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Cup leader Edwards qualifies 7th, behind Stewart

Cup leader Edwards qualifies 7th, behind Stewart

FORT WORTH, Texas (AP & Staff) — Carl Edwards isn’t going to have to look far to find out where Tony Stewart is at the start Sunday at Texas Motor Speedway. Edwards, whose NASCAR Sprint Cup lead is a mere eight points with three races left, will be starting directly behind his closest chaser. “Five hundred miles, we’ll see what happens,” Edwards said after qualifying seventh Friday, when his teammates at Roush Fenway Racing claimed the top three spots. “You couldn’t pick a better place to just race it out. This is gonna be a good one. I love this place.” Stewart will start fifth, in the row ahead of Edwards. This race is being billed as a “Texas Title Fight” after Stewart got out of his car in Victory Lane at Martinsville last weekend and said Edwards “better be worried.” While some people thought Stewart might have just been caught up in his emotions with those immediate comments after his third victory in seven Chase races, he reiterated that sentiment Friday in a very calm, straightforward manner. “No, I just stated a fact that we’re ready for this,” Stewart said. “We’re ready for these three weeks. After a race like we had last Sunday, I’m ready to go for these weeks. If anybody counts us out they’re making a mistake.” Stewart won the fall race at Texas five years ago, when Jimmie Johnson was on the way to winning the first of his unprecedented five consecutive championships. Stewart has 10 top-10 finishes in his 19 starts in the Lone Star State. But no one has won more Cup races at Texas than Edwards, who has three wins at the 1½-mile, high-banked track. He was third at the track in April, and certainly isn’t bothered by Stewart’s verbal challenge. “No, it’s in good fun,” Edwards said. “We get along real well and, for me, this week I’ve thought a little bit about who my real competition is and, no offense to Tony or anything, but I think the guys that are behind him are truly the guys who have the biggest chance of doing well over the next three weeks. “It would be foolish of me to just focus on him and not pay attention to these other guys who have been very, very fast.” Greg Biffle took the pole with a lap of 193.736 mph. Biffle was the last [...]

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Hendrick returns to N. Carolina after plane crash

Hendrick returns to N. Carolina after plane crash

CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP & Staff) — NASCAR team owner Rick Hendrick is now in safe condition after injuring his rib and shoulder in a plane accident. NASCAR team owner Rick Hendrick returned home Tuesday, a day after he broke a rib and shoulder when his plane ran off the runway in Key West, Fla. Hendrick Motorsports said the brakes failed when the Gulfstream G150 landed at Key West International Airport on Monday night. The plane is co-owned by Jimmie Johnson and normally shuttles the five-time defending NASCAR champion and his family to and from races. “As everybody is aware, there was a brake issue with the airplane landing,” Johnson said. “All four on board are OK and are home back in Charlotte. We are just beyond thankful that everything turned out well with the crash and there weren’t any major injuries down there. It certainly was a scary event — I can only imagine.” Hendrick, his wife, Linda, and the two pilots were all released from Lower Keys Medical Center on Tuesday morning and returned to Charlotte. Linda Hendrick sustained minor cuts and bruises. The two pilots were not injured. The plane apparently skidded off the 4,800-foot runway and came to a stop along a 600-foot unpaved safety area that had been added in May. “If we hadn’t done that, it likely would have been a different story,” county airport director Peter Horton said of the safety area that is meant as a runway overrun space. The FAA incident report listed the damage to the aircraft as undetermined. The National Transportation Safety Board is investigating. Hendrick is the most successful team owner in NASCAR, and fields cars for Johnson, four-time champion Jeff Gordon, Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Mark Martin. The team recently celebrated its 199th career victory in the Sprint Cup Series. In 2004, a plane Hendrick owned crashed en route to a race in Martinsville, Va., killing all 10 on board. That included Hendrick’s son, Ricky, his brother and twin nieces. Photographs of the crash show the plane largely intact and with its nose resting on the ground about 20 feet in front of a chain-linked airport boundary fence. Johnson said he spoke to Hendrick on Tuesday. “It’s been a long night for him — he’s trying to get some rest and we just touched base and I know that he’s OK,” Johnson said. “It’s just nice to hear [...]

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Plane carrying NASCAR owner crash lands in Fla.

Plane carrying NASCAR owner crash lands in Fla.

