Busch blows past field at Charlotte

Ricciardo comes out on top at Monaco

CONCORD, N.C. — Kyle Busch led 377 of 400 laps in a dominating Coca-Cola 600 run at Charlotte Motor Speedway to finally break through with a points-race victory at the only NASCAR Cup track that had eluded him.

Busch started on the pole, won every stage in the circuit’s longest race and left everyone else fighting for second on the way to his fourth victory of the season.

The victory gave Busch a points-race win at every NASCAR track on the schedule.

“I don’t know if it has ever been done before but the first one ever to check off all of the tracks and get it all done,” Busch said. “I don’t want to go to any new ones so now we just have to start the whole process over.”

Martin Truex Jr. was second, some four seconds behind. Kevin Harvick’s try for a third straight points win this month ended with an early accident.

MONACO: Australian driver Daniel Ricciardo steadied his nerves when victory threatened to escape him again as he overcame a significant midrace power loss to win the Monaco Grand Prix from the pole position Sunday.

Better known for his attacking prowess and razor-sharp overtaking, Ricciardo showed outstanding defensive driving to fend off Sebastian Vettel’s Ferrari despite losing an estimated 25 percent of his engine power.

Vettel closed to within one second of Ricciardo with more than half of the 78-lap race left, and it seemed certain the German would pass at some point. Ricciardo, though, held firm for the seventh win of his career.

Even though the 2.1-mile street circuit is narrow, making it difficult to pass, it was an impressive feat by Ricciardo.

“So much went on for me in that race, trying to figure out what was going on,” Ricciardo said. “This was probably the best weekend of my career.”

Vettel shaved a few points off the series lead of Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton, who finished third.