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NASCAR

Sprint Cup-Bojangles’ Southern 500 results

DARLINGTON, S.C. (AP) — Rick Hendrick only got to watch the last 100 miles of the Southern 500. Turns out he saw the best part.

Jimmie Johnson broke free on a restart three laps from the end Saturday night to give Hendrick Motorsports its 200th Sprint Cup victory.

Hendrick drivers had gone 16 races since Johnson won No. 199 at Kansas in October. The car owner was in the North Carolina mountains attending a wedding and couldn’t get to Darlington Raceway until the final stretch. That’s when he watched Johnson overcome fuel and tire concerns to power past Tony Stewart and Denny Hamlin on the final restart.

When it was over, Hendrick was hugged by everyone nearby, and Johnson ran the car up to the inside wall as his team members pounded the No. 48 Chevy in celebration.

“I feel very, very fortunate to go along on this ride,” Hendrick said.

Johnson presented his owner with a helmet signed by the 15 drivers who ran for Hendrick since he began his operation. “Thanks, buddy,” the owner said. “This will definitely be the centerpiece of the mancave.”

Johnson looked vulnerable down the stretch with Stewart and Kyle Busch right behind and ready to pounce after Kurt Busch and Ryan Newman spun out with six laps left.

But Stewart had trouble once the green flag dropped and Johnson flew into the lead and cruised to his first victory since Kansas last October, breaking the winless drought for the five-time NASCAR champion and the Hendrick team.

“That guy’s something,” Johnson said about the owner. “He said, ‘We won 200. Let’s get 250.”

Denny Hamlin was second, followed by Stewart and Kyle Busch.

Danica Patrick lasted until the end of her second Sprint Cup race, finishing six laps behind Johnson in 31st.

Johnson led 134 of the 368 laps, including the final 44. It was Johnson’s third Darlington win, but first since he swept the 2004 events at the track — the last season “The Lady in Black” had two Sprint Cup races.

Hendrick won his first race as an owner at Martinsville in 1984, Geoff Bodine driving to victory No. 1. Johnson took his 56th NASCAR win as a Hendrick driver, second only to teammate Jeff Gordon’s 85 victories.

This was the place where fireworks took place a year ago when Kevin Harvick went after Kyle Busch for a late wreck. This time, it involved crew members for Kurt Busch and Newman scrumming after the race.

Martin Truex Jr. was fifth, followed by Matt Kenseth, Carl Edwards, Kasey Kahne, Marcos Ambrose and Joey Logano — the Nationwide winner Friday night.

Series points leader Greg Biffle won the pole and led 74 laps, second only Johnson, yet ended in 12th. His series lead narrowed to two points over Kenseth.

The race began with longest stretch of green flag racing from the start with 171 laps since NASCAR began releasing such information, a run which helped speed up a race that’s often slogged through double-digit cautions.

Biffle, the pole-sitter, and five-time Sprint Cup champion Johnson, each had long runs and built big leads. Biffle led 74 of the first 98 laps before Johnson took control for 72 straight laps until the race’s first stoppage for debris.

When the cautions began, they didn’t stop — and played havoc with strategy the rest of the way. Johnson chose to stay out during a caution period 60 laps from the end, leaving him three laps short on fuel. When AJ Allmendinger and Jamie McMurray tied up a few moments later for another stoppage, Johnson had no choice but to remain on the track instead of surrendering track position to top off his tank.

At still another caution a few laps later when Reed Sorenson slid through turn four, Kyle Busch dove low as if he were about to pit but returned to his spot before the commitment line.

The final shootout came after Kurt Busch hit the wall and he and Newman spun out with six laps left. Stewart, who earlier dealt with a broken clutch, said there was nothing there when he stepped on the gas and was glad to hold onto third. “It’s why we won a championship. We never give up,” he said.

Neither did Hendrick’s teams, who carted around commemorative 200th victory caps from track to track as the victory drought dragged on. Johnson and Hendrick were both happy to have the milestone behind them.

“It just looked like we were stuck. It was beginning to feel like, I said, ‘I can’t believe we can go half a year, run that many seconds and lead that many laps,” Hendrick said. “It seemed like all the bad luck was coming at one time.”

Stewart congratulated Hendrick on the milestone and was just as proud of Patrick, who drove the car he fields for Sprint Cup events.

Patrick hadn’t raced in the Sprint Cup series since her debut at Daytona in February. That didn’t go well when she got caught up in early wreck and wound up 38th.

But Patrick said she’s grown as a NASCAR driver and that was clear with her performances at Darlington, one of the quirkiest and toughest circuits. She brushed the wall plenty in Friday practices, but rebounded to finish 12th in the Nationwide Series race that night.

“I know I didn’t have a great result. But, I accomplished all the things I wanted to accomplish,” Patrick said. “Things went good on the Nationwide side. Here on the Cup side, my goals were to be respectable out there. I think I held my own.”

Patrick quickly fell two laps down yet hung as tough as she could as the race went an incredible 171 green flag laps from the start without a caution flag. “You’re doing a hell of a job here,” crew chief Greg Zipadelli told his driver. “Keep racing the race track.”

Patrick was hit with a pass-through penalty for a commitment line violation with less than 80 laps left. Still, Stewart said Patrick kept her cool throughout the night on the difficult track.

“This is a long weekend and what she did in these two days is hard to do,” Stewart said. “This is a hard place to learn.”

Dale Earnhardt Jr., the owner of Patrick’s Nationwide Series team, had hoped to end a couple of major droughts and collect his first victory at Darlington. But he, too, struggled as he nearly 4-year-old winless Sprint Cup streak increased to 140 races as he finished 17th.

NASCAR director of competition Ryan Pemberton said he was still finding out what happened between the teams of Kurt Busch and Newman after the race.

“It was a long hot night and certainly tempers were hot to say the least on crews and drivers alike to say the least,” he said.

Notebook: Gordon’s troubles continue at Darlington

DARLINGTON, S.C. (AP) — Jeff Gordon’s season didn’t get any better at one of his most successful tracks.

Gordon twice had to pit because of flat tires, continuing a host of struggles that have left the four-time Sprint Cup champion 23rd in the points. “We got something broke here, boys,” Gordon told his crew as he headed into the pits for his second flat tire.

Gordon drove the car into the garage after the second flat, his crew inspecting underneath for problems while Gordon waited patiently inside.

It’s been that sort of year for Gordon, who had hoped to find his old form at Darlington Raceway, a track where he’s won seven times. Teammate and five-time Sprint Cup champion Jimmie Johnson captured the Southern 500 for the 200th victory for Hendrick Motorsports.

Car owner Rick Hendrick acknowledged Gordon’s horrible luck so far. “Jeff is like, I wouldn’t fly home with him,” he said. “It’s been unbelievable.”

Gordon had a blown engine at Daytona when he was running fifth. A cut tire at Bristol left him 35th. Two pit road penalties in California dropped Gordon to 26th. Gordon was challenging for the win at Martinsville when he got spun in a green-white-checkered finish and ended 12th.

Last week at Talladega, Gordon started from the pole yet saw his car overheat to drop him back. He got caught in a later wreck and finished 23rd.

“It’s the same old story,” Gordon said. “We’re running good. We have fast race cars. We’re doing everything we can as a team and just having things like that happen to us,” he said.

With Gordon so far down in points, he said his season is about winning enough races to earn a wild card spot in the season-ending championship chase. “I’m not saying it’s impossible, but I think that the nice thing about that is we just go do what we always try and do, which is win races,” he said.

Gordon ended 35th at Darlington, 29 laps behind Johnson.

ROUND 2: Time has not smoothed things over between Kyle Busch and Kevin Harvick.

The two Sprint Cup stars stole the show at the Southern 500 last year with their post-race dustup on the way to the garage after Regan Smith’s victory at the track “Too Tough To Tame.” Harvick was angered with Busch’s tactics late in the race when both were contending for the checkered flag.

