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Cup -- Harvick Snatches an Improbable Win

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There was no way NASCAR was going to top what happened today at Indy, right?  I don't know; they might have pulled it off. 

Kevin Harvick came out of nowhere to win Sunday night's Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway when Dale Earnhardt Jr. ran out of gas the last time down the backstretch.

Just like Indy, it came down to fuel mileage.  A lot of cars were running low on gas, and then there's a green-white-checkered finish to push the issue further.  Earnhardt and Kasey Kahne were on the front row for the final restart, both a long time past the last win and both running on fumes.  Kahne ran out of gas on the restart, stacking up traffic behind him.  There were a few cars sliding around and going in the grass, but nobody was hitting much of anything so NASCAR kept it green. 

Harvick dove down low around the jam and was suddenly in third.  Ahead of him was Denny Hamlin who was trying to chase down Earnhardt.  Earnhardt was about a half-mile from breaking a 104-race winning drought.  Then, coming down the backstretch for the last time, Earnhardt was suddenly out of gas; Hamlin too, and Harvick scooted by both of them to grab the win.  "We'll take them any way we can get them," Harvick said on the radio after the win.

David Ragan finished second, followed by Joey Logano, Kurt Busch and A. J. Allmendinger.  Earnhardt coasted home seventh, Hamlin tenth.  (Race results)

It looked like Greg Biffle might be headed for a classic Coke 600 victory.  His car was junk and the problems were mounting during the day, but when night fell the car came to him and he was gone.  But when Jimmie Johnson's engine blew to bring out the final caution with four laps to go, Biffle couldn't go the extra distance and pitted for gas just before the race went green again.  During the caution, Harvick got a gas-saving push from his RCR teammates Clint Bowyer and Paul Menard.  The green-white-checkered restart extended the race two laps past the regulation 400-lap distance.

Carl Edwards finished 16th, but extended his points lead to 36.  Harvick moved up three spots to second.  Johnson finished 28th and fell to third, 37 points back.  Earnhardt remains fourth, 43 points back.  Kyle Busch dropped two spots to fifth, 53 points back.  Kurt Busch, Matt Kenseth, Clint Bowyer, Tony Stewart and Ryan Newman round out the top 10.  (Points standings)

The Indy 500 -- Wheldon Snatches an Improbable Win

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Dan Wheldon picked up an improbable, jaw-dropping victory in the 100th Indy 500 Sunday. 

It came down to fuel mileage.  Danica Patrick led late, but didn't have enough for the end.  Neither did Bertrand Baguette.  When they pitted for fuel in the closing laps, rookie J. R. Hildebrand inherited the lead.  The only question seemed to be if Hildebrand had enough.  Then, going into Turn Four, close enough to coast home if he ran out, he went high to go around a lapped car, got up a tad too high and slid right up into the wall.  Wheldon took advantage, flying past Hildebrand before the caution came out and grabbing the victory.

Wheldon celebrated in Victory Lane, but IndyCar officials huddled for about two hours before declaring him the official winner.  The question seemed to be if Wheldon was in front of Hildebrand before the caution came out freezing the field, but that seemed pretty obvious on a quick replay.

Hildebrand was hoping to be the first rookie to win the Indy 500 since Helio Castroneves in 2001; instead, Wheldon, in a one-race deal with Bryan Herta Autosport, claimed his second Indy 500 victory.  Ironically, Hildebrand took Wheldon's ride at Panther Racing this season.

Hildebrand coasted across the line to claim second, followed by Graham Rahal, Tony Kanaan and Scott Dixon.  (Race results)

Nationwide -- Charlotte Results

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Matt Kenseth out-dueled Carl Edwards to win Saturday's Top Gear 300 at Charlotte Motor Speedway.  It was Kenseth's first Nationwide Series start this year, and his first in the new Nationwide car.

The race became a battle between Kenseth, Edwards and Kyle Busch, but the two Fords quickly pulled away after the final restart on Lap 154, leaving Busch to settle for third.  Kenseth, filling in for Trevor Bayne, passed Edwards on Lap 197 (of 200) and pulled away to win by 0.763 as Edwards ran out of gas coming to the finish line.  Roush Fenway Fords have now finished 1-2 in the last two Nationwide races -- a first for the team in the series.  Polesitter Ricky Stenhouse Jr. finished fourth to give the team three of the top four finishes.  Reed Sorenson finished fifth.  (Race results)

Bayne, the 2011 Daytona 500 winner, now seems to be fully recovered from the mysterious illness that sidelined him since April 23.  The team set him down for one more week as a precaution, and he's expected to be back on the track for next weekend's race at Chicagoland Speedway.  Stenhouse will make his Sprint Cup debut tomorrow subbing for Bayne in the Coca-Cola 600 in the No. 21 Wood Brothers Ford.

Kimi Raikkonen made his Nationwide Series debut.  It was not a success.  An ill-handling car, a pit road speeding penalty and damage to the front splitter combined to give Raikkonen a 27th-place finish.

Elliott Sadler, who finished tenth, saw his series points lead shrink to just a single point over Stenhouse.  Sorenson is just two points back.  (Standings)

Indy 500: Bump Day

Danica Patrick and Marco Andretti finally made it into the 33-car field for the 100th running of the Indianapolis 500, but their Andretti Autosport teammates Mike Conway and Ryan Hunter-Reay were bumped.

Patrick failed a technical inspection after a parts change and had to go to the back of the qualifying line.  There she had to sit through a rain delay as the clock ticked down to the close of the qualifying session.  She finally got her chance and turned in a four-lap average of 224.861 mph to qualify 26th.

