Auto Racing - The Salt Lake Tribune

NASCAR: Matt Kenseth gets win at Darlington

Sat, 11 May 2013 22:31:02 MDT

NASCAR: Matt Kenseth gets win at Darlington

by Pete Iacobelli The Associated Press

Published May 11, 2013 10:31PM MDT

Darlington, S.C. • Matt Kenseth is quickly showing how well he fits in at Joe Gibbs Racing. Kenseth passed JGR teammate Kyle Busch 13 laps from the end to win the Southern 500 on Saturday night, his third victory in his debut season after a successful stint with Roush Fenway Racing. JGR president J.D. Gibbs knew he was getting a champion in Kenseth. Still, even he’s been surprised with how fast the new driver has come up to speed alongside teammates Denny Hamlin and Busch. “He’s a good leader,” ...

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Kurt Busch sets Darlington record

Fri, 10 May 2013 20:11:02 MDT

Kurt Busch sets Darlington record

the Associated Press

Published May 10, 2013 08:11PM MDT

Darlington, S.C. • Kurt Busch ended up on top at Darlington Raceway a week after finishing upside-down at Talladega. Five days ago, Busch went airborne near the end of the Aaron’s 499 and crash landed on Ryan Newman. On Friday, Busch sped around Darlington with a fast lap of 181.918 mph for his third career pole here. It surpassed the 2-year-old mark of 181.254 mph held by Kasey Kahne. “Last week, we ended on our lid and this week, we’re here with a track record,” Busch said. Defending Southern ...

Copyright 2013 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

NASCAR: Matt Kenseth pleased with appeal outcome

Fri, 10 May 2013 10:23:03 MDT

NASCAR: Matt Kenseth pleased with appeal outcome

The Associated Press

Published May 10, 2013 10:23AM MDT

Darlington, S.C. • Matt Kenseth was in Canada when J.D. Gibbs sent him the results of Joe Gibbs Racing’s appeal of NASCAR penalties against the team. The ruling was relayed via text messages that kept coming and coming and coming. It was good news for Kenseth, who came to Darlington Raceway on Friday a victor after a three-member appeals panel overturned almost all the penalties NASCAR levied against JGR after an illegal part was found in Kenseth’s race-winning engine at Kansas. He’ll have...

Copyright 2013 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

NASCAR: David Ragan steals last-lap victory at Talladega

Sun, 05 May 2013 22:40:05 MDT

NASCAR: David Ragan steals last-lap victory at Talladega

by Jenna Fryer The Associated Press

Published May 5, 2013 10:40PM MDT

Talladega, Ala. • A pair of Davids slayed the Goliaths at Talladega Superspeedway. David Ragan hooked up with teammate David Gilliland in a two-lap overtime sprint, and together they picked off some of the top drivers in NASCAR to drive to the front and push Ragan into Victory Lane. It was the second career victory for Ragan — he also won at Daytona in July 2011 — and Gilliland finished second for a 1-2 finish for Front Row Motorsports. “I had a great teammate. David Gilliland gave us a great pu...

Copyright 2013 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Edwards awarded Talladega pole

Sat, 04 May 2013 19:45:02 MDT

Edwards awarded Talladega pole

the Associated Press

Published May 4, 2013 07:45PM MDT

Talladega, Ala. • Steady rain Saturday washed out qualifying at Talladega Superspeedway, where the field was set by practice speeds. It put Carl Edwards on the pole for Sunday’s race, followed by Martin Truex Jr. and Marcos Ambrose. They ran a spirited Friday first practice session because everyone had seen the weather radar and knew the laps might count if qualifying was cancelled. “It was like a heat race out there,” said Edwards. “Everybody was trying to get their fastest lap, and we got ours...