Busch, Harvick and Clint Bowyer were three-wide on the narrow track during a late restart when all were trying to chase down Smith. Bowyer went sprawling into the interior wall after contact. As cars spun out behind, Busch gathered his machine, then veered down the track and sent Harvick spinning.

Smith held on through a green-white-checkered finish for his first Sprint Cup victory. But the real drama was unfolding on pit road as Busch and Harvick drove from the track. Busch was up against Harvick’s back bumper when Harvick jumped out and rushed toward Busch’s window where it looked like he took a swing at Busch.

Busch bumped Harvick’s driverless car into the interior wall and headed into the garage. Both were called into the NASCAR hauler and each left composed — although with different versions of what happened. Busch and Harvick were both fined $25,000 and placed on probation by NASCAR after the Darlington tussle.

The two said they hadn’t talked about what happened last year. “I tend to be able to let things go and forget about things while others tend to keep dwelling and keep bringing them back up,” Busch said.

Harvick understood why the track used the incident to attract fans. He said he hasn’t spent too much time worrying about it. “I don’t talk about Kyle or to Kyle,” Harvick said.

OLD DARLINGTON? Is Darlington Raceway again “Too Tough To Tame?” Four years after a major repaving project, it seems the old, gnarly, tire-chewing surface is back rearing its ugly head for Sprint Cup’s top racers.

Howard Comstock with SRT Motorsports Engineering said there were “Darlington stripes” on nearly every car you looked at during Friday’s practice. “They tried to pave (tire wear) out of the racetrack when they did the repave in 2008, but it’s back,” Comstock said.

The past few years since the repaving have allowed race teams to use two tires near the end to save time and beat rivals out of the pits. Those days, Comstock said, are probably done. “I think we’re back” to four-tire pit stops all the time, he said. “I think the track has enough wear on it now that were back to four tires every chance you get,” he said.

Sprint Cup series points leader Greg Biffle said fresh tires are become as important as they were before at Darlington. Biffle won here in 2005 and 2006 before the track’s repaving. Four new tires “picks the speed up a little bit,” he said.

REMEMBERING SHELBY: NASCAR drivers, race teams and leaders paid their respects this weekend to driver and sports car designer Carroll Shelby, who died Thursday at age 89.

The Nationwide Series race at Darlington Raceway held a moment of silence in Shelby’s honor. Track owner Bruton Smith said Shelby was one of his best friends and an innovator in the automotive industry. “I admired him a great deal and will miss him greatly as a friend and a business partner,” Smith said.

Former Charlotte Motor Speedway President H.A. “Humpy” Wheeler said Shelby was a character in the automotive industry that rivaled Bill France Sr., Enzo Ferrari, Smokey Yunick and Barney Oldfield. Shelby “could see the future of performance better than anyone I ever knew,” Wheeler said.

Two-time Darlington champion Greg Biffle was saddened by Shelby’s passing. “I’ve got a few of his cars and he was an inspiration to all car collectors and car guys across the country,” Biffle said. “I grew up in that era when all the muscle cars were happening and did a lot of stuff for hot rods and other cars.”

FIRST FAN: South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley came to Darlington Raceway for the first time for a tour of the state’s NASACAR superspeedway. Haley and her husband, Michael, took part in the drivers’ prerace meeting and the first-term leader got to meet her favorite driver, Danica Patrick. “Michael took a picture of it. It should be up on Facebook soon,” Haley said.

Haley said the Southern 500 brings 60,000 fans and millions of dollars to the area and is a wonderful way to showcase South Carolina.

“It is amazing what goes into these races,” she said. “It really tremendous for the state.”

Her biggest surprise of the day? “That Danica Patrick is tiny. She’s absolutely tiny,” Haley said about the 5-foot-2 driver.

LUGNUTS: It’s Mother’s Day weekend, which means Darlington’s annual tradition of honoring mom. Several NASCAR moms came out along with their driver sons during prerace introductions, then the group gave the starting call of “Sons and drivers, start your engines.” … Carl Edwards has pointed to Darlington Raceway more than most competitors since ending runnerup to Regan Smith in a green-white-checkered finish. “We’ve been waiting since that last restart a year ago to come back here,” he said. “Everyone talks about this being one of the biggest races and it really is for our whole team.” … Nominations for the 2012 Betty Jane France Humanitarian Award close May 31. The award honors NASCAR fans making an impact with children in communities across the country.

– Pete Iacobelli

IndyCar

Hildebrand eager for return to Indianapolis

INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — JR Hildebrand has spent enough time reflecting on mistakes. He just wants to make enough corrections to take advantage of his second chance at the Indianapolis 500.

“It’s really to be back and to be able to turn the page,” Indy’s 2011 hard-luck runner-up said after posting the second fastest lap Saturday in the opening practice, 219.693 mph. “We’ve got a bunch of stuff to work on and it’s a new chapter, so it’s nice to get started.”

Hildebrand could have and maybe should have been back as the defending champion.

The California native was leading the race going into the final turn of the last lap and had the checkered flag in sight. All he had to do was make it cleanly through the turn and hold on until he crossed the famed yard of bricks. But when Hildebrand saw Charlie Kimball’s slower car in the way, he tried to pass on the high side of Kimball’s car. The miscue sent the No. 4 car up the track, into the wall and skidding across the finish line in second place.

For the past 12 months, the Indy 500 rookie of the year has had to relive that moment constantly.

The replay looped through sports highlight shows so many times, Hildebrand temporarily stopped watching them. The crash still appears on the speedway’s television ad, and every time Hildebrand does an interview, well, he seems to have to explain it all over again.

“There are things you take away from it, like trying to be a little more prepared for things that can happen, the race and fuel strategies of people around you, like when you don’t have a spotter on the radio and you think everything is honkey-dory,” Hildebrand said. “But you have to trust your gut and accept responsibility for whatever happens.”

Crashes and wild finishes, of course, are part of Indy’s lore.

Some of the Brickyard’s biggest names — Mario Andretti, A.J. Foyt, Rick Mears and Al and Bobby Unser — survived the collisions to tell their tales. Others were not so fortunate.

But few drivers have lived through an experience like Hildebrand, who went from being the presumed winner of IndyCar’s marquee race to one of the biggest scapegoats in track history.

“I think it (the crash) is always on your mind till you get another race at the same track under your belt,” two-time IndyCar winner Justin Wilson said. “It can’t help, but I’m sure you think about it.”

Mike Conway understands. When the English driver’s car went airborne into Indy’s catch fence late in the 2010 race, he wound up with a broken left leg and a fractured back that ended his season. When he joined Andretti Autosport at the start of 2011, Conway started strong, winning at Long Beach and finishing sixth in Brazil.

The momentum he built up coming to Indy didn’t matter when he got back to the 2.5-mile oval. Conway and his teammates struggled mightily all month at Indy, and Conway was so slow, he didn’t even make the 33-car starting grid. Many wondered whether Conway’s performance was impacted by the crash. He now says it did.

“It was different coming back after the crash and I had to get rid of some of the cobwebs,” said Conway, who now drives for A.J. Foyt Racing. “The first time I went through turn three, I thought ‘This is where I nearly killed myself.’”

Indianapolis was just the start of a topsy-turvy season for Hildebrand.

Two weeks after the crash that left him second at Indy, he tore the ACL in his left knee during a fitness promotion at Texas.

The next week, at Milwaukee, Hildebrand crashed again in what looked like a virtual replay of Indy.

Then came three straight solid finishes — fourth, eighth and 11th — before he closed the season with only one top-10 finish in the last six races. The reward: Finishing second again in the series rookie of the year standings.

The 24-year-old Hildebrand is only getting started.

