in arca in the no. 5, no. 6, and no. 7 cars fielded by bobby gerhart racing under the hendrick motorsports banner. feese scored a win at nashville, while krisiloff scored a victory at chicagoland speedway.[15][16][17] later that season, feese ran a single race in the no. 94 carquest auto parts chevrolet out of the hendrick stable at talladega, scoring another victory.[13][18] in 2013, chase elliott won at pocono raceway driving for his father bill in a car fielded out of the hendrick stable.[19] as of 9/28/23   includes nascar's cup series, xfinity series, truck series, and arca series races[20][21][22] *   includes results by multiple teams; sometimes as many as 4 or 5 teams per race

nascar john andretti battling colon cancer it's one of the most emotional stories dave calabro has covered. in fact, it brought him to tears. longtime friend, beloved race car driver and dedicated "giver" to the community, john andretti, reveals to dave that he is fighting stage 4 colon cancer. dave traveled to north carolina where john and his wife live. the three spent time at home and in the hospital, where you'll see john's playful sense of humor as he sits in a hospital chair with chemo pumping into him to kill those cancer cells. "chemo sucks a lot," andretti says honestly with a laugh, "i don't think anybody walks out saying 'man this is great. give me more!'" what's just as important to john is that he educates others about colon cancer screenings so it can be caught early. google working with nascar to test new high speed wireless technology google's wireless broadband team has a new target market: nascar racecars. the company is seeking permission from the fcc for an experimental radio license to test "the transmission of broadband data from racecars to transportable/fixed base stations located at racetrack facilities." it's all happening this summer at four events in nascar loving locales like tennessee, michigan, south carolina, and virginia. the application, filed with the fcc on friday, is highly redacted and provides only limited details about the plans. there's scant technical info about the type of wireless technology to be used, other than the fact that it will involve a frequency between 3400 mhz and 3600 mhz. racecar drivers might make for good guinea pigs to test out high speed data and communications services. or the technology could also potentially be used to track vital car functions, like tire pressure or engine temperature. of course, google is also developing self driving cars so such an experiment could potentially be useful to understand wireless transmissions at high speeds. here's the schedule for the upcoming google nascar tests, per the filing: june 10 20: michigan international speedway august 11 21: bristol motor speedway august 26 september 5: darlington raceway september 1 11: richmond international speedway next race: this weekend at talladega superspeedway; tv live on fox on sunday at 11 a.m. pt nhra torrence, capps, mcgaha and tonglet take home wally trophies at the nhra four wide nationals steve torrence raced his way to the top fuel victory sunday in the eighth annual nhra four wide nationals at zmax dragway. ron capps (funny car) chris mcgaha (pro stock) and le tonglet (pro stock motorcycle) were also winners in their respective categories at the sixth event on the 2017 nhra mello yello drag racing series schedule. torrence piloted his capco contractors dragster to a 3.783 second pass at 323.89 mph for the ninth victory of his career and first of the season. he defeated current points leader, leah pritchett, eight time world champion, tony schumacher and terry mcmillen in the final round. capps, the current funny car world champion, ran a 3.933 at 322.65 in his napa auto parts dodge charger for his first nhra four wide nationals win of his career, second consecutive this season and 52nd of his funny car career. teammate, jack beckman took second place, j.r. todd finished third, and teammate matt hagan placed fourth. with the victory, capps takes a 43 point lead over his teammate hagan. in pro stock, mcgaha picked up his fifth career victory and first at zmax dragway when he ran a 6.591 at 210.44 in his harlow sammons chevy camaro. he bested greg anderson, shane gray and drew skillman in the final round. tonglet rode his nitro fish racing suzuki to a 6.864 at 195.00 pass to earn his 10th career victory and first of the season. he defeated three time world champion, eddie krawiec and, andrew hines on his way to his first four wides win. this win also marks the first victory for tonglet since joining the white alligator racing headed by pro stock motorcycle world champion jerry savoie. next race: this weekend at atlanta dragway; tv on sunday on fs1 at 3 p.m. pt. indycar pagenaud races away to first oval victory, takes points lead simon pagenaud drove away from the field in the final half of the desert diamond west valley phoenix grand prix at phoenix raceway, winning by 9.1028 seconds over teammate will power and assuming the points lead after four races of the 2017 season. driving the no. 1 menards team penske chevrolet, pagenaud collected the 10th win of his indy car career and led a chevy sweep of the top four positions on the 1.022 mile oval that has hosted 63 indy car races dating to 1964. it was also win no. 450 for team penske in all racing competitions and its 100th on indy car ovals. pagenaud took control midway through the 250 lap race, running longer while other frontrunners had to stop for fuel and tires. pagenaud pitted on lap 140 with a one lap advantage on the field under a caution period caused when