Truex wins NASCAR Cup pole in Phoenix
AVONDALE, ARIZ. » Martin Truex Jr. won the pole Friday for the NASCAR Cup Series race Sunday at ISM Raceway.
The defending series champion turned a lap at 136.945 mph in the No. 78 Furniture Row Racing Toyota in the last of three rounds of qualifying on the mile oval. He edged Kyle Larson in 84-degree afternoon heat for his 16th career pole and second at Phoenix.
“We’ve qualified well here in the past, but we’ve been kind of been searching for those last couple spots,” Truex said. “We were fifth here in the fall and that was about all we can do. Just a good game plan and good execution by everybody. Definitely a fun day.”
Larson was the fastest in practice and topped the second round for Chip Ganassi Racing.
Chase Elliott was third, followed by Tucson driver Alex Bowman, Joey Logano, Denny Hamlin, Kyle Busch, Jamie McMurray, Erik Jones and Kevin Harvick.
Castroneves honored by Team Penske
ST. PETERSBURG, FLA. » Helio Castroneves will not be in the IndyCar field when the season opens for the first time he joined the series. His Team Penske teammates have not forgotten the popular driver.
Josef Newgarden, Simon Pagenaud and Will Power all wore special “Helio” stickers across the top of their visors in Friday’s practice sessions for the season-opening race through the streets of St. Petersburg on Sunday. Castroneves was moved out of Penske’s IndyCar organization at the end of last season and now leads its new sports car program.
The three-time Indianapolis 500 winner who started in the series in 1998 will be back in an Indy car in May when he goes for a recordtying fourth victory at the showcase race. On Friday, he was still trying to adjust to not being on the track and not seeing his familiar No. 3 making laps.
“I’m not going to deny it is difficult,” Castroneves said. “Leading up to the moments for the first practice and seeing the cars, I’ve been doing this for 20 years and it hasn’t yet sank in that I’m not there. Slowly it’s going to be normal. We adapt. We move on with life. We get over it. We ‘man up.’”
Ferrari fastest as F1 tests end
MONTMELO, SPAIN » Ferrari ended Formula One preseason testing with the fastest times, while Mercedes ran the most laps over the eight days at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya.
Kimi Raikkonen’s lap of 1 minute, 17.221 seconds on Friday came within 0.039 seconds of the unofficial track record set by Ferrari teammate Sebastian Vettel the previous day.
Both times were set on the fast “hypersoft” tires introduced this season. The track was also resurfaced in January.
Shiffrin secures overall World Cup title
OFTERSCHWANG, GERMANY » Mikaela Shiffrin can finally relax again. After a tense build-up to the Olympics, the American won her second straight overall World Cup title on Friday, five races before the end of the season.
“It’s been a big battle for me mentally to know exactly where my focus should be,” said Shiffrin, who turns 23 on Tuesday. “It was quite a relief actually when the Olympics were over so I could focus on the rest of the World Cup season.”
Shiffrin won the Olympic gold medal in the giant slalom, and it was in Friday’s giant slalom that she clinched the overall World Cup title by finishing third. Ragnhild Mowinckel of Norway, the Olympic silver medalist, won the race.