“I told him ‘There are guys that race here (Indy) for 10 years and they don’t finish second and you finished second in your rookie year,’” Wilson said. “There are things you learn from it and things you can put down and say it just wasn’t meant to be. But he’ll get another chance, I’m sure.”

Things seem to be lining up for Hildebrand this month.

After having a fuel pump problem in the season-opener, Hildebrand finished 15th at Alabama, fifth in Long Beach and seventh in Brazil. He’s still with Panther Racing, which has a record four straight runner-up finishes at Indy, and is using one of the strong Chevrolet engines. Only rookie Josef Newgarden went faster than Hildebrand. Newgarden came in at 220.250.

But Hildebrand is tired of all those close calls and has come back to Indy to finish the job he couldn’t in 2011.

“It’s just sort of business as usual right now,” he said. “I’ve got a lot of years to come back here and get things done. You know I’m glad it didn’t happen the lap before that because then I wouldn’t have finished second, either.”

– Michael Marot

Jay Penske still needs engines for two cars at Indy

INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — Katherine Legge returned to America to race in the Indianapolis 500.

So far, she’s been watching film, studying data and bugging engineers with questions. The problem: Legge and teammate Sebastien Bourdais were still looking for engines as practice opened Saturday.

Twenty-six drivers made it onto the 2.5-mile oval. Meanwhile, Dragon Racing’s garage remained idle for the third straight day and will likely be following the same script Sunday afternoon when practice is scheduled to resume.

“It is frustrating,” said Legge, a rookie who could have been on Indy’s track Thursday and Friday, too. “It’s certainly not the ideal way to start the biggest race of my career. I would like to be fully prepared and up to speed. But all of the things that are going on, I can’t control and I know Jay is doing his best to work out the situation.”

How all this will be resolved before next weekend’s qualifying is anybody’s guess.

Bourdais, a four-time Champ Car points winner, has finished 21st, ninth, 17th and 18th in this season’s first four races. Legge, a rookie from England, has a season-best finish of 19th.

The sub-par performances are at least partly because Jay Penske’s team had been using the struggling Lotus engines. Penske is trying to find a more competitive engine.

Two other Lotus teams — Dreyer & Reinbold Racing and Bryan Herta Autosport — were released from their contracts last month. That leaves Lotus with only two drivers attempting to make Indy’s 33-car starting grid, former Formula One driver Jean Alesi and Switzerland’s Simona de Silvestro. Dreyer & Reinbold has since merged its operations with Panther Racing and has renamed the team Panther/DRR Racing.

Penske also has filed a $4.6 lawsuit against the engine-manufacturer, accusing Lotus of damaging the team’s reputation by spreading “especially outrageous” falsehoods, failing to deliver two chassis and hurting its ability to be competitive.

The team owner has spent most of the week away from the track looking for new engines as a smattering of crew members work on computers in the team’s garage. Legge joined the small group Saturday.

Most of those in Gasoline Alley believe Penske’s father, IndyCar icon Roger Penske, will find a way to get his son the more powerful Chevrolet engines. Roger Penske’s team has won all four races this season with Chevys.

“He’s got a daddy with Chevrolet, right?” team owner and four-time Indy winner A.J. Foyt said. “If him and his daddy can’t get it done, nobody can.”

But Legge said the team has only heard the same speculation and that they haven’t been given any indication when the team will start practicing.

It’s unclear what will happen if Jay Penske can’t work out a deal soon.

With the two Dragon drivers, Indy officials have 33 announced driver-car combinations — enough to fill the traditional starting grid, but not enough to bump cars out of the May 27 race.

Legge is convinced Penske can work something out to get both drivers in the race.

Until then, Legge and Bourdais will continue cramming.

“We’re doing as much as we can with regard to filming cars on the race track, comparing cars, working with the simulator, looking at data, asking questions,” Legge said. “This is a whole new ballgame, and we’re trying to learn as much as we can from outside the car.”

– Michael Marot

Rookie tops opening day speed charts at Indy

INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — American Josef Newgarden is back on top of the speed chart in Indianapolis. Last year’s Freedom 100 winner and Indy Lights champion was the only driver to top 220 mph on the first full practice day at Indy. The rookie posted a fast lap of 220.250 mph. Last year’s Indy 500 runner-up, JR Hildebrand, was second at 219.693.

Rookie Bryan Clauson, Newgarden’s teammate with Sarah Fisher Hartman Racing, was third at 219.632. Another rookie, England’s James Jakes, was fourth at 218.286.

As expected, speeds were down from last year as team’s used mostly cautious strategies to decipher how the new cars with less horsepower would respond at Indy.

Newgarden finished with 46 laps, the most of any driver. Rookies also were on the track for rookie orientation Thursday.

Formula One

Hamilton dropped to last, Maldonado takes pole

BARCELONA, Spain (AP) — Lewis Hamilton lost pole position over a rules breach on Saturday, giving Pastor Maldonado first place on the starting grid for what is shaping up to be another unpredictable Spanish Grand Prix.

Hamilton left it to his final flying lap to edge his Williams rival by more than half a second for what appeared to be his third pole of the season and McLaren’s 150th overall.

But McLaren ordered the British driver to stop his car after crossing the line because of a technical glitch, with the team subsequently claiming their driver had insufficient fuel to return to the pits.

Governing body FIA ruled that “as the amount of the fuel put into its car is under complete control of (McLaren) the stewards cannot accept this” and Hamilton was “excluded” from qualifying results, allowed to start from last place instead.

“We told him to stop because we knew there was a problem,” said team principal Martin Whitmarsh, who claimed earlier that Hamilton had had enough fuel left in the car for the mandatory sample. The rule was implemented following a similar problem with Hamilton’s car at the 2010 Canadian Grand Prix.

The decision gave Williams its first pole since the 2010 Brazilian GP and made Maldonado the first Venezuelan driver to gain a top starting spot in F1.

Maldonado’s lap of 1 minute, 22.285 seconds became the benchmark, promoting Fernando Alonso of Ferrari to the front two, while Lotus pair Romain Grosjean and Kimi Raikkonen were also in great position to earn the team its first victory of the season by filling out the second row.

“I’ll do my best,” Maldonado, the first Venezuelan F1 driver in nearly 30 years, said before learning of the decision. “I’m a fighter.”

Ten of the last 11 winners at the Catalunya Circuit have started from the pole, and a Maldonado victory would make it a fifth straight different winner to open the season — which would make this the most varied start to a season since 1983.

Mexican driver Sergio Perez of Sauber was elevated to fifth in front of Chinese GP winner Nico Rosberg of Mercedes, while F1 points leader and two-time defending champion Sebastian Vettel starts seventh after opting to save his tires and failing to set a qualifying time.

After four races, Hamilton trails Vettel by four points following three straight third-place finishes. Mark Webber of Red Bull is five points behind his teammate, and Jenson Button of McLaren and Alonso trail Vettel by 10 points.

– Paul Logothetis

ALMS

Klaus Graf, Lucas Luhr win at Monterey

MONTEREY, Calif. (AP) — German drivers Klaus Graf and Lucas Luhr raced to their second straight American Le Mans Series victory for Muscle Milk Pickett Racing, completing 242 laps in the six-hour race at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca.

Graf and Luhr started from the pole in their Honda Performance Development ARX-03a prototype. They also won in Long Beach on April 14.

In the GT competition, Corvette Racing’s Oliver Gavin and Tommy Milner also raced to their second straight victory. They were ninth overall, finishing 232 laps.

Auto Racing Glance:

NASCAR

Nationwide-Virginia 529 College Savings 250 results

RICHMOND, Va. (AP) — Kurt Busch pulled away from Kevin Harvick and went into cruise control. There were less than 30 laps to go, and Busch thought he had the fastest car.

“With 20 laps to go, I thought we had it in the bag,” he said Friday night.

Then Denny Hamlin “came out of nowhere,” Busch said, and he had to hold him off in a stirring side-by-side, last-lap duel to win the Nationwide Series race at Richmond International Raceway in a car owned by his younger brother, Kyle.