takuma sato's car made contact with the turn 4 safer barrier. pagenaud returned to the track in first place and led the final 114 laps. team penske's four drivers led all 250 laps, the first time a team has paced every lap in a race since team penske did the same thing in the first race of belle isle doubleheader last year. power led 59 laps in the no. 12 verizon team penske chevrolet before finishing second. pole sitter helio castroneves led 73 laps in the no. 3 rev group team penske chevy and finished fourth. josef newgarden, the winner of last week's honda indy grand prix of alabama, led two laps in the no. 2 verizon team penske chevy and ran up front most of the night until contact with ryan hunter reay forced an unscheduled pit stop and newgarden finished ninth. jr hildebrand finished third in the no. 21 fuzzy's vodka ed carpenter racing chevrolet   the best result for hildebrand since his memorable runner up finish in the 2011 indianapolis 500 when he crashed while leading on the final lap. hildebrand was pleased with tonight's showing after he sat out last week's race at barber motorsports park while a broken bone in his left hand mended from an april 9 crash in the toyota grand prix of long beach. pagenaud holds an 18 point advantage in the championship over scott dixon, who finished fifth in the race. newgarden sits third in the standings, 26 points out of first place. sebastien bourdais of dale coyne racing, who led the points entering the night, was caught in a five car incident on the opening lap when mikhail aleshin spun and collected the cars of bourdais, marco andretti, max chilton and graham rahal in turn 2. no drivers were injured. bourdais finished 19th and dropped to fourth in the standings. video: phoenix race highlights: http://www.indycar.com/videos/2017/04/04 30 phoenix day 2 highlights next race: indycar grand prix at indianapolis motor speedway, may 11 13 at sonoma raceway: the stars of the nascar cup series return to wine country for what will be their only stop in california on the circuit. you don't want to miss it! sign up and you could win an exclusive sonoma raceway 2024 diecast!

in stick and ball sports, home field advantage is a vital component in determining the favorite. it’s often overlooked in racing   but it shouldn’t be. four of denny hamlin’s 10 career sprint cup wins have come in his home state of virginia (three at martinsville, one at richmond). hamlin, whose no. 11 joe gibbs racing entry carries fedex sponsorship, says that’s not a coincidence. “there’s more fedex jackets and hats and shirts in the stands (at virginia tracks),” he says. “believe it or not, we can see that. we see it under caution. somehow that just gives you more motivation, for whatever reason, or determination.” here are some other examples of cup drivers finding a little extra motivation, or determination, when performing before the home folks. the alabama gang the allison clan, based in hueytown, always turned it up a notch at talladega. bobby allison had four wins at the alabama superspeedway, and his son davey had three. bobby’s brother donnie had just 10 career wins, but two came at talladega. bessemer’s neil bonnett also won at his home state track. darlington’s darlings spartanburg, south carolina’s david pearson was tough to beat anywhere   but particularly in his home state. ten of pearson’s 105 sprint cup wins came at darlington, more than at any other track, including three in the southern 500. and if it wasn’t pearson in victory lane, it was often timmonsville, south carolina’s cale yarborough, who won the southern 500 five times. in one 10 year stretch, pearson and yarborough combined to win 11 of 20 darlington races. dw’s home cookin’ the first of darrell waltrip’s 84 career cup wins came at his old saturday night haunt, nashville speedway, in 1975. by the time the tennessee native retired, he had won another 19 times in his home state, with seven more coming at nashville and a record 12 at bristol. hurrying hoosiers “i have a bad memory, but i still know who ray harroun is.” that’s how jeff gordon summarized his motivation after winning the inaugural brickyard 400 in 1994 and joining harroun, winner of the first indy 500, in the history books. gordon, a california native who grew up 15 miles from indianapolis motor speedway, now stands as the 400’s only four time winner. tony stewart, a native of columbus, indiana, who began his career racing open wheel cars and dreamed of winning the indy 500, is a two time brickyard 400 winner. awesome bill from dawsonville georgia native bill elliott got five of his 44 career cup wins at atlanta motor speedway. high roller after winning the 2009 shelby 427 at las vegas motor speedway, vegas native kyle busch said it was “probably what it would feel like to win the daytona 500.” the ultimate hometown hero for fireball roberts, winning at his home track and winning the daytona 500 were one and the same. roberts, a florida native who had attended daytona beach’s seabreeze high school, accomplished the feat by winning the 1962 daytona 500. one to watch: kevin harvick why he matters: talladega victory ended a 115 race winless streak. what he says: “it was just all about timing.” what the numbers say: some timing. the margin of victory was 0.011 seconds; the margin in harvick’s last win, the 2007 daytona 500, was 0.020. next race crown royal 400, richmond international raceway the lowdown tough act to follow. richmond has the misfortune to fall just six days after one of the wildest weekend’s in nascar history. first, a tornado watch shut talladega down on saturday and bumped the