KEY WEST, Fla. (AP & Staff) — A small jet carrying the owner of NASCAR’s top team and his wife lost its brakes and crash landed at a Key West, Fla., airport Monday evening, and the couple suffered minor injuries, officials said. The Gulfstream 150 aircraft ran off the runway at the Key West International Airport Monday at 7:45 p.m. Rick and Linda Hendrick, a pilot and co-pilot were all taken to Lower Keys Medical Centers. The Hendricks had minor injuries and the pilot and co-pilot were taken in as a precaution, said county airport director Peter Horton. The plane is registered to Jimmie Johnson Racing II Incorporated in Charlotte, N.C. Johnson is a five-time defending NASCAR champion and drives for Hendrick Motorsports, which Rick Hendrick owns. Besides Johnson, Hendrick also fields cars for four-time champion Jeff Gordon, Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Mark Martin. The team recently celebrated its 199th career victory in the Sprint Cup Series. “It was a real big scare. Very frightening to hear,” Earnhardt told reporters in Las Vegas, where he was attending the annual SEMA show, which showcases automotive specialty-equipment. “I’m very glad that he and everybody appears to be OK.” In 2004, a plane Hendrick owned crashed en route to a race in Martinsville, Va., killing all 10 onboard. That included Hendrick’s son, Ricky, his brother and twin nieces. According to the Monroe County Sheriff’s Office, the pilot and co-pilot radioed that the plane had no brakes upon landing in Key West. Horton said the plane ran off the runway, and then 100 feet beyond a 600-foot safety area that was finished in May. “If we hadn’t done that, it likely would have been a different story,” Horton said of the safety area that is meant as a runway overrun space. Photographs of the crash show the plane largely intact and with its nose resting on the ground about 20 feet in front of a chain-linked airport boundary fence. The National Transportation and Safety Board will investigate the cause of the crash.

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Vettel wins inaugural F1 Indian GP

Vettel wins inaugural F1 Indian GP

NEW DELHI (AP & Staff) — Red Bull driver Sebastian Vettel won the inaugural Formula One Indian Grand Prix on Sunday, staying on track to equal the record for the number of wins in a season. Vettel led from start to finish, building a comfortable lead and finishing 8.4 seconds ahead of McLaren’s Jenson Button, with Ferrari’s Fernando Alonso a distant third at the Buddh International Circuit. “All in all it was a smooth race, the car was very well balanced,” Vettel said. “I’m very proud to be the first winner here in India.” The race saw yet another collision between McLaren’s Lewis Hamilton and Ferrari’s Felipe Massa to intensify their rivalry. Massa was given a pit drive-through penalty before later breaking his front suspension and retiring from the race. Red Bull’s Mark Webber was fourth, ahead of the Mercedes pair of Michael Schumacher and Nico Rosberg. Vettel has 11 wins this season, and victories in the final two races in Brazil and Abu Dhabi would equal Schumacher’s record of 13 wins. Vettel turned in a flawless performance, leading every lap and posting the fastest lap. Vettel and his team are not letting up despite already having clinched the drivers’ and constructors’ championships. “There is no sign of getting lazy and not paying attention to detail, and it’s great to see that,” Vettel said. “All the people come with their questions and we give them the right answers.” He made his trademark quick start, pushing his lead beyond four seconds after just five laps. Button cut the gap to 2.7 seconds after the second set of pitstops, when both switched to the harder tires, and looked game for mounting a challenge, but could get no closer. “As soon as Seb got into a rhythm, I had to forget about it really,” Button said. “As a team we did a perfect job … we couldn’t have done anything else.” Alonso overtook Webber by waiting a little longer for his final pitstop to change to hard tires. The Australian closed within a second of Alonso on the final lap, but the Spaniard held on to claim a podium finish. “It was a little bit surprising he decided to stop,” Alonso said. “We did two extra laps and were able to overtake him.” Hamilton was forced to pit with damage after the collision with Massa, and that was enough to push him down [...]

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IndyCar drivers, officials discuss safety issues

IndyCar drivers, officials discuss safety issues

INDIANAPOLIS (AP & Staff) — IndyCar drivers and officials debated how to make open-wheel racing safer Monday. Now comes the hard part: turning talk into action. More than a dozen IndyCar drivers met for three hours with series CEO Randy Bernard and Brian Barnhart, the series’ president of competition, about preventing another fatal accident. The meeting came eight days after two-time Indianapolis 500 winner Dan Wheldon was killed in a fiery, 15-car crash in the season finale at Las Vegas and less than 48 hours after he was buried in his adopted hometown of St. Petersburg, Fla. “How we react to this is critical, and we’re very encouraged with what happened today in terms of ideas,” four-time IndyCar champ Dario Franchitti said. “Finger-pointing is not going to do any good at all, and we’re all unified going forward in one direction.” Although those inside the meeting room declined to share specifics, the discussion was expected to cover everything from tracks used by the series to new Plexiglas catch fences to putting canopies over the drivers’ open cockpits. IndyCar does have time to consider potential changes because it won’t race again for six months. “We’re not going to make motor racing 100 percent safe, that’s a fact,” Tony Kanaan said. “But there are things that we can do, hopefully, to make it better, make it safer.” IndyCar already planned on a new car for next season. Wheldon, who was the primary test driver for the new model, repeatedly told reporters it was significantly safer. But drivers want other assurances, too. “We have to take it to the next level of safety,” said Davey Hamilton, who sustained severe foot and ankle injuries in a serious crash in 2001 at Texas. “One thing I’ve seen in Dario, Tony and Justin (Wilson) is that they’ve unified us. I think they’re doing it in a very positive way. It’s about what’s best for the series and what’s best for the drivers.” Franchitti and Kanaan, two of Wheldon’s closest friends, were in town for his memorial Sunday, then stayed to participate in the drivers meeting. “I feel responsible for all the drivers here,” Franchitti said. “Everything is on the table, and I think today was a very productive discussion.” Wheldon’s fatal crash culminated a season in which drivers voiced several concerns. Whether it was radiation issues at the series’ final Japan race, a botched restart on [...]