“I’ve driven for guys like (Roger) Penske and (Jack) Roush, but when you’re driving for a guy named Busch, you’ve got to be on it, and I was glad to be able to deliver,” Kurt Busch said. “It’s great to get to Victory Lane as a family.”

The victory was the first for Kyle Busch Motorsports in the Nationwide Series, and was Kurt Busch’s fourth in the series and first at Richmond.

Kyle Busch greeted his brother before he even climbed from the car, and said it was harder to watch as an owner than to be driving and in control of the outcome.

“This is the most emotional I’ve ever been for a win,” Kyle Busch said. “I’m not sure how we’ll run past this, but I don’t care. Tonight is the night.”

Watching, he said, was harder because Hamlin, his teammate with Joe Gibbs Racing in the Sprint Cup Series, closed in and then pulled inside on the last lap,

Hamlin needed a remarkable surge after a mistake early on. Running third when he headed for pit road at the midpoint of the race, he missed his stall and had to come back around. It dropped him to 24th place, and put him in urgent mode.

“I drove qualifying laps for the last 150 laps and made up a lot of time and was just a few feet short,” Hamlin said after losing by less than a hood-length.

He said he considered nudging Busch on the final lap, but considered that it was his Joe Gibbs Racing teammate’s team, and buying goodwill might be wiser.

“One of these days, when Kurt’s gaining on me and I could use a break at the end, maybe he’ll give it to me,” Hamlin said.

Kevin Harvick, who led 158 laps with a car that seemed the class of the field, especially on fresh tires, faded after the final stops under green and finished third. Ricky Stenhouse Jr. was fourth, followed by Sam Hornish Jr. and points leader Elliott Sadler.

The race also included a bit of history as 70-year-old Morgan Shepherd led four laps when he stayed out under a caution, extending his series record as the oldest to lead a lap.

The race marked the debut of X Game star Travis Pastrana in the series, too, and after starting 25th, he climbed into the top 20 late in the race before getting caught with a speeding penalty on pit road. The pass through penalty hurt, and he dropped to 22nd.

Danica Patrick, who started 16th, was in the mid-20s all night and finished 21st.

Sprint Cup

Richmond could return the excitement to NASCAR

RICHMOND, Va. (AP) — Two weeks of ho-hum racing has left NASCAR fans starving for some on-track excitement, so a Saturday night stop at Richmond International Speedway couldn’t have come at a better time.

Short track racing traditionally produces some of NASCAR’s best racing, and the .75-mile oval at Richmond is the perfect venue for the bumping and banging that spices up the show. And there’s been a shortage of that of late.

The last two races, at Texas and Kansas, had a combined five cautions and four of them were for debris. It makes for long green-flag runs and spread-out fields, with a caution being the only hope for bunching the cars back together. Drivers seem to prefer that clean style of racing, but fans want more drama — some may even suggest they want wrecks — and they’ve been vocal the last month about their disappointment in the on-track product.

NASCAR’s top drivers are aware of the dilemma, and go into Saturday night’s race wondering if Richmond will satisfy the fans.

“I will not go down that path, I do not think it’s right to say we need wrecks. That’s just a messed-up thing to say,” Carl Edwards said Friday. “I think we need good racing, and I think if you’ve got guys who are able to race together, and are able to come through the field because their car is better and they can actually pass people, then you are going to get some excitement.

“And the excitement might come in the form of wrecks. A place like Richmond … this place always seems to be a place where a guy can make something happen. And that’s good.”

Fact is, NASCAR has a solid schedule ahead, with the racing moving from Richmond to Talladega to Darlington and then the $1 million All-Star race at Charlotte. So, regardless of how drivers, teams or the sanctioning body views the present state of the racing, the on-track product could heat up without any effort.

Still, it’s made for interesting debate the past week, and drivers have varying opinions on why the racing has been so clean. It dates to the March 25 race at California, which went caution-free until rain brought out the yellow on Lap 125, and ultimately halted the race four laps later.

Five-time champion Jimmie Johnson believes the tracks are the problem, with NASCAR making too many stops at downforce tracks.

“I think the venues play a larger part in the excitement, the action, and even the cautions,” he said. “I don’t think we can look at the garage area for the next change. I think the change comes with the venues. The change comes with the resurfacing of tracks and reconfiguring tracks to make more side-by-side racing.

“And then there’s also the argument of tracks that create more cautions that some people want to see. From a competition side, NASCAR has created a very level playing field, which we were all after. And now we need to look at the venues and try to put on a better show based on the tracks.”

Dale Earnhardt Jr. agreed that some of the tracks just don’t suit the configurations of the current Sprint Cup car.

“You do see side-by-side racing, especially at the short tracks, but on the bigger 1.5-mile tracks you are kind of limited,” he said. “You are limited by the aero and the dirty air by the car in front of you. That is always going to be a factor no matter what. There is nothing really that can be done to eliminate that entirely. You just run as hard as you can run.”

Edwards, who prefers the recent slate of “pure” racing, said the competition will improve as the season progresses and he’s enjoyed the way the last few events have played out. But, if NASCAR really wants to address fan complaints, he said reducing the aerodynamic issues of the race car could help.

“Not every race has to be an exciting, dramatic, crazy bumper-to-bumper finish. If you just let them play out naturally you will get those really great moments,” he said. “But I firmly believe that we should not be racing with downforce, sideforce and all these aerodynamic devices. We do not need splitters on the race cars and giant spoilers.

“That is my opinion on how to make the cars and the drivers able to do more, and put it in the drivers and crew chiefs hands. I don’t know if that will make more exciting races but it sure as hell will make a guy able to go up through the field if he has a fast race car and I think that is exciting.”

Another theory about the racing is the importance of collecting points right now. With making the field for the 12-driver Chase for the Sprint Cup championship the benchmark for every team, drivers can’t risk being too aggressive right now and jeopardizing their spots in the standings.

“There ain’t a lap that I’ve ran this year that wasn’t ran as hard as it could have been ran,” Earnhardt said. “I still feel like it’s pretty early in the season. Everybody is just trying to get as many points as they can get, trying to make the Chase. If you go out there running over each other and damaging your car, you could cost yourself 10 points here and 10 points there, and you could lose the opportunity to make the Chase pretty quickly.”

Edwards last year lost the championship on a tiebreaker to Tony Stewart, and goes into Saturday night’s race ranked ninth in points. He’s not yet worried about making the Chase, but is aware how valuable points are all season.

“We cannot give up any points,” he said. “If you were in my position, you would never be able to forgive yourself if you were ninth in points here in Richmond and they drop the green flag on the last restart here and you have a great race car and you go for some bonzai run and wreck the thing and don’t make the Chase.”

– Jenna Fryer

Martin wins fifth career pole at Richmond

RICHMOND, Va. (AP) — Mark Martin watched and waited as 44 other drivers made two qualifying laps around Richmond International Raceway on Friday night, then went out and beat them all.

Martin turned the second-fastest lap on his first circuit around the 0.75-mile, D-shaped oval, then nudged Carl Edwards to the outside of the front row with a lap at 128.327 mph to win the pole for Saturday night’s Sprint Cup race. It’s his 53rd career pole.

“I was very close to skinning the car up, especially off of (turn) four (on) the second lap,” Martin said. “I’m driving it as hard as I can go, and at the very limits of my talent.”

Edwards’ top lap at 128.290 had hung on through 17 drivers, but when Martin moved to second on the scoring tower with his first lap, Edwards paid much closer attention.

“I thought we had him, and then he shot up to the top of the scoreboard,” he said.

It’s Martin’s fifth career pole at Richmond, and comes 31 years after his first.

“As far as I’m concerned, this is just as big a deal,” he said.

It also was Michael Waltrip Racing’s third pole in eight events this season.

