Denny Hamlin wins NASCAR Xfinity race at Darlington

Denny Hamlin passed Joey Logano coming out of the final turn to win the Xfinity race at Darlington Raceway on Saturday. Hamlin won the pole earlier and led 33 laps. But he found himself behind Logano heading into the final turn before sliding around one last time to win his second straight start in NASCAR’s Triple-A series. Logano led the most laps, 58 of 147, to hold on to second. Kevin Harvick, who won the first two stages, wound up third after leading 54 laps. Erik Jones finished fourth, and William Byron, the first Xfinity regular, rounded out the top five. It was Hamlin’s fifth Xfinity victory at Darlington, all with him starting from the pole position.

Steve Torrence wins Top Fuel NHRA Traxxas Nitro Shootout

Steve Torrence won the Top Fuel NHRA Traxxas Nitro Shootout on Saturday at the Chevrolet Performance U.S. Nationals at Lucas Oil Raceway. Torrence ran a 3.673-second pass at 329.50 mph to beat Tony Schumacher in the specialty event final and win $100,000. It was Torrence’s third Traxxas Shootout finals appearance and first victory. Clay Millican led Tup Fuel qualifying, Matt Hagan topped the Funny Car field, Greg Anderson was thge fasested in Pro Stock, and Eddie Krawiec led in Pro Stock Motorcycle. Anderson ran a 6.561 at 210.11 in the third qualifying round, and Krawiec had a 6.822 at 196.62 during his third qualifying run.

Hamilton sets F1 pole record with dramatic last lap in the rain

MONZA, Italy - Full throttle at more than 300 kph (nearly 200 mph), his vision impaired by heavy rain pounding down on his shiny golden helmet, Lewis Hamilton pulled out a clutch performance to enter the F1 record books on Saturday. Hamilton kept his focus through a 2 1/2-hour rain delay. Then he drew on all of his talent, ability and experience to overcome a late challenge from rising rival Max Verstappen, claim his 69th career pole position and break the Formula One record previously held by his childhood idol, Michael Schumacher. Verstappen had taken the top spot just before Hamilton’s final lap, so when Hamilton reclaimed P1 with time expired he rapidly pumped his fist multiple times. It was the type of celebration normally reserved for race wins. “After such a long time waiting in the rain, I think the racing fans got their money’s worth from the dominant lap Lewis produced right at the end — even if they were probably cheering a bit more for the cars in red than for us,” said Toto Wolff, the head of motorsport at Hamilton’s Mercedes team.