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Bowyer beats Burton to give RCR 100th victory

Bowyer beats Burton to give RCR 100th victory

TALLADEGA, Ala. (AP & Staff) — Teamwork meant very little in the closing laps at Talladega Superspeedway. Unless, of course, you were driving a Ford. Clint Bowyer bailed on teammate Jeff Burton on the last lap of Sunday’s race, pulling around him when the checkered flag was in sight to pick up his first win of the season and the 100th in the Sprint Cup Series for Richard Childress Racing. “You hate that it comes down to that; it is what it is,” shrugged Bowyer. “You owe it to your team, to your sponsors to go out and win the race. Unfortunately, it came down to that situation.” Burton and the RCR bunch understood that’s how the game is played. The grumbling was far behind the leaders, where Daytona 500 winner Trevor Bayne ditched Jeff Gordon because Bayne was part of a pact made by Ford drivers to only push fellow Ford drivers in an effort to help Roush Fenway Racing drivers Carl Edwards and Matt Kenseth in the championship race. Gordon was seventh on the final restart and thought Bayne was committed to pushing him over the last two laps. Instead, Bayne backed off, and Gordon, with no help, faded to 27th. An animated Bayne went immediately to Gordon’s car after the race, then posted his thoughts on Twitter. “I’m not happy about what this has become,” he posted on Twitter in reference to Talladega’s two-car drafting style and the reliance on partners. “It’s too premeditated. We should be able to go with whoever is around us. I would have rather pulled over and finished last than tell (Gordon) I would work with him and then be strong armed into bailing.” Gordon said he was deceived. “The Fords made it very clear about what they were doing in working with one another,” Gordon said. “So I didn’t expect him to commit to me on the radio. I expected him to say, ‘Man, I’m sorry, I can’t.’ And when he said, ‘Yeah, I’m pushing you, we’re good,’ I believed him. I think they had a different plan.” The race at NASCAR’s biggest and fastest track finished roughly 30 minutes after the memorial service for two-time Indianapolis 500 winner Dan Wheldon ended in Indianapolis. Wheldon was killed in the IndyCar season finale a week ago at Las Vegas, and NASCAR honored him with decals on all the cars and a moment [...]

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Italian rider killed in Malaysian motorcycle race

Italian rider killed in Malaysian motorcycle race

SEPANG, Malaysia (AP & Staff) — Italian rider Marco Simoncelli has died after wrecking in the Malaysian MotoGP motorcycle race. He was 24. Sepang circuit press officer Norlina Ayob confirmed Simoncelli’s death. Simoncelli lost control of his Honda in the 11th turn on the first lap Sunday, but his bike regained partial grip and pulled him back across the track, straight into the path of Italy’s Valentino Rossi and American Colin Edwards. Simoncelli’s helmet was ripped off and he was motionless on the track. Edwards also fell, but escaped serious injury, while Rossi was able to return to the pit area. The race was canceled. Simoncelli died a week after Indianapolis 500 winner Dan Wheldon was killed a wreck in the IndyCar season finale in Las Vegas.

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Dallara dedicates 2012 chassis in Wheldon’s honor

Dallara dedicates 2012 chassis in Wheldon’s honor

LAS VEGAS (AP & Staff) — IndyCar’s new Dallara chassis will be named in honor of two-time Indianapolis 500 winner Dan Wheldon. Wheldon, who was killed Sunday in a fiery, 15-car pileup at the season-ending race in Las Vegas, conducted most of the testing on the new 2012 IndyCar. “Dan lives in the memory of everybody at Dallara,” company president and founder Gianpaolo Dallara said in a statement Tuesday. “We will honor his memory for the years to come by dedicating the Dallara IndyCar2012 in his name. He deserves that.” Flags at the company’s Italian headquarters were lowered to half staff Monday. IndyCar vice president of technology Will Phillips, who oversaw the testing program, said Wheldon did everything he could to make the car safer and stronger and that his assistance will be “sorely missed.” IndyCar is investigating the fatal crash. Formula One’s governing body (FIA) and the Automobile Competition Committee of the United States, an umbrella organization of auto racing sanctioning bodies in the United States, will assist in the inquiry. Preliminary findings were expected within several weeks.

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IndyCar Series gets help with crash investigation

IndyCar Series gets help with crash investigation

INDIANAPOLIS (AP & Staff) — IndyCar will get help with its investigation of the crash that killed two-time Indianapolis 500 winner Dan Wheldon. IndyCar says Formula One’s governing body (FIA) and the Automobile Competition Committee of the United States, an umbrella organization of auto racing sanctioning bodies in the United States, will assist in a full investigation of the crash. The series made the announcement Tuesday, saying “the safety of our drivers, their crews, IndyCar staff, racetrack staff and spectators is always our paramount concern.” Wheldon was killed in a fiery 15-car crash during Sunday’s season-ending race at Las Vegas. He was 33. IndyCar says it hopes to have preliminary findings within several weeks.