Kevin Harvick will start third, followed by A.J. Allmendinger and Kyle Busch.

For Harvick, it came after a long day and a lot of scrambling.

“We’ve had a terrible race car all day to be honest with you,” he said. “We just sat in the trailer afterwards and said that what we had just wasn’t cutting it, so we went back to our notes from last year and were able to make some small adjustments to that.

“That’s why you have notebooks. It worked out good and hopefully we can do the same for the race and make it a little bit better than what we were last year.”

The second five includes Jeff Gordon, local product Denny Hamlin, Martin Truex Jr., Kasey Kahne and Dale Earnhardt Jr.

Points leader Greg Biffle will start 28th.

– Hank Kurz Jr.

IndyCar

Power looking to extend dominance at Sao Paulo 300

SAO PAULO (AP) — Will Power believes he’s at the right place to try to improve on his dominant start to the IndyCar season.

Power has won the Sao Paulo 300 the past two years and is a favorite again this weekend on the streets of South America’s biggest city, at a track he calls one of his favorites.

Power also has won the past two races coming into Brazil, but he is expected to be heavily challenged in Sao Paulo by the drivers using Honda engines, which will get their turbochargers upgraded for the first time this season and should gain in performance. Three-time defending series champion Dario Franchitti is among those drivers.

Home-crowd favorites Helio Castroneves, Tony Kanaan, Rubens Barrichello and Ana Beatriz also hope to challenge for the win Sunday.

“The competition is very tough and to have a race weekend go your way you need everything to fall in place, and obviously that doesn’t happen all the time,” Power said. “But I will give my absolute best and we will see what happens.”

Power has been the driver to beat on the 2.5-mile, 11-turn Anhembi temporary street circuit. He won from the pole position last year in a race postponed because of heavy rain, and took the inaugural Sao Paulo 300 in 2010 by passing Ryan Hunter-Reay with three laps to go in another race affected by rain.

“I like the whole track,” the Australian said Friday. “I love the fact that they built the track with really long straights, which creates passing, but then you have a very technical session with a whole complex of corners. The resurfacing made it probably the best street course that we come to. It’s smooth, almost like a road course.”

Power finished seventh in the season-opening race in St. Petersburg despite starting from the pole, but rebounded quickly with dominant performances in the next two races before Brazil. He charged from a ninth-place start to victory in Alabama, and from 12th to first in Long Beach.

“It’s been a great start to the season,” Power said. “From a team perspective we came very well prepared, at this point I think we are the strongest team.”

Power leads the drivers’ standings with 127 points, 24 more than Penske teammate Castroneves, the winner in St. Petersburg.

“Power is the one driver we’ll have to watch for here,” three-time Indy 500 winner Castroneves said. “He has won two races in a row this year and the last two here in Brazil.”

Actually, Power has won seven of the past 11 IndyCar races on road and street courses, including five last year, when he just missed on the series’ title.

Franchitti won that championship but has struggled so far this year, finishing worse than ninth in all three races. He will be one of the drivers in Brazil hoping to get a boost from the new engines from Honda, which has been allowed to change the compressor cover on its single turbocharger after a panel on Thursday denied an appeal made by Chevrolet.

“Hopefully this will get us a little bit closer in the engine department,” Franchitti said.

Chevrolet said the change would go against some of the series’ rules, but the three-person panel upheld an IndyCar decision to allow Honda to make the modification.

In addition to Franchitti’s Chip Ganassi, five other teams are using Honda engines this season, which also has Lotus as a supplier. This is the first time in seven years that IndyCar has multiple engine manufacturers.

The race in Sao Paulo will mark the IndyCar home debut for Barrichello, who ended a 19-year F1 career last year. His best finish so far has been eighth in Alabama, and he is expecting more difficulties this weekend at a track he has never raced before.

Kanaan, Barrichello’s teammate at KV Racing, is coming off a solid fourth-place finish in Long Beach, while Ana Beatriz joined Andretti Autosport for the home race despite not having a full-season ride.

The race in Brazil is the last before the Indy 500 on May 27.

– Tales Azzoni

Franchitti trying to rebound at Sao Paulo 300

SAO PAULO (AP) — Three-time defending IndyCar champion Dario Franchitti is hoping to get his season going Sunday in the Sao Paulo 300.

Franchitti struggled in the first three races and admits there is still “a little bit of work to do” to improve his car’s performance, but is expecting the race in Sao Paulo will mark a “turning point” in his season.

The Scot believes he and the Chip Ganassi Racing team can do better job to try to make the No. 10 a contender again, and “hopefully this is the point that that we can change it.”

Franchitti is tied for 13th in the standings with 52 points, 75 behind leader Will Power of Penske.

“The first races were very tough for us, especially the first two, performance wise,” he said. “We are still not where we need to be performance wise. We have a little bit of work to do in the No. 10, but hopefully this weekend we can figure it out.”

Franchitti said a little bit of luck will also help him in his quest to improve from the poor start. He ran out of fuel in the season-opening race in St. Petersburg to finish 13th, and had a mechanical failure at the end of the race in Alabama to end in a season-best 10th place.

Franchitti started from the front in Long Beach after the teams using Chevrolet engines received a 10-spot grid penalty, but the race performance was good only for a 15th-place finish after he was forced to replace his front wing after making contact with Ryan Briscoe.

“I hope this weekend will be the turning point,” Franchitti said. “Some of it is performance and some of it is things like running out of fuel, all that kind of stuff. The one thing we can control is performance and we’ve got to improve that.”

Franchitti said his driving style is keeping him from having the same results as teammate Scott Dixon, who is fourth in the standings with 96 points after two second-place finishes to start the season. He said Dixon’s setup has been working but he is not being able to replicate its success on his car.

“We’ve been a little slow going to that because I don’t like to drive the car the same way as Scott, but that’s working, so we are going to have to work with that,” he said.

Franchitti said he and engineer Chris Simmons will have to find a way to make them a title contender again.

“We haven’t done as good a job as we can,” the 38-year-old Franchitti said. “We’ve been together for three years, we won three championships, but we haven’t done a good job for our first three races. Hopefully this is the point that that we can change it.”

Franchitti said he hopes to get a boost from the Honda changes being allowed to the cars’ turbochargers in Brazil.

“Hopefully it’s going to get us a little bit closer, because I think we were a little bit behind in the engine department,” the two-time Indy 500 winner said.

Franchitti, a four-time IndyCar champion, won the pole position in the inaugural Sao Paulo 300 in 2010 but finished only seventh despite leading the most laps. He was fourth last year on the streets of South America’s biggest city.

Franchitti also talked about the IndyCar’s struggles to recover the popularity that it had in the past, saying it’s crucial for the series to improve its domestic television package in the United States.

“We need our television partners in America to work with us or we go with somebody else,” he said. “We need a partner who will work with us with concern to our efforts or we will find new partners. It’s too important to the survival of the series.”

The IndyCar is currently broadcast by NBC Sports Network and ABC.

– Tales Azzoni

Honda teams hope to get boost from engine changes

SAO PAULO (AP) — Teams using Honda engines at the Sao Paulo 300 are expecting to see an improvement in performance this weekend after changes have been allowed to the cars’ turbochargers.

A panel Thursday upheld an IndyCar decision to allow the changes, and the six teams using Honda power are expected to have the modified engines ready to go for the first practice session of the weekend on Saturday.

The new engines will have a new compressor cover on their single turbochargers, something Honda says will help reduce the power disadvantage to the twin turbochargers from Lotus and Chevrolet.

Three-time defending series champion Dario Franchitti said Friday he hoped the new engines would even the field a bit more.

“I’m interested to see what change that’s going to make, but obviously I’m happy with that,” the Chip Ganassi Racing team driver. “They had said they were going to make sure that the twin and the single (turbochargers) had the same power. So hopefully it’s going to get us a little bit closer, because I think we were a little bit behind in the engine department.”

