NASCAR set to honour 7 decades at Darlington

DARLINGTON, S.C. (AP) — If Kyle Busch needed extra motivation for the Southern 500, he’s gotten it from Ernie Irvan — or, more specifically, Irvan’s paint scheme from 20 years ago.

Busch, NASCAR’s points leader, is itching to drive a Skittles-themed red car like Irvan used in 1998 when Darlington Raceway honours seven decades of stock car racing history at its latest throwback weekend.

“Seems like when we put a cool paint scheme on the car, we run better,” Busch smiled.

He’ll have plenty of competition on the track and in the garage as teams throughout the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series dress out for Darlington’s latest celebration of the sport’s deep, rich past of characters and seat-of-the-pants driving success.

For those unfamiliar with Southern 500 weekend, think Old Timers’ Day at 180 mph.

Busch has loved coming to Darlington the past few years knowing he’ll see things he may have only glimpsed in grainy race footage or photo albums. Racers and crews break out vintage clothes and modified looks, with young guns like Kyle Larson and Ryan Blaney sporting moustaches as part of their throwback weekend.

“I think a lot of guys really get into it,” Busch said.

And rightly so, said past NASCAR champ Dale Jarrett, who was honoured by Busch’s paint scheme in the 2017 race.

“Fans like it, competitors like it,” Jarrett said.

Brad Keselowski’s No. 2 will be trimmed out Sunday night like Rusty Wallace’s old Miller Genuine Draft car. Clint Bowyer’s No. 14 will honour Dale Jarrett’s father, Hall of Famer Ned Jarrett, with the racing great’s blue colour scheme on the Ford Galaxie that Jarrett used to win the 1965 Southern 500.

And William Byron will run in a No. 24 painted like Jeff Gordon’s memorable, multicolour rainbow racer.

“We have a lot of fun with it,” Keselowski said.

Despite the sideshows, NASCAR’s top series has just two races left in the regular season — Indianapolis is the final event before the playoffs — with drivers scrambling to lock up a win that will get them into the 16-driver chase for a title.

Kevin Harvick leads the series with seven victories, with Kyle Busch right behind at six. Last year’s champion, Martin Truex Jr., is next with four and Bowyer follows with two. Five drivers have one victory apiece and the group of those winless this late in the season includes former champions — and regular playoff participants — Jimmie Johnson, Keselowski and Matt Kenseth.

Vettel plays down comments by Hamilton ahead of Italian GP

MONZA, Italy — Sebastian Vettel isn’t biting.

Last week, Lewis Hamilton said in a trackside interview shortly after Vettel’s victory at the Belgian Grand Prix that Ferrari had “a few trick things going on in the car.” Hamilton later tried to distance himself from sounding suspicious, or suggesting Ferrari infringed the rules in any way.

“Maybe it’s more of a question for him, and for us it’s to keep our head down,” Vettel said Thursday ahead of the Italian Grand Prix.

Hamilton finished 12 seconds behind Vettel last week in second place, although that margin was made larger by the fact the Mercedes driver eased up in the closing laps because he knew he could not catch his rival and was saving the engine for races ahead.

Vettel trimmed Hamilton’s overall lead to 17 points in the standings with that triumph.