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Wheldon’s death hits Schmidt hard

Wheldon’s death hits Schmidt hard

LAS VEGAS (AP & Staff) — As a driver, Sam Schmidt understood the inherent danger of driving a car at more than 200 mph. Even after a practice crash left him in a wheelchair, he accepted the this-is-part-of-it perils that go along with racing. After watching Dan Wheldon’s death punctuate an emotionally draining month, Schmidt may have had enough. Speaking Monday from his go-kart facility not far from the Las Vegas Strip, Schmidt acknowledged that Dan Wheldon’s death at Las Vegas Motor Speedway had left him shaken — maybe even enough to leave the sport he loves. “I’d by lying if I said I wasn’t — you’ve got to think about it,” Schmidt said. “It’s one thing to take the risk yourself and my situation, it’s something I was doing since I was 5 years old and I’m still here to watch my kids grow up. It’s an amazing parallel between Dan’s age and my age when I got hurt and the ages of his kids. “I just don’t know if I can be this tightly associated with something like that in the future.” Schmidt knows a bit about adversity. A rising star in the IndyCar series, he became a quadriplegic following a 2001 practice-session wreck near Orlando, Fla. Instead of folding his hand, the Las Vegas transplant instead used the cards he was dealt to start his own racing team. Sam Schmidt Motorsports has been hugely successful in Indy Lights, winning five series titles, and this season in IndyCar — its first as a full-time team in the series — earned the pole at the Indianapolis 500 with Alex Tagliani. Sam Schmidt Motorsports also supplied Wheldon’s winning car at the Indianapolis 500 last May for Bryan Herta Autosport. The past month, though, has been trying for Schmidt and his team. It started on Sept. 12, when Indy Lights team manager Chris Griffis died after collapsing during a pickup basketball game. The team got an emotional lift when Josef Newgarden drove to the team’s fifth Indy Lights title at Kentucky two weeks ago, and again when Victor Carbone drove to his first race victory at Las Vegas on Saturday. The joy didn’t last a day. Starting from the back of the field as part of a $5 million promotion, Wheldon had moved up to the middle of the pack when cars started crashing all around him. Unable to avoid what [...]

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Jimmie Johnson calls on IndyCar to quit ovals

Jimmie Johnson calls on IndyCar to quit ovals

CONCORD, N.C. (AP & Staff) — Five-time defending NASCAR champion Jimmie Johnson called on IndyCar to stop racing on ovals in the wake of Indianapolis 500 winner Dan Wheldon’s death. Wheldon was killed in a 15-car accident in Sunday’s season finale IndyCar race at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, a high banked, 1.5-mile oval. “I wouldn’t run them on ovals. There’s just no need to,” Johnson said Monday during a test session at Charlotte Motor Speedway. “Those cars are fantastic for street circuits, for road courses. I hate, hate, hate that this tragedy took place. But hopefully they can learn from it and make those cars safer on ovals somehow. “I don’t know how they can really do it. Myself, I have a lot of friends that race in that series, and I’d just rather see them on street circuits and road courses. No more ovals.” Johnson was in his own frightening accident Saturday night at Charlotte Motor Speedway, where his car hit headfirst into the wall. The back wheels briefly lifted off the track, but Johnson walked away and suffered only next-day soreness. He’s always wanted to race in the Indianapolis 500, but when his daughter was born last year, Johnson said he promised his wife he would not drive an IndyCar. The combination of the speeds and the car design — an IndyCar has an open cockpit and open wheels that can’t withstand the bumping that occurs on ovals — has made him gun shy about racing cars that don’t have a roof. “Their average was 225? I’ve never been 225 mph in my life — and that’s their average around an oval. They are brave men and women that drive those things,” Johnson said. “There’s very little crumple zone around the driver, it’s an open cockpit and then you add open wheels — it’s just creating situations to get the car off the ground at a high rate of speed. And you can’t control the car when it’s off the ground.” Johnson watched Sunday’s race at home and said he was glued to his television, mouth wide open as he watched the replays of Wheldon’s accident. “Knowing Dan and his wife and two kids, and then I’m sitting there with my daughter running around in the backyard, I was torn up yesterday,” Johnson said. “I mean, I know Dan, or knew Dan. We just stared at the TV [...]

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Dan Wheldon, Indy 500 winner, dead in wreck at 33