Honda wanted to make the changes before the Long Beach race two weeks ago. Franchitti said he believed that BorgWarner, the turbo supplier to the IndyCar teams, intended to make the changes earlier but couldn’t get the parts fast enough.

Honda said the change had been approved before the season started.

“The new compressor cover helps to offset the performance disadvantage of the current IndyCar single turbo hardware as measured by IndyCar’s turbo supplier,” Honda said in a statement. “This correction was designed and provided by the turbo supplier under the direction of IndyCar and was approved prior to the 2012 season.”

Chevrolet protested because it said the modification in the Honda turbocharger would go against some of the series’ rules. The manufacturer said it was disappointed with the panel’s decision but was “prepared to continue to compete at the highest level” in the series. It has until Monday to appeal the panel’s decision in Indianapolis.

Helio Castroneves, who won the season-opening race with a Chevrolet engine, said Penske won’t worry too much about the possible advantage the Honda teams will get with the new turbocharger.

“There is not a lot we can do about it,” the three-time Indy 500 winner said. “We have to keep doing our job, we can’t control what is out of our control. We will keep working together with Chevy to try to have the best performance we can in our car.”

IndyCar has multiple engine manufacturers this season for the first time in seven years. Chevrolet has won all three poles and all three races in its return to the series, all with Penske. Honda has three second-place finishes so far, two with Franchitti teammate Scott Dixon and one with Simon Pagenaud of Sam Schmidt Motorsports.

– Tales Azzoni

Newman/Haas withdraws Indianapolis 500 entry

Newman/Haas Racing has withdrawn its entry for the Indianapolis 500, and the pullout puts the race in danger of not having a full 33-car field.

General manager Brian Lisles told The Associated Press on Friday night the team ran out of time to put together a proper program for the May 27 race.

“We had every intention of being in the race, but simply ran out of time,” Lisles said. “We withdrew when it became apparent we could not do it properly.”

Lisles said there was no one issue holding up the deal.

“It was everything,” he said when asked if the problem was with the driver, sponsor or engine.

Newman/Haas was on the official entry list released last week, but the team did not list a driver. The official entry had Newman/Haas paired with engine manufacturer Lotus, which has struggled mightily this season and earlier this week released two of its teams from its contracts.

Lotus now how just three official cars, compared to 11 for Chevrolet and 10 for Honda.

The withdrawal of Newman/Haas puts the Indy 500 in danger of not having a full 33-car field. The race has had a full field every year since 1947, when it had 30 cars. In 1979 and 1997, the field was expanded to 35 cars for “extenuating circumstances.”

Although there were 34 official entrants on the initial list, there were only 30 announced driver-team combinations. Rahal Letterman Lanigan has since announced Michel Jourdain Jr. for its entry.

Michael Shank Racing announced earlier this week it would field a car for Jay Howard, but does not have an engine deal yet. The team has a deadline next week with a sponsor to put together a final package. Shank would now be the 33rd entry.

Ed Carpenter Racing and Sam Schmidt Motorsports are also on the official entry list, and neither has yet to announce its drivers.

The Indy 500 has been in jeopardy of not having a full field before, but because teams can enter cars all the way through qualifying, the maximum 33 has always been met.

– Jenna Fryer

NHRA

Hight opens bid for 5th straight Funny Car win

BAYTOWN (AP) — Robert Hight opened his bid for a fifth straight Funny Car victory with the seventh-fastest run Friday in qualifying for the NHRA Spring Nationals.

Hight had a run of 4.153 seconds at 256.65 mph in his John Force Racing Ford Mustang, while Cruz Pedregon, topped the field at 4.103 and 306.19 in a Toyota.

Hight is attempting to tie the Funny Car season record of five straight victories set by Don Prudhomme in 1976 and matched by Pedregon in 1992 and John Force in 1993 and 1994. Prudhomme holds the overall record of seven consecutive victories, winning the last two races in 1975 and the first five in 1976. John Force Racing has won all six Funny Car races this season, with Force taking the season-opening Winternationals.

In the other divisions at Royal Purple Raceway, Morgan Lucas led the Top Fuel field, Allen Johnson topped the Pro Stock competition, and Eddie Krawiec had the Pro Stock Motorcycle lead. Lucas had a 3.772-second pass at 327.75 mph during the second session, Johnson finished at 6.545 and 211.73, and Krawiec at 6.872 and 197.83.

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The Sports Network

Auto Racing Glance:

NASCAR

Sprint Cup-STP 400 results

KANSAS CITY, Kan. (AP) — The sun shined brightly on Denny Hamlin at Kansas Speedway, at the most opportune of times, too.

Hamlin’s car hooked up after the final pit stop Sunday, just as the sun finally broke through on an overcast afternoon, and he powered by Martin Truex Jr. for the lead. Hamlin then managed to hold off a late charge by Truex to win for the second time this season.

“Whether it was coincidence or not,” Hamlin said, “our car definitely felt better when the sun came out. I felt the car lost a lot of grip, but I guess a lot of guys did.”

It was Hamlin’s first career win at Kansas, and gave his Joe Gibbs Racing team some momentum heading to Richmond, where the Virginia driver has won twice in 12 career starts.

“I felt all day I was behind the 56 and his car looked so superior to the whole field, and we just needed some kind of change — the weather, an adjustment — to make something happen,” Hamlin said, smiling. “And we got both of them.”

Jimmie Johnson was third for Hendrick Motorsports, which has failed in 14 tries to win the team’s milestone 200th race. Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Kasey Kahne also finished in the top 10.

“I was just watching from the third spot, hoping those guys would give me an opportunity,” Johnson said. “I just wish I was closer to those guys to race for it.”

Hamlin’s best finish at Kansas had been third last year, and for most of Sunday he was content to ride around during long green-flag runs out of the spotlight. His car kept getting better with each stop, though, and his Toyota finally took off at the end.

Just as the sun finally poked through on an unseasonably cold day.

“They didn’t panic,” team owner J.D. Gibbs said. “They paced themselves, and I’m glad the sun stayed out a little at the end.”

Truex dominated most of the afternoon, leading a race-high 173 laps, but had to settle for second place. It was his third top-5 finish of the season, but he’s yet to win in 175 races.

“Sorry guys, I lost this one for you,” a despondent Truex radioed to his team.

“Hey man, you did a great job,” came the reply. “They know we were here.”

Truex said his final set of tires cost him. He was the loosest he’d been all race, and that allowed Hamlin to charge into the lead. Truex rallied within a car length with two laps to go, but he couldn’t make a move on the bottom side stick, allowing Hamlin to pull away.

“I guess if we can be this frustrated with second, it tells you how close we are as a team,” said Truex, who hasn’t won since Dover in 2007. “The race car was really good. I’m just not really sure what to think about that last set of tires. I was just wrecking-loose that last set.”

Truex called the performance a statement moment for Michael Waltrip Racing.

Hamlin is starting to have a statement season.

He won this year at Phoenix, started on the pole at California, and led 31 laps a couple weeks ago at Martinsville before finishing sixth. He was 12th last week at Texas.

“We felt a lot like Phoenix in the sense we just hung around the top five all day, and at the end we just kind of make our charge, make our run,” Hamlin said. “There were a couple things that had to happen the last run for us to work out, and those things happened.”

Matt Kenseth finished fourth despite having a wild afternoon trying to get into the pits, often sliding across the commitment line. Greg Biffle followed up his victory last week at Texas with a fifth-place run, though he conceded he didn’t have the car to contend at Kansas.

“It was a tough day,” Biffle said. “We were back and forth all day, and we were off just a bit. When the track had a lot of grip the car was unbelievable.”

Kevin Harvick was sixth, followed by Earnhardt and Kahne, giving Hendrick Motorsports at least three cars in the top-10 for the second straight week.