Copyright 2013 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Supercross: Villopoto wins a close race in Salt Lake City, clinches third straight series title

Sun, 28 Apr 2013 00:22:15 MDT

Supercross: Villopoto wins a close race in Salt Lake City, clinches third straight series title

by Jay Drew The Salt Lake Tribune

Published Apr 28, 2013 12:22AM MDT

Unlike most people, Ryan Villopoto will have nothing to lose when he heads to Las Vegas next weekend. Villopoto clinched his third straight Monster Energy AMA Supercross 450 series championship on Saturday night at Rice-Eccles Stadium — regardless of what happens at the series finale in Sin City — by holding off Davi Millsaps and Ryan Dungey in a tight race he led from start to finish. “It was a crazy race,” Villopoto said. “Any little mistake, and it was going to be anybody’s game.” Millsaps wa...

Copyright 2013 The Salt Lake Tribune. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

NASCAR: Kevin Harvick charges to win at Richmond

Sat, 27 Apr 2013 22:22:02 MDT

NASCAR: Kevin Harvick charges to win at Richmond

by Jenna Fryer The Associated Press

Published Apr 27, 2013 10:22PM MDT

Richmond, Va. • When the dust settled at Richmond, ’Ol Happy Harvick was the only driver smiling. Kevin Harvick plowed through traffic on the final restart, driving from seventh to Victory Lane in a two-lap overtime sprint to the finish Saturday night at Richmond International Raceway. He did it with one of those head-scratching “Where did he come from?” drives in which everyone was just hanging on. “Just shifted gears, hit the pedal and hoped for the best,” Harvick said. “They all went high and...

Copyright 2013 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

NASCAR: Matt Kenseth wins pole at Richmond

Fri, 26 Apr 2013 18:14:02 MDT

NASCAR: Matt Kenseth wins pole at Richmond

by Hank Kurz Jr. The Associated Press

Published Apr 26, 2013 06:14PM MDT

Richmond, Va. • Matt Kenseth didn’t wait long to get his pole award back. The Joe Gibbs Racing driver stripped of his pole award from last week at Kansas in a raft of penalties levied by NASCAR this week, set a track record with a lap at 130.334 mph Friday at Richmond International Raceway. Kenseth edged JGR teammate Brian Vickers by 0.005 seconds to claim only the 10th top starting position of his career in 481 starts. Vickers, who held the previous qualifying record at 129.983, is filling in...

NASCSAR: Kenseth holds off Kahne to win at Kansas Speedway

Sun, 21 Apr 2013 21:20:34 MDT

NASCSAR: Kenseth holds off Kahne to win at Kansas Speedway

by Dave Skretta The Associated Press

Published Apr 21, 2013 09:20PM MDT

Kansas City, Kan. • Matt Kenseth knew that he had a front-running car Sunday. It was simply a matter of getting there. So when a caution flag came out with several leaders on pit road, and Kenseth found himself leading the pack into the pits, he had a feeling things were going his way. “That was the key,” he would say later. Kenseth won the race off pit road after taking two tires under caution, and a No. 20 Toyota that had been strong all day slowly pulled away. Kasey Kahne trimmed into the lea...

NASCAR rallies after Boston bombings hit home

Fri, 19 Apr 2013 14:07:02 MDT

NASCAR rallies after Boston bombings hit home

The Associated Press

Published Apr 19, 2013 02:07PM MDT

Kansas City, Kan. • The MIT police officer killed during the manhunt for the Boston Marathon bombing suspects was the brother of a machinist for Hendrick Motorsports, bringing the events of this past week closer to home for NASCAR teams already rallying around the tragedy. Sean Collier, who began working for Massachusetts Institute of Technology about a year ago, was found shot to death late Thursday in his vehicle in Cambridge, Mass. Police have said Collier was responding to a report of a di...

Petty: Someone undoubtedly snitched on Penske

Fri, 19 Apr 2013 09:59:03 MDT

Petty: Someone undoubtedly snitched on Penske

The Salt Lake Tribune

Published Apr 19, 2013 09:59AM MDT

Kansas City, Kansas •Richard Petty believes there’s a snitch. Petty told reporters Friday at Kansas Speedway that Brad Keselowski and Joey Logano had already passed “two or three inspections and hadn’t been caught,” leading him to believe that someone must have told NASCAR about unapproved parts the two Penske Racing teams were using before last weekend’s race at Texas Motor Speedway. “Undoubtedly, someone told them what the Penske crew was doing,” Petty said. NASCAR penalized Penske Racin...