Dan Wheldon, Indy 500 winner, dead in wreck at 33

LAS VEGAS (AP & Staff) — Dan Wheldon, who moved to the United States from his native England with hopes of winning the Indianapolis 500 and went on to twice prevail at his sport’s most famed race, died Sunday after a massive, fiery wreck at the Las Vegas Indy 300. One of the most well-liked drivers in the paddock, Wheldon was 33. He called the Indy 500 “the biggest sporting event in the world,” and his second and final win there came in a most unexpected fashion. Trailing rookie JR Hildebrand with only one turn remaining, Wheldon was resigned to finishing second for the third straight year. Then Hildebrand brushed the wall just seconds away from what seemed like certain victory, giving Wheldon one of the luckiest breaks ever at the Brickyard. He crossed the line in front, making the final lap the only one he led in the entire race. Wheldon returned to the track the next morning for the traditional photo session with the winner, kissing the bricks as his 2-year-old son Sebastian sat on the asphalt alongside him, and his wife, Susie, held their then-2-month-old son Oliver. “That’s Indianapolis,” Wheldon said after this year’s Indy win. “That’s why it’s the greatest spectacle in racing. You never know what’s going to happen.” Such was the case again Sunday at Las Vegas. Wheldon started last in the 34-car field and was up to 24th quickly, but still well behind the first wave of cars that got into trouble on the fateful lap. Still, he had no way to avoid the wrecks in front of him. There was no time to brake or steer out of trouble. His car sailed into the fence extending high over the track barrier, and about two hours later, his death was announced. Wheldon began driving go-karts as a 4-year-old, and racing was a constant in his life as he attended school in England as a child, winning eight British national titles along the way. He moved to the U.S. in 1999, trying to find sponsor money to fund his dream, and by 2002 — after stints in some lower-profile open-wheel series, such as the F2000 championship, Toyota Atlantic Series and IndyLights — he was on the IndyCar grid for the first time. Wheldon was a fast study. He got his first IndyCar Series ride in 2002, competing twice with Panther Racing, then replaced Michael [...]

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LONDON (AP & Staff) — Formula One champions Jenson Button and Lewis Hamilton hailed fellow Briton Dan Wheldon as a “true fighter” and an “inspirational” figure after the IndyCar driver was killed in a massive crash in Las Vegas. Button recalled Wheldon, who died Sunday at the age of 33, as being a star of the British karting circuit in the 1990s before going on to win the Indianapolis 500 twice. “I have so many good memories of racing with Dan in the early 90s, a true fighter,” Button said on Twitter. “We’ve lost a legend in our sport but also a great guy … I can’t begin to imagine what his family are going through and my thoughts are with them at this very difficult time.” Wheldon, who was born in Buckinghamshire, a county just north of London, was also an inspiration to Hamilton after deciding to try his luck in the U.S. following a successful junior career during which he won eight British karting titles. “Dan was a racer I’d followed throughout my career, as I often followed in his footsteps as we climbed the motor sport ladder in the UK,” said Hamilton, Button’s teammate at McLaren. “He was an extremely talented driver. As a British guy who not only went over to the States but who twice won the Indy 500, he was an inspirational guy, and someone that every racing driver looked up to with respect and admiration. This is a tragic loss at such a young age.” Hamilton finished second in Sunday’s Korean Grand Prix, with Button fourth. Wheldon died Sunday after a massive, fiery wreck at the Las Vegas Indy 300. He was involved in a 15-vehicle pile-up, his car flying over another and bursting into flames. Wheldon was born in the small English village of Emberton and began driving go-karts as a 4-year-old. Having failed to secure financial backing for his career in Europe, he moved to the U.S in 1999. In 2005, he became the first English driver since Graham Hill in 1966 to win the Indy 500. Wheldon won the race for a second time this year. Despite his success and stardom in the U.S., Wheldon was relatively unknown in his home country. Formula One racing grabs all the media coverage in Europe, with IndyCar receiving little notice.

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Dan Wheldon’s death showcases dangers of racing

Dan Wheldon’s death showcases dangers of racing

(AP & Staff) — The death of seven-time NASCAR champion Dale Earnhardt led to sweeping safety improvements in NASCAR, which has not suffered a fatality since. Now, 10 years after Earnhardt’s death shook the motorsports world to its core, IndyCar has been devastated by the loss of Dan Wheldon. The 33-year-old Wheldon, one of the most well-liked drivers in the paddock, died Sunday after his car became ensnarled in a fiery 15-car pileup, flew over another vehicle and landed in a catch fence just outside turn 2 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. It was IndyCar’s first fatal accident since Paul Dana died during a morning warmup at Homestead in 2006. Formula One’s last fatality was Ayrton Senna in 1994. Wheldon’s death was a stunning loss at a time when improved cars, better safety equipment and energy-absorbing walls had created a sense that, while racing was still dangerous, it was not nearly as deadly. On Saturday night, five-time defending NASCAR champion Jimmie Johnson was in a vicious head-on collision at Charlotte Motor Speedway, where his rear wheels lifted off the ground. He walked away from the accident, praised his safety equipment and complained only of soreness one day after the accident. At Las Vegas, Wheldon started at the back of the 34-car field, the largest of the season. The Indianapolis 500 was a 33-car field, there were 29 entries two weeks ago at Kentucky, and only 26 at Japan a month ago. A crowded field, with cars racing two- and three-wide on a fast oval, leaves no room for error. Many drivers jockeyed early for position. Wheldon was unable to avoid the crashing vehicles that littered the track in front of him. After the accident, veterans openly wondered why so many drivers were so impatient so early in the race. “One mistake can take 15 people out, and that’s what happened there,” IndyCar driver Tony Kanaan said. “I’ve never seen such a mess in my entire career.” Asked if the drivers need to meet to discuss safety concerns and prepare a message for series leadership, Kanaan said patience needed to be preached to the younger drivers. “We have to take care of each other. We are playing with lives here,” Kanaan said. “We need to give each other room. As a senior member, I am going to get Dario (Franchitti) and the guys together, and we need to tell the guys [...]