Jeff Gordon had engine trouble late in the race and finished 21st.

The 14-race drought for Hendrick is its longest since going 15 races without a win during the 2002 and ’03 seasons. The streak began after Johnson’s win last October at Kansas.

“Everybody here needs a win for one reason or another,” Earnhardt said. “We’re all working really hard, but I’m not really focusing on homing in on that too heavily. You’ve got to think about what your car’s doing and what you need to do to help your car.

“Make your car faster, then the wins eventually take care of themselves.”

The pressure will continue to mount on the four-car team, though. And when Johnson was asked whether he’ll be relieved when someone gets the win, his reply came through unvarnished: “More than you could ever imagine,” he said.

Notebook: Repave of Kansas begins moments after race ends

KANSAS CITY, Kan. (AP) — No sooner had Denny Hamlin pulled off the track and into Victory Lane at Kansas Speedway on Sunday did a tank and an earth mover from the National Guard rumble back onto the asphalt.

It was the ceremonial start to a repaving and reconfiguring of the 1 1/2-mile oval, where large chunks of pavement had come loose over the weekend. One piece, about 5 inches long and a couple inches deep, wound up in the infield media center after a routine inspection Friday night.

Brad Keselowski waved a green flag from the M1A1 Abrams tank to start the project, which will be completed in time for tire testing in September and the Chase race in October.

“Well, I’ve been tearing it up for a long time, but now I get to officially do it, with approval, in a tank,” Keselowski said, smiling.

The repaving process has been met with mixed reviews by drivers concerned that the process will take some of the character out of the track. After all, the 11-year-old surface provided an exciting finish Sunday, with Hamlin holding off Martin Truex Jr. down the stretch.

“I’m not a fan of tearing up any race track,” said Kevin Harvick, who ran out of gas early Sunday but rebounded to finish sixth. “I don’t think they’ve done a good job with any of the asphalt they have put down at any of the race tracks since they have repaved.”

Harvick’s main issue with the new surfaces is that they don’t wear out the tires.

“With the new-style racetracks, there are no rocks in it,” Harvick said, the result of which is often less exciting racing. “Any race track tear-up is bad news, in my opinion.”

The new asphalt surface is only one aspect of construction.

Kansas Speedway will also add variable banking — 17 degrees on the low side up to 20 degrees along the wall — to replace the original, uniform 15-degree banking. There will also be a road course built through the infield, which is expected to host a Grand-Am race next year.

THAT WAS THE PITS: The entrance to pit road can sneak up on drivers at Kansas Speedway, and several had a hard time trying to slow down to the 45-mph speed limit Sunday.

Matt Kenseth slid right across the line that marks the beginning of pit road on a couple of occasions, while Clint Bowyer spun out to cause the first of two cautions when he tried to make an unscheduled stop because of engine trouble.

Brad Keselowski and Dale Earnhardt Jr. had to stay on the track an extra lap because they carried too much speed into Turn 4, preventing from taking the hard left into the pits. The flub cost Keselowski valuable time, while Earnhardt lost three positions on the track.

“Every track’s a little different, so this one — it’s always been like that,” Kenseth said. “You kind of know what to expect. Every track’s a little different. It’s kind of fun under green. It’s hard to get slowed up for, which makes it fun.”

BAD BREAK FOR BOWYER: Clint Bowyer’s string of disappointments on his home track continued Sunday when engine problems forced his No. 15 Toyota out of the race on the 140th lap.

“I don’t know what broke,” said Bowyer, who has never won in any competition at Kansas. “I just wish it hadn’t happened here. Anywhere but here.”

Bowyer, who grew up 90 miles away in Emporia, raced on the dirt at nearby Lakeside Speedway. To get there, he would drive past Kansas Speedway while it was under construction.

“We were running up front,” Bowyer said. “I think we were a couple adjustments away from at least being part of the game here today. Unfortunately, it just wasn’t our day. We’ll regroup and go back after it in Richmond.”

HAPPY TO BE DISAPPOINTED: Greg Biffle, one of three two-time Sprint Cup race winners at Kansas, was satisfied with a fifth-place run that kept him atop the standings.

“It feels good to be disappointed with a fifth-place finish,” Biffle said. “It feels good to be in that position. We just wanted to run better. Fifth is OK, but we wanted to compete better.”

Biffle ran strongly for much of the day, but his car developed grip issues late.

“It fired off there and I thought, ‘This is going to be a lot of fun,’ and then when the track started getting slick she started going away a little bit,” said Biffle, who won at Kansas in 2007 and 2010. “We just kept after it and didn’t give up.”

Martin Truex Jr., who finished second Sunday, moved from fourth to second in points. He trails Biffle by 15, with Matt Kenseth 17 points off the pace.

PIT STOPS: Denny Hamlin’s victory Sunday was the 199th for the No. 11 car, breaking a tie with the No. 43 for most wins. Hamlin started driving the No. 11 in 2005. Other drivers behind the wheel include Hall of Famers Cale Yarborough and Darrell Waltrip. … It was the first win for Toyota at Kansas Speedway. … There were three cautions for 18 laps after just two for 10 laps last weekend at Texas. … It was a celebration of Earth Day at Kansas Speedway. Jimmie Johnson’s car was painted “Mountain Green,” in part to celebrate 1960s American muscle cars and in part to raise environmental awareness, while a Toyota Camry hybrid served as the pace car.

– Dave Skretta

Formula One

Vettel wins incident-free Bahrain GP

SAKHIR, Bahrain (AP) — Bahrain got exactly the type of incident-free Formula One race it wanted Sunday, and Sebastian Vettel got exactly the result he needed to help his bid for a third straight championship title.

On a day when F1 could again focus more on racing than politics, the Bahrain Grand Prix was held without a hitch as Vettel completed a wire-to-wire victory in a race that was unaffected by the ongoing anti-government protests that escalated this week.

Vettel, the two-time defending champion who had struggled with the pace of his Red Bull car at the start of the season, held off a charging Kimi Raikkonen to secure his first victory of the year in an event that was relatively free of on-track incidents as well.

“It was an incredible race,” said Vettel, who pumped his first as he crossed the finish line. “We had a very good start which was crucial. I was able to pull away from the pack which turned out to be a big advantage.”

But the bigger victory may have been for organizers, who were able to put on a globally televised sporting event without disruptions.

With layers of security checkpoints around the Bahrain International Circuit, there was no sign of protesters anywhere near the track during the 95-minute race, though smoke from burning tires several kilometers away drifted over the circuit at one point.

“The excitement and quality of the racing is a fitting conclusion to another enthralling weekend of racing,” BIC Chairman Zayed Al Zayani said. “There are very few countries that can claim that almost 10 percent of its population attends its Grand Prix. Given these facts, and the incredible atmosphere at the track today, there can be no doubt in my mind of what Bahrain thinks about F1.”

Last year’s F1 race — the nation’s premier international event — was canceled because of the uprising by the kingdom’s Shiite majority, which is seeking to break the ruling Sunni dynasty’s hold on power. F1 had faced severe criticism from several human rights groups over its decision to return this year, and the race had been overshadowed most of the week by clashes between riot police and anti-government demonstrators. Protesters claim at least one person was killed by riot police this week.

Demonstrators, whose anger grew as the race drew closer, had threatened to march on the circuit. But in the end, their threats were trumped by the heavy security as protesters were kept as far as 20 kilometers (12.43 miles) away.

At least 50 people have been killed since unrest erupted in Bahrain in February 2011 in the longest-running street battles of the Arab Spring.

Fears of violence left parts of the grand stands empty, though members of the ruling Sunni family were among the 28,000 fans who watched the race.

On the track, Raikkonen worked his way up from 11th on the grid to finish 3.3 seconds behind for his first podium finish since returning to the sport this season. Raikkonen’s Lotus teammate Romain Grosjean was third, followed by Vettel’s Red Bull teammate Mark Webber.