Andretti sat on the bubble as seven drivers tried to claim his spot.  Alex Lloyd finally knocked him out with a 223.957 mph run.  Andretti got back out on the track and started his run with only 55 seconds left on the clock.  He ran 224.628 mph to qualify 28th and knock Hunter-Reay out of the race.

The starting lineup for the May 29 race:

1. Alex Tagliani, Sam Schmidt Motorsports, 227.472 mph
2. Scott Dixon, Ganassi Racing, 227.340 mph
3. Oriol Servia, Newman/Haas Racing, 227.168 mph
4. Townsend Bell, Sam Schmidt Motorsports, 226.887 mph
5. Will Power, Team Penske, 226.773 mph
6. Dan Wheldon, Bryan Herta Autosport, 226.490 mph
7. Buddy Rice, Panther Racing, 225.786 mph
8. Ed Carpenter, Sarah Fisher Racing, 225.121 mph
9. Dario Franchitti, Ganassi Racing, no time (ran out fuel)
10. Takuma Sato, KV Racing Technology-Lotus, 225.736 mph
11. Vitor Meira, A. J. Foyt Racing, 225.590 mph
12. J. R. Hildebrand, Panther Racing, 225.579 mph
13. James Hinchcliffe, Newman/Haas Racing, 225.572 mph
14. Bertrand Baguette, Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing, 225.285 mph
15. Davey Hamilton, Dreyer & Reinbold Racing, 225.250 mph
16. Helio Castroneves, Team Penske, 225.216 mph
17. John Andretti, Andretti Autosport, 224.981 mph
18. E. J. Viso, KV Racing Technology-Lotus, 224.732 mph
19. Bruno Junqueira, A. J. Foyt Racing, 224.691 mph
20. Justin Wilson, Dreyer & Reinbold Racing, 224.511 mph
21. Jay Howard, Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing, 224.483 mph
22. Tomas Scheckter, KV-SH Racing, 224.433 mph
23. Tony Kanaan, KV Racing Technology-Lotus, 224.417 mph
24. Simona De Silvestro, HVM Racing, 224.392 mph
25. Paul Tracy, Dreyer & Reinbold Racing, 224.939 mph
26. Danica Patrick, Andretti Autosport, 224.861 mph
27. Ryan Briscoe, Team Penske, 224.639 mph
28. Marco Andretti, Andretti Autosport, 224.628 mph
29. Charlie Kimball, Ganassi Racing, 224.499 mph
30. Graham Rahal, Ganassi Racing, 224.380 mph
31. Alex Lloyd, Dale Coyne Racing, 223.957 mph
32. Pippa Mann, Conquest Racing, 223.936 mph
33. Ana Beatriz, Dreyer & Reinbold Racing, 223.879 mph

Nationwide -- Iowa Results

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Ricky Stenhouse Jr held off Carl Edwards and Brad Keselowski to win the John Deere Dealers 250 at Iowa Speedway Sunday.  It was Stenhouse's first NASCAR win and the first Nationwide win for a non-Cup driver since Justin Allgaier won at Bristol in March 2010.


Stenhouse and his Roush teammate Edwards swapped the lead several times in the late stages of the race, but Stenhouse took the lead for good on Lap 232 (of 250).  Edwards finished second, followed by Keselowski, Reed Sorenson and Elliott Sadler.  (Race results)

The race marked the first time that three women competed in the same Nationwide race.  Jennifer Jo Cobb was joined by the Cope twins, Angela and Amber, who were making their series debuts.  The Cope twins spun out on almost the same spot on the racetrack just a few laps apart -- Angela on Lap 117, Amber on Lap 129.  Cobb finished 26th, Angela 28th, and Amber 32nd.

Elliott Sadler still leads the series points standings.  Reed Sorenson is second, now just seven points behind.  Stenhouse moved into third, just eight points back.  Justin Allgaier (-20) dropped to fourth, followed by Jason Leffler (-43).

The Sprint All-Star Race

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Carl Edwards won the race off pit road, then pulled away on the restart and led every lap of the final ten-lap segment to win the 2011 Sprint All-Star Race at Charlotte Motor Speedway Saturday night.


Edwards won the second and third segments (both 20 laps each) of the four-segment race.  After the third segment, the cars lined up on pit road for a ten-minute intermission.  The cars then left pit road under yellow, then returned for a mandatory four-tire change.  Edwards beat Kyle Busch off pit road, then dominated the final segment, a ten-lap shootout, to win the $1,000,000 grand prize.  In all, Edwards won $1,203,300, the largest amount ever in a single All-Star Race.

Edwards beat Busch to the finish by 0.443 seconds.  David Reutimann finished third, followed by Tony Stewart and Greg Biffle.  Biffle, who won the first segment, a 50-lap affair, led twice for a race-high 46 laps.  (All-Star Race results)  It was Edwards's first All-Star Race win in six starts.  He becomes the eighth different All-Star Race winner in the past eight years.

As All-Star Races go, it was a pretty low-key affair.  No drama, no feuding, very few incidents, just a lot of hard racing.  There were only two cautions for accidents.  Both were one-car slides.  The only real incident of the evening occurred on Lap 2 of the preliminary event, the Sprint Showdown.  Landon Cassill's left rear tire blew causing him to spin.  He came up the track in front of Derrike Cope, who T-boned him in the driver's side door. 

Carl Edwards had some issues after winning the race while attempting a celebratory spin through the grass.  He went across a paved strip, then, when he hit the grass again, the nose of his car dug in and almost flipped the car over.  The front end of his car was destroyed, and NASCAR had to move the Victory Lane celebration to the front straightaway.

Eighteen drivers qualified for the All-Star Race.  David Ragan and Brad Keselowski raced their way into the All-Star Race by finishing first and second respectively in the Sprint Showdown.  Dale Earnhardt Jr. got into the All-Star Race by winning the fan vote.