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Vettel wins F1 Korean Grand Prix

Vettel wins F1 Korean Grand Prix

YEONGAM, South Korea (AP & Staff) — Red Bull driver Sebastian Vettel won the Korean Grand Prix on Sunday and the team clinched the Formula One constructors’ championship. Vettel, who started from second on the grid, passed pole-sitter Lewis Hamilton on the first lap and dominated the 55-lap race before crossing the finish line in 1 hour, 38 minutes, 01.994 seconds, 12 seconds ahead McLaren’s Hamilton. Red Bull’s Mark Webber was third — securing back-to-back constructors’ titles for the team — followed by McLaren’s Jenson Button and Ferrari driver Fernando Alonso, with second through fifth tightly bunched crossing the line. Vettel, who clinched his second straight drivers’ championship at last weekend’s Japanese GP, captured his 10th F1 victory of the season with three races remaining, meaning he still has a chance of matching Michael Schumacher’s record of 13 wins in a season. Sunday’s race got off to a clean start with Vettel passing Hamilton on turn four of the first lap and opening up a 2.9-second lead over the McLaren driver after 10 laps. Hamilton made his first pit stop after 16 laps and was followed in by Vettel. The safety car came out on the 17th lap after Renault driver Vitaly Petrov slammed into the back of Schumacher’s Mercedes, ending the race for both. At the restart three laps later, Vettel lead by 1.1 seconds over Hamilton, with Webber and Button following. On lap 34, Hamilton and Webber both pitted and came out with Hamilton in second and Webber third. The two raced side-by-side with Hamilton holding his position. Vettel made his final pit stop on lap 35, briefly giving up the lead to Alonso, who had yet to make his final pit stop. The German moved back into the top position on the 37th lap and held the lead until the end. With Vettel holding a comfortable 11-second lead over the last 10 laps, much of the focus shifted to a heated battle for second place between Hamilton and Webber. Webber did finally get past the Briton, but Hamilton immediately made use of the open rear wing to pass on the main straight and did well to hold off the Red Bull driver in the closing laps to finish second. Red Bull had used a novel strategy in qualifying to save a set of the harder tires, but forecasts of three and four-stop strategies proved unfounded, with only [...]

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Kenseth grabs win at Charlotte to move up in Chase

Kenseth grabs win at Charlotte to move up in Chase

CONCORD, N.C. (AP & Staff) — Matt Kenseth won his only Cup title in 2003 and NASCAR immediately changed the championship rules. He always resisted the urge to take it personally despite the overwhelming evidence that his methodical but nondescript season forced NASCAR to pump some life into the system by creating the current Chase for the Sprint Cup championship. Now, eight years later, he’s finally back in the title hunt. Kenseth won Saturday night’s race at Charlotte Motor Speedway, passing Kyle Busch on a restart with 25 laps remaining, to grab his first victory of this Chase. It moved him two spots in the standings to third, and he’s only seven points behind leader Carl Edwards at the halfway point of the Chase. “It doesn’t really matter to me that much what everybody thinks,” Kenseth said. “We’re in it or out of it or whatever. What’s important to me is trying to win races and trying to be competitive and go do the best job we can do every week. “If somebody wants to say I’m boring or whatever — I was hired to try to go win races and try to run good and that’s what I try to do every week.” But the path to the championship may have become just a little clearer Saturday night. Five-time defending series champion Jimmie Johnson was in a hard accident that sent him spiraling in the standings. He was running seventh with 17 laps remaining when contact with Ryan Newman sent him headfirst into the wall. The hit was so hard, his back tires briefly lifted off the track. He finished 34th and dropped to eighth in the standings. “That one stung for sure. Pretty big impact,” Johnson said. Johnson, winner of last week’s race at Kansas, had started the race ranked third in points and only four points behind Edwards. He was on the cover of Sports Illustrated this week, and had dismissed the idea of falling prey to the so-called cover jinx. After notching his lowest Chase-race finish since he was 38th at Texas in 2009, he may now be wondering if the curse is credible. “This is not going to help us win a sixth championship,” he admitted. Because it can change so quickly, Kenseth was more even-keeled than normal in his celebration. It’s hard to look too far ahead with such a tight field and Talladega [...]

