Kyle Busch returns to victory lane in Texas
FORT WORTH, Texas — Kyle Busch’s return to victory lane only 10 races after his previous win just seemed to take much longer. There were all those stinging runner-up finishes in between — and one in particular.
A second-place showing in the 2017 NASCAR season finale at Homestead-Miami Speedway kept Busch from winning a second Cup Series championship, something he had to contemplate throughout the winter. Then he had three runner-up finishes in the first six races this year, including two won by Kevin Harvick.
Sunday at Texas Motor Speedway, Busch finished ahead of Harvick and the rest of the field for Joe Gibbs Racing’s first victory this season.
“Certainly being that close, it gets a little old a little faster,” said Busch, who led the season points standings even before his win in Fort Worth. “If you’re finishing fifth or 10th or whatever, and you’re just not capable of winning, it certainly will draw longer as well, too. … Being as close as you are, that kind hurts a little bit more, especially that final one, that Homestead one.”
Busch stayed in front of Harvick the last 24 laps after the final restart, getting his third win at Texas and the 44th of his Cup Series career. The No. 18 Toyota led 116 of the 334 laps at the 1 1/2-mile track.
“They were probably just a tick faster overall,” Busch said of Harvick, “but I just had to make sure to do everything I could to hit all my marks and everything to focus on making sure that I did the right things to block his air a little bit.”
Jamie McMurray finished third, ahead of Erik Jones, with Ryan Blaney fifth a day after he won the Xfinity Series race.
Since finishing 25th in the season-opening Daytona 500, Busch has been in the top seven the past six races.
“We’ve just been on a roll of finishing really good and getting really pumped and excited about that and the momentum we were able to carry,” he said, “but frustrated at the same time
trying to get to victory lane.”
Harvick, who won at Texas last November, led 87 of the first 129 laps and won the first stage Sunday. But he had problems on pit road, including a strange incident during a caution when a lugnut popped loose and into the jack. He dropped from first to ninth on that stop, then had to come back in a few laps later because of a loose wheel.
There was another stop when Harvick, who dropped back as far as 27th and a lap behind the leader, was hit with a penalty for an extra man over the wall when a tire got loose in the pits.
“We did overcome a lot. … We had a pathetic day on pit road, two days on pit road, because of pit guns,” Harvick said. “When you have a pit gun problem like we have multiple times and been able to overcome it and then today we couldn’t overcome it — time after time, you can’t get the lug nuts tight because the pit guns don’t work.”
Martin Truex Jr., the 2017 season champion, wasn’t around for the end of Sunday’s race. The first 85-lap stage ended under caution after a front right tire blew on the Furniture Row Racing No. 78 Toyota, which shot up the track and slammed hard into the outer wall. Truex, second to Harvick at the time, finished last in the 37-car field.
“Just blew a right front tire out of nowhere. Not sure what happened there,” Truex said. “All in all, we were going to be in for a good day. We were making the car better and still had room to go. We were as fast as anybody. At least that’s a positive.”
Jimmie Johnson’s career-long winless streak reached 30 races after the seven-time Cup Series champion was taken out in a seven-car incident and finished 35th.
Vettel wins Bahrain GP
SAKHIR, Bahrain — Pole-sitter Sebastian Vettel just held on to win a dramatic Bahrain Grand Prix, his second straight victory to start the Formula One season, while Ferrari teammate Kimi Raikkonen accidentally broke a team mechanic’s leg after a botched tire change cost him a podium spot.
Lewis Hamilton profited from Ferrari’s mishap to finish third behind Mercedes teammate Valtteri Bottas. Both Red Bull cars failed, with Max Verstappen exiting the race moments after Daniel Ricciardo, helping make possible Hamilton’s transition from ninth place to the podium.
It could have been even better for Mercedes. Bottas almost
overtook Vettel on the last lap, but Vettel made a crucial blocking move and won by only 0.6 second. It was the four-time Formula One season champion’s 49th career win and came in his 200th start.
“The last five laps were really difficult,” Vettel said. “I thought Valtteri would catch me. I nursed the tires and it worked, but only just.”
No driver has won the opening two races and failed to win the title since Keke Rosberg in 1982.
On Raikkonen’s second tire
change, he was given the green light to go despite work continuing on the car’s rear left tire. As he pulled away, the tire, which was not fitted properly, hit a Ferrari mechanic, knocking him to the ground. In his haste to get back into the race, Raikkonen’s car ran over and broke the mechanic’s left leg
The team said the mechanic, named only as Francesco, had fractures in the shinbone and calfbone.
It was a poor error from Ferrari, which was fined 50,000 euros ($61,500) for an unsafe pit release. Ferrari was also fined 5,000 euros for the same error during practice Friday.
Newgarden rallies late
AVONDALE, Ariz. — Josef Newgarden used four new tires to catch rookie Robert Wickens and win the IndyCar race late Saturday night at ISM Raceway.
Newgarden started fourth on a restart with eight laps left, and he got around Wickens with three laps to go on the 1.022-mile oval. The 2017 series champion raced to his eighth IndyCar victory and third on an oval, finishing 2.994 seconds ahead of Wickens in the 250-lap event.
Alexander Rossi was third, followed by Scott Dixon and James Hinchcliffe as Honda swept the first five spots. Ed Jones, running second when he hit the wall in the fourth turn with 20 laps left to bring out the final caution, finished 20th.
Newgarden gave owner Roger Penske his record ninth series victory at the track and 198th overall.
Sebastien Bourdais finished a lap down in 13th after starting in pole position. He led the first 43 laps, then slid in his pit box and struck a crew member during a caution. Bourdais dropped two laps down after a drive-through penalty for hitting the crew member.