Vettel’s victory moves him atop the drivers championship standing with 53 points, four ahead of McLaren’s Lewis Hamilton, who finished eighth on Sunday after starting from second.

It was a great day for Lotus, as Raikkonen showed he can still compete for victories despite taking a two-year hiatus from F1 to compete in rally driving. It was the first podium of Grosjean’s career.

Still, Raikkonen was left to rue several missed opportunities that could have given him the lead. He dropped a spot after a poor start and then struggled to get past Grosjean for second. Once he was into second, the Finn managed to close the gap on Vettel to less than a second after 34 laps. But he only made one serious attempt to pass the German after that and it failed.

“We gave ourselves a chance,” said Raikkonen, the 2007 world champion. “It’s a bit disappointing that we didn’t manage to it. We couldn’t win the race but at least we got the podium with both cars. The team deserves what we achieved.”

However, it was race to forget for McLaren and Ferrari.

Hamilton suffered through two bad pit stops and teammate Jenson Button, who was running in seventh at one point, retired on the 56th lap and settled for 18th.

“There are good times and bad times in motor racing. I guess this was just one of those days,” Hamilton said. “By rights, we should have been fighting to finish in the top four today, but it didn’t work out like that in the end.”

Ferrari’s Fernando Alonso finished seventh and his teammate Felipe Massa was ninth on a day when both cars struggled with pace — a problem that has plagued the team all season.

For Vettel, the victory should put to rest any doubts that he and Red Bull had lost their edge.

“We had to work extremely hard in the first couple of races. We were not where we wanted to be so therefore I’m extremely happy that we had a much better weekend here,” Vettel said.

Schumacher penalized five places at Bahrain GP

SAKHIR, Bahrain (AP) — Seven-time world champion Michael Schumacher has been penalized five grid places at Sunday’s Bahrain Grand Prix after making an unscheduled gearbox change following qualifying on Saturday.

According to Formula One regulations, gearboxes are required to last five races.

The penalty is another setback for the Mercedes driver, who had qualified in lowly 17th place due to mechanical problems. He will now start in 22nd.

Williams driver Pastor Maldonado also was penalized five grid spots and will start 21st after making his gearbox change following Friday’s practice sessions.

Related News

Bahrain welcomes back F1 amid security crunch

MANAMA, Bahrain (AP) — Under heavy security, Bahrain’s embattled leaders toasted the return Sunday of the coveted Formula One Grand Prix even as riot police used armored vehicles to virtually seal off opposition strongholds and fight hit-and-run clashes in the Arab Spring’s longest-running street battles.

The contrasts put the Gulf kingdom’s divisions in stark relief: The Sunni rulers basking in the F1 glamour at the desert circuit while security forces imposed lockdown tactics against Shiite neighborhoods at the heart of the more than 14-month-old uprising.

The heavy security appeared to choke off the large-scale demonstrations of recent days that have embarrassed Bahrain’s Western-backed monarchy, which lobbied hard for the race’s return as a symbol of stability. Smaller clashes, meanwhile, flared in some areas with police firing tear gas and stun grenades.

But the presence of the race itself — canceled last year because of unrest — raised questions among rights groups and others about Western tolerance for Bahrain’s crackdowns and whether F1 organizers overlooked the island nation’s political upheavals in favor of their close ties with Bahrain’s rulers.

In many ways, Bahrain remains the outlier of the Arab Spring.

Its ruling dynasty has been spared serious pressures from Western allies because of its strategic role as home of the U.S. Navy’s 5th Fleet — the Pentagon’s main regional counterweight against Iran — and its extremely close bonds with neighboring Saudi Arabia, which now keeps troops in Bahrain.

Bahrain’s Sunni rulers also have framed the fight as a pro-Western stand against Iranian influence. They claim Shiite giant Iran is pulling the strings with Bahrain’s majority Shiites. They account for about 70 percent of Bahrain’s more than half million citizens but are mostly excluded from positions of power.

No clear evidence has emerged of a nexus between Tehran and Bahrain’s Shiites. But it’s become part of the wider policy considerations that keep the U.S. and Western allies from any clear breaks with Bahrain’s leadership despite its crackdowns. Leading Shiite activists have been given life sentences for their role in the protest movement, and one is on a more than two-month long hunger strike.

At least 50 people have been killed since unrest erupted in Bahrain in February 2011 with Shiites seeking a greater political voice. Opposition groups claim the latest death occurred in clashes in the build-up to the race.

The unrest has remained far from the Formula One’s desert circuit about 35 kilometers (20 miles) southwest of the capital Manama. However, there were unmistakable signs of unease: Grandstands were far from full, and the route to the track was watched over by battle-ready forces.

Hours after the race — won by two-time world champion Sebastian Vettel — riot police fired tear gas and stun grenades in central Manama as hundreds of protesters tried to skirt security cordons around Pearl Square, the hub of the uprising in its early weeks. It is now heavily guarded and ringed by razor wire.

As the F1 teams were leaving the track, clouds of black smoke rose over predominantly Shiite villages nearby from apparent tire fires used as a protest symbol.

Britain’s Channel 4 News said Sunday its foreign affairs correspondent Jonathan Miller and the rest of his reporting team have been arrested in Bahrain. Miller and his co-workers were working in Bahrain without proper accreditation. The station said many other Western journalists covering the unrest surrounding the Grand Prix had been denied journalist visas. Channel 4 said it was working for release of its reporters.

Crown Prince Salman bin Hamad Al Khalifa, who owns the rights to the grand prix, told Bahrain’s Al Watan newspaper that it served to bring Shiites and Sunnis closer by “constructing bridges of love and fraternity.”

But chants on the streets of some Shiite neighborhoods called it a “blood sport” and cried: “No to F1!”

On Saturday, opposition groups claimed a man — 36-year-old Salah Abbas Habib Musa — was killed by riot police and his body left on a rooftop. The Interior Ministry said the death is being treated as a “homicide” and promised an investigation, but have given few other details.

Race drivers have mostly kept quiet about the controversy surrounding the Bahrain Grand Prix. Asked about Musa’s death after taking pole position in Saturday’s qualifier, Vettel said: “I think it’s always dreadful if someone dies.”

The hacker group Anonymous, which last week took down the official Formula One website in protest over the race, on Sunday posted what it said was personal data about dozens of race ticket holders stolen from Formula One servers.

The spectator information was partially redacted before being posted. It included customers’ last names, and partial phone numbers and email addresses. The authenticity of the information could not immediately be verified.

In a statement posted online, the hacker group threatened further attacks should any harm come to hunger strike Abdulhadi al-Khawaja or his family, saying, “Anonymous will respond with fury and rage the likes of which have never been seen.”

The group criticized the Bahraini government for what it said was “an attempt to conceal the oppression it is committing against its own people.” It also blasted Formula One for supporting the government’s hosting of the race, saying revenues generated are being used to buy tear gas and ammunition used against demonstrators.

Anonymous last week took responsibility for a denial-of-service attack against the official Formula One website and another site, F1-racers.net.

Denial-of-service attacks work by flooding a website with traffic.

As the race got under way, the official Formula One site was operating as normal. However, the content of F1-racers.net was replaced with a video clip showing footage of Bahraini police clashing with protesters and an apparently new message that included Sunday’s date and the list of hacked ticket information.

Bahrain was the first Middle Eastern country to welcome F1 in 2004. Members of the ruling Al Khalifa dynasty are huge fans of the sport and the country’s sovereign wealth fund, Mumtalakat, owns 50 percent of leading team McLaren.

The rulers billed the F1 race as an event that will put the divided society on the path of reconciliation. They vowed zero tolerance for unrest and repeatedly warned the opposition against sabotaging Bahrain’s racing weekend, which generally draws thousands of spectators to the island and millions of television viewers.

– Brian Murphy and Reem Khalifa