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Edwards rallies for Nationwide victory

Edwards rallies for Nationwide victory

CONCORD, N.C. (AP & Staff) — Carl Edwards thought his race might be over after he smashed into the wall less than 50 miles into the 300-mile Nationwide race. Turns out his Mustang had plenty left. Edwards worked his way up from 27th to the front five laps from the end, moving past Kyle Busch on the final restart to win the Dollar General 300 Miles of Courage at Charlotte Motor Speedway. “Running into the wall usually doesn’t work out too well for you,” said Edwards, the Sprint Cup series points leader. But after a couple of laps seeing if pieces would fall off of his Ford, Edwards found he still had a fast machine capable of making a move. “That was pretty impressive,” he said. “It was screaming fast.” The right side of Edwards’ car was badly damaged after he hit the wall 32 laps into the race. Crew chief Mike Beam talked Edwards through it, telling him the car was strong enough to get him back in. “And luckily, Carl drove his guts out,” Beam said. Especially at the end as he took the lead from Busch with a push from Daytona 500 winner Trevor Bayne. Edwards had enough momentum to stick in front as Busch made one last charge on the final lap. It was Edwards’ eighth Nationwide win this season and 37th in his career, tying him for third all time with Kevin Harvick. Only Busch with 51 victories and Mark Martin with 49 have more. Roush Fenway Racing owner Jack Roush was as giddy about his car as he was about Edwards’ effort. “Carl wrecked his car today and the car decided it wouldn’t give up,” Roush said. “It stood up under Carl and carried him to victory.” It was Edwards’ sixth straight top-two finish in NASCAR’s second-tier series. Edwards will try to make it a clean sweep at Charlotte — and extend his one-point lead in the Chase for the championship standings — when he starts third in Saturday night’s Bank of America 500. “Way to fight back, guys,” Edwards said after crossing the finish line. Busch ended second and Bayne third. Elliott Sadler placed fourth to earn a $100,000 bonus in the series Dash 4 Cash. Brad Keselowski had the dominant machine most of the race. He led 119 laps and strongly moved away from the pack on several midrace restarts. But Keselowski [...]

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Edwards’ top-5 in Kansas gives him points lead

Edwards’ top-5 in Kansas gives him points lead

CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP & Staff) — Carl Edwards spent six-plus months under scrutiny for scouring the job market and looking for the best possible deal. His free agency dominated the NASCAR rumor mill all summer, and Edwards couldn’t escape the scrutiny despite numerous pleas to be allowed to handle his business affairs in private. Then a funny thing happened: Edwards signed a contract extension with Roush Fenway Racing and nobody paid any attention to him at all. His days of peace and tranquility are officially over. Edwards’ gutted out a fifth-place finish in Sunday’s race at Kansas to claim sole possession of first in the Chase for the Sprint Cup championship standings. With six races remaining, he holds a one-point lead over Kevin Harvick with five-time defending champion Jimmie Johnson sitting four points back. It’s the first time in eight weeks that Edwards has been the points leader, a position he held for 16 of the 26 “regular season” races. But his time on the top was plagued by speculation about both his future and the havoc a prolonged free agency could wreak on his title chances. Everybody wondered just how the points leader could even be considering leaving Roush, the team that gave him his break in NASCAR and now had him in championship contention. Then came the musings of four-time champion Jeff Gordon, who maybe was publicly tweaking Edwards when he surmised in late July that dragging out the job hunt would only hurt Edwards’ title chances. And if Edwards decided to leave? Well, Gordon said he could kiss the Sprint Cup goodbye. A mere six days later, months of waffling between Roush and Joe Gibbs Racing abruptly ended with Edwards signing an extension to stay with Roush. The intrigue over, he quietly faded from the headlines as attention turned to just about everybody else. It didn’t help that, three races after announcing his new contract, an engine issue led to a 36th-place finish at Michigan and dropped him to third in the standings. Just like that, he was an afterthought to Kyle Busch, Gordon, Johnson, Kevin Harvick and the suddenly streaking Brad Keselowski. But a closer examination shows that Edwards should have always been on the radar, and any team that dared to overlook him is paying for it now. Edwards has yet to finish outside the top-10 in the seven races since Michigan, and five of [...]

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JJ wins at Kansas, Edwards 5th to take Chase lead

JJ wins at Kansas, Edwards 5th to take Chase lead

KANSAS CITY, Kan. (AP & Staff) — Carl Edwards kept complaining that his car was tight. It wouldn’t turn in the corners and nothing his team did seemed to work. He had come to Kansas Speedway after a pit road speeding penalty cost him a chance to win at Dover, brashly proclaiming that he’d make up for his mistake with a victory. But as the laps wore on Sunday, and his car kept getting tougher to handle, that looked more and more unlikely. “I had a hint in the first corner. I drove down in the first corner, I said, ‘Man, this is not good,’” Edwards said. “That’s the worst the car has felt in a race for a long time.” After falling a lap down, some fortuitous caution flags got him back on the lead lap, and his team finally got the car to cooperate enough for Edwards to drive it through the field. He never had enough to challenge Jimmie Johnson for the race lead, but it was good enough to finish fifth. And it gave Edwards the lead in the Chase, the lead that really counts. “We’re lucky,” Edwards said. “We had two cautions that were timed perfectly, so that was a big deal. We’ve messed up enough in the past that I’m pretty proud of our ability to take our bad days and keep plugging along. We messed up some races, some points races, in the past, and I believe we’ve learned from that. It’s a little test when you go through this to see if someone melts down.” Edwards said he felt as if he had won the race, given all the problems he had. The reason Johnson won is he didn’t have any problems. The five-time defending Cup champion stormed to the front early, weathered every late caution and held off Kasey Kahne in a green-white-checkered finish for his first victory since April. It was enough for Johnson, who was 10th in the standings before a second-place run at Dover, to climb all the way to third in the standings. Johnson still trails Edwards and Kevin Harvick, who finished sixth and is one point off the lead, but he’s knocking on the door. “I think he should just pack it up. It’s over. He’s too far back,” Edwards said jokingly. Johnson is just four points out of first place. In the revamped points system, [...]

