Blaney goes 2 extra laps to win NASCAR All-Star race
Ryan Blaney needed two extra laps after thinking he had already won the NASCAR All-Star race and $1 million, staying in front through a green-whitecheckered finish after a caution came out just yards before he got to the line the first time.
Blaney's crew was already celebrating the victory in the pit and the driver had already lowered the window net of his No. 12 Ford after crossing the start-finish line.
“Everybody thought the race was over,” said Blaney, who then had to gather himself and get the window net back in position to finish the race.
The All-Star race has to finish on a green flag, and the caution flag initially came out just before Blaney had crossed the line because Ricky Stenhouse Jr. slammed into the outside wall going into the backstretch.
Pushed by his Penske teammate Austin Cindric on the restart, Blaney was able to stay in front and hold off Denny Hamlin, who finished 0.266 seconds behind.
Cindric was third and Joey Logano, another Team Penske driver, was fourth. Daniel Suarez, who got into the main event like Stenhouse through a 16car open qualifier earlier in the day, finished fifth.
Former NASCAR All-Star winners Kyle Busch, Chase Elliott and Kyle Larson all crashed out in the second stage.
It was the fourth All-Star race victory for Roger Penske's team. The last had been Logano in 2016.
Busch, the polesitter and 2017 winner, was leading when he had a flat right rear tire coming out of the fourth turn on lap 48 late in the second stage. He was slowing and going toward the bottom of the frontstretch when he was hit from behind by Ross Chastain, who was going about 185 mph.
Chastain's No. 1 car went almost all the way on its left side after the rattling collision, before dropping back on all four tires and then careening toward the outside of the track and into 2020 All-Star winner Elliott.
Formula One
Max Verstappen reclaimed the Formula One points lead as the reigning world champion won the Spanish Grand Prix on Sunday for his third consecutive victory after Charles Leclerc's Ferrari broke down while he was comfortably in front.
Verstappen needed an assist from Red Bull teammate Sergio Pérez to get his fourth victory of the season, however. Pérez was leading the race after Leclerc had abandoned when his team told him to let Verstappen pass on Lap 49 of 66.
“It's unfair but OK,” Pérez told his team.
Pérez, who could have taken just his third career win, finished second ahead of Mercedes' George Russell in third.
Verstappen enjoyed previous victories in Imola and
Miami.
Leclerc defended his pole position at the start, and Verstappen spun off the track early. But disaster struck when Leclerc's car lost power on Lap 27, as he screamed “No! No! No! What happened?”
IndyCar
Scott Dixon used a breathtaking run of more than 234 mph to post the fastest Indianapolis 500 pole run in history. The New Zealander will lead the field to green in “The Greatest Spectacle in Racing” for the fifth time in his career.
Considered the best driver of his generation, Dixon turned four laps on Sunday at an average of 234.046 mph around Indianapolis Motor Speedway. His average broke Scott Brayton's pole-winning record set in 1996 of 233.718 mph.
Arie Luyendyk holds the four-lap qualifying record of 236.986 mph, also done in 1996, but not in a run for the pole. That means Dixon's qualifying run was the second fastest in 106 runnings of the most prestigious race in the world.
Seven-time NASCAR champion Jimmie Johnson needed a massive save in the first turn of his first lap and didn't advance out of the round of 12.
Rinus VeeKay on Saturday had posted the thirdfastest qualifying run in track history. Alex Palou, who averaged 233.499, qualified second alongside his teammate and VeeKay was third at 233.385. Ed Carpenter was fourth.