Times wires
Friday, May 6, 2011
Kyle Busch within one of win mark
DARLINGTON, S.C. — Kyle Busch won a NASCAR Nationwide race at Darlington Raceway after near misses the past two years.
Busch passed Elliott Sadler 23 laps from the end and stayed in front of Joe Gibbs Racing teammate Denny Hamlin to win the Royal Purple 200 on Friday night, his fifth Nationwide victory this season and 48th overall — one behind Mark Martin's series record.
Busch led for 143 laps at Darlington in 2009 before cutting a tire and finishing 16th, than was edged out by Hamlin a year ago.
Montoya vs. Newman, Round 2
Tempers were still raging Friday between Juan Montoya and Ryan Newman, who had a heated discussion at Darlington about an extended on-track feud.
A meeting moderated by NASCAR did not go well with reports indicating that there was a physical confrontation between the two in NASCAR's hauler.
When asked about the incident, Montoya said, "I'm not going to tell you (expletive). Let's leave it at that."
The two were called in to discuss their actions last Saturday at Richmond, where Newman wrecked Montoya early, and Montoya retaliated by intentionally crashing Newman.
Kahne earns pole
Kasey Kahne continued his strong showing this year at Darlington, following a NASCAR truck victory in March with a record-setting qualifying lap for tonight's Southern 500. Kahne earned his fourth career pole in nine starts at the track "Too Tough To Tame" with a lap of 181.254 mph, surpassing the mark of 180.370 set by Jamie McMurray a year ago. Kahne will be joined on the front row by Newman, who also bettered the previous record at 180.429.
Helio tax concern?
The Miami Herald reported that IndyCar star Helio Castroneves, acquitted in Miami in 2009 of criminal tax-evasion charges, faces a new issue. In U.S. Tax Court, the Internal Revenue Service filed a civil claim stating that the Brazilian still owes more than $6 million in additional taxes and fraud penalties on the same licensing income he had earned from Penske Racing Team in 2000-04.
Elsewhere
Former Formula One and Sprint Cup driver Scott Speed was hired by Jay Penske's team, Dragon Racing, to compete in this month's Indianapolis 500 and October's IndyCar season finale at Las Vegas.
Times wires
A seat swap not found on Stub Hub
Two-time NASCAR Sprint Cup champion Tony Stewart and 2008 Formula 1 champ Lewis Hamilton are swapping race cars at Watkins Glen (N.Y.) International on June 14. Hamilton will take laps in Stewart's No. 14 Chevrolet and Stewart will climb into the cockpit of a McLaren Mercedes MP4-23. "Tony and I will have some fun with the swap and make sure we put on a good show," Hamilton said. Each will drive the long course at The Glen, 3.4 miles. NASCAR uses the 2.4-mile short course.
Number of the day
76 James Hylton's age; with his start Friday in the Nationwide series he became the oldest driver to drive in any of NASCAR's three national series, breaking his own record (he was 73 when he started a Nationwide race at Daytona). Friday, he ran just two laps before pulling into the garage.