nationwide race to sunday, after the sprint cup race. that sprint cup race, the aaron’s 499, produced records for the number of leaders (29), lead changes (88) and green white checkered restarts (three, the maximum). the race ran 12 extra laps, and kevin harvick needed every foot of those 12 laps to overtake jamie mcmurray at the end. top that, richmond! past winners 2009 kyle busch 2008 clint bowyer 2007 jimmie johnson 2006 dale earnhardt jr. 2005 kasey kahne about richmond track: richmond international raceway (richmond, va.), .75 mile paved oval race length: 400 laps, 300 miles first race: 1953 series: nascar sprint cup quote of note “they said, ‘have at it, boys,’ and we did.”   juan pablo montoya, after finishing third in perhaps the wildest talladega race ever where to watch saturday’s pre race show on fox starts at 7 p.m. edt, followed by the race at 7:30. up to speed leaders of the pack if past performance is any indication, a select group will spend most of the night hogging the lead on saturday. twelve drivers have led at least 17 laps per start at richmond international raceway, led by denny hamlin. the virginia native has led more than one of every four laps he’s run at the track (see chart). beyond the top 12 the numbers drop dramatically. several top drivers have had trouble finding their way to the front at richmond, none more so than jamie mcmurray. in 14 career races at rir, mcmurray has logged 5,110 laps without ever leading. sound familiar? last lap at talladega. brad keselowski pulls off a startling pass for the win, while all heck breaks loose behind him. one car gets so high in the air that it tears down a portion of the catch fence. that’s how the aaron’s 499 sprint cup race ended last year   and it’s also how the aaron’s 312 nationwide race ended last sunday. the one difference was that it was dennis setzer who got into the catch fence this time, not carl edwards. setzer was uninjured. “just amazing,” said keselowski as the sun set on a long, eventful sunday. milestone the aaron’s 499 was the 300th career sprint cup start for jimmie johnson. he’s won 50 of them   exactly one of every six cup races that he’s run. that is, by far, the best winning percentage of any active driver, and it is comparable to the career numbers put up by richard petty. the king had 200 career wins in 1,184 starts. weekly stats laps led per start at richmond rank driver laps led starts avg. 1 denny hamlin 899 8 112.4 2 kevin harvick 726 18 40.3 3 kyle busch 398 10 39.8 4 tony stewart 815 22 37.0 5 jeff gordon 1258 34 37.0 6 jeff burton 899 31 29.0 7 ryan newman 433 16 27.1 8 jimmie johnson 369 16 23.1 9 kasey kahne 249 12 20.8 10 dale earnhardt jr. 427 21 20.3 11 kurt busch 348 18 19.3 12 david reutimann 104 6 17.3 13 matt kenseth 192 20 9.6 14 mark martin 420 48 8.8 15 joe nemechek 179 32 5.6 16 brian vickers 53 11 4.8 17 bobby labonte 161 34 4.7 18 greg biffle 71 15 4.7 19 martin truex jr. 28 8 3.5 20 clint bowyer 24 8 3.0
supported by denny hamlin passed kevin harvick for the lead on the penultimate lap and then received the checkered flag when a multicar wreck on the final lap froze the finishing order in the nascar sprint cup race sunday at talladega superspeedway in alabama. for hamlin, 33, it was his first victory at the 2.66 mile oval, and it came in the 300th race of his career in the series. harvick faded to seventh, while greg biffle followed hamlin to finish second. clint bowyer, brian vickers and a. j. allmendinger completed the top five. many of the favorites had been caught up in various large pileups. brad keselowski received widespread criticism from his fellow drivers for what they considered overaggressive driving, especially since keselowski was six laps behind but trying to drive among the leaders when he lost control of his car. after the race, keselowski apologized on twitter. in other racing news from the weekend: ■ marc marquez, the reigning motogp champion, took his fourth straight victory in the young 2014 season with a strong performance sunday in the spanish grand prix at jerez, spain. marquez, the pole position starter, dropped behind a couple of riders at the green flag, but he regained the lead and held it. the yamaha rider valentino rossi was the runner up, with marquez’s honda teammate dani pedrosa third, ahead of yamaha’s jorge lorenzo. attention now turns to the next round of the series, in two weeks, at le mans, france, where marquez goes for his fifth victory in a row to start the season. ■ renger van der zande and mirco schultis teamed up to drive an oreca flm09 to victory in sunday’s sports car race at laguna seca raceway in california. luis diaz and sean rayhall were runners up. ■ the indycar series announced monday that it was exploring the addition of a race to its schedule in 2015 at the nola motorsports park in avondale, la. the 2.75 mile road course is about 14 miles from new orleans. no race date was announced. the louisiana track, which opened in 2011, was designed by alan wilson. wilson also was the designer for miller motorsports park in salt lake city and barber motorsports park near birmingham, ala. ■ nicolas lapierre, sebastien buemi and anthony davidson made it two wins in two starts for their team and the toyota ts040 hybrid they shared, with a victory sunday in the 6 hours of spa francorchamps world endurance championship race in belgium. buemi was at the wheel when the no. 8 toyota took the lead for keeps in the race’s second hour. audi claimed second place, 1 minute and 13 seconds behind the leader, with its r18 e tron quattro driven by loic duval, tom kristensen and lucas di grassi.