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Vettel wraps up F1 title at Japanese GP

Vettel wraps up F1 title at Japanese GP

SUZUKA, Japan (AP & Staff) — Sebastian Vettel wrapped up his second straight Formula One championship Sunday, finishing third behind Jenson Button in the Japanese Grand Prix. Needing just one point to take the title if Button won the race, Vettel earned 15 points to clinch the title with four races left. The 24-year-old German star, the series’ youngest two-time champion, has nine victories this season for Red Bull. Button raced to his third win of the season for McLaren. Ferrari’s Fernando Alonso was second.

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Edwards qualifies second at Kansas Speedway

Edwards qualifies second at Kansas Speedway

KANSAS CITY, Kan. (AP & Staff) — Carl Edwards doesn’t like sneaking up on people. He’d rather have a big lead and let everyone else try to track him down. Maybe that’s why he was so giddy over his qualifying run Friday. The Chase co-leader turned a lap of 174.571 mph, putting him on the front row with Roush Fenway teammate Greg Biffle for Sunday’s race at Kansas Speedway. Biffle had the fast lap at 174.887, giving Edwards an ally up front with Chase contenders Kyle Busch and Matt Kenseth making up Row 2. “This is the best I’ve ever qualified here, so I’m not going to be frustrated about it,” Edwards said. “I’m proud of our qualifying effort and pretty excited to have an all-Ford front row. That’s pretty neat. There’s a lot of pride for that in our shop.” Busch will roll off third after a lap of 174.447 mph, while Kenseth will start fourth. The top nine drivers in the Chase are separated by just 19 points. “I felt like the car had decent speed,” Busch said. “Starting up front is beneficial, getting a good pit selection is beneficial, so carry those things into Sunday. My next closest competitor for the Chase starts right in front of me, so other than that, we’re not worried who’s behind us.” There’s a bunch of them back there. Tony Stewart and Kurt Busch are tied for third in the standings, though both will have ground to make up. Stewart, who won the first two Chase races, will roll off 23rd after struggling all day Friday; Busch will start 17th after his victory last week at Dover. “The front end just wouldn’t settle like it needed to,” Kurt Busch said. “But tomorrow is a new day. We’ve got two more cracks at practice to try and dial the car in.” Denny Hamlin will start seventh, Jeff Gordon qualified 10th, Ryan Newman will start 11th and Brad Keselowski 12th among Chase contenders. Dale Earnhardt Jr. was 18th and Jimmie Johnson 19th. “If it ain’t us winning,” Edwards said glibly, “hopefully it’s not another Chase guy.” The native of Columbia, Mo., has fared well at Kansas Speedway, which he still considers his home track. Edwards has three top-5 finishes in nine starts on the 1 1/2-mile trioval. He’s coming off a frustrating race at Dover in which a pit road speeding penalty cost [...]

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Detroit fans flock to winners and a distraction

Detroit fans flock to winners and a distraction

DETROIT (AP & Staff) — The problems plaguing the most depressed big city in America — block after block of abandoned houses, a plummeting population, troubled schools and unemployment near 30 percent — are not going away. But for Jim McCusker, who was laid off as an engineer at Chrysler five years ago and is still trying to break back into the auto industry, the surreal season for Michigan sports has allowed him to escape, if only for a short time. “It definitely gets the conversation away from the economy and how people are struggling,” said McCusker, who now works in airline reservations and was watching the hometown Tigers in an American League playoff game Tuesday night at Comerica Park. This fall, there has been plenty to talk about. The Detroit Lions, who haven’t won a championship since before the Super Bowl was invented, and who lost all 16 of their games three years ago, are 4-0 and arguably the biggest story of the young NFL season. The Michigan Wolverines are undefeated, No. 12 in The Associated Press college football poll after being unranked to start the year. Michigan State, traditionally more of a basketball school, is 4-1. And the Tigers play the New York Yankees on Thursday night in a decisive Game 5 of the first round of the baseball playoffs. A win would put them in the AL championship series against the Texas Rangers. If the Tigers advance there, they will play in the World Series for the first time since 2006. They last won it in 1984, a time when this city was leading a renaissance for the U.S. auto industry. Jim Leyland, manager of the Tigers, said he sees the city’s other coaches as allies, pulling for each other and for Detroit. He nearly cried on the September night when the Tigers, who were seven games behind in May, won their division. “Good atmosphere for the city. Makes people forget about their troubles with good times with sports,” said Leyland, who recently called Lions head coach Jim Schwartz and attended a Michigan football game this month. “If you can make somebody happy, that’s what the song says, make somebody happy,” he said. We’re trying to make somebody happy.” And it’s catching. Mike Babcock, coach of the NHL’s Detroit Red Wings, was at Tuesday’s game at Comerica Park. Joe Dumars, president of the NBA Detroit Pistons, and [...]

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