FORT WORTH, Texas — Helio Castroneves is now a three-time Texas winner, too.
Castroneves, who last month won his third Indianapolis 500, beat Penske teammate Ryan Briscoe off pit row on the final stop and held on for the final 46 laps Saturday night to win the IndyCar Series race at Texas Motor Speedway.
Briscoe was dominating the race, with more than a 10-second lead, before a caution flag on the 150th of the 228 laps bunched the field after an extended stretch of green-flag racing.
Castroneves worked past Marco Andretti after that restart and was on the tail of his teammate when A.J. Foyt IV crashed 15 laps later.
When everybody went into the pits for the final time, Castroneves had a six-second stop, beating Briscoe and Scott Dixon out by more than a half-second. Castroneves’ winning margin was 0.39 seconds.
“It feels fantastic,” Castroneves said. “The last pit stop, I jumped in the front and that was it.”
Crash costs Stewart
LONG POND, Pa. — Tony Stewart lost his pole position and will start from the back of the pack for the Pocono 500 after wrecking his car during practice at Pocono Raceway.
NASCAR’s Sprint Cup points leader lost control of his No. 14 Chevrolet and spun off the tunnel turn at the end of Saturday’s first practice. The car spun into the grass, sending mud and sod flying, and ripped off the nose of his car.
His Stewart-Haas Racing crew quickly got to work on the backup.
Stewart became the polesitter for today’s Pocono 500 when rain washed out Friday’s qualifying and start positions were based on season points.
Stewart is confident he could still make a strong run in the backup.
“I feel like it’s better than the primary car,” Stewart said.
Kyle Busch adds to his haul
GLADEVILLE, Tenn. — Kyle Busch raced to his fourth Nationwide Series victory of the year and ninth overall NASCAR win of the season, easily holding off Brad Keselowski and Carl Edwards in the Federated Auto Parts 300.
It was the 24-year-old Busch’s 51st overall win in NASCAR’s top three series. He also has three Sprint Cup victories and two Camping World Trucks wins this year.
Pedregon No. 1 in funny car
JOLIET, Ill. — Tony Pedregon raced to his second No. 1 funny car qualifying position of the season, and 36th of his career, at the Route 66 NHRA Nationals.
Antron Brown (top fuel), Mike Edwards (pro stock) and Doug Horne (pro stock motorcycle) led their respective divisions.
Vettel earns F1 pole
ISTANBUL — Red Bull’s Sebastian Vettel edged Formula One championship leader Jenson Button in qualifying to take the pole position for today’s Turkish Grand Prix.
The Associated Press
Today’s races
NASCAR SPRINT CUP: Pocono 500
Site: Long Pond, Pa.
TV: TNT, 10:30 a.m.
Track: Pocono Raceway (triangular oval, 2.5 miles).
Race distance: 500 miles, 200 laps.
Next race: LifeLock 400, June 14, Michigan International Speedway, Brooklyn, Mich.
On the Net: www.nascar.com
NHRA: United Association Route 66 Nationals
Site: Joliet, Ill.
TV: ESPN2, 2 p.m. tape
Track: Route 66 Raceway.
Next event: United Association NHRA SuperNationals, June 14, Old Bridge Township Raceway Park, Englishtown, N.J.
On the Net: www.nhra.com
FORMULA ONE: Turkish Grand Prix
Site: Istanbul.
TV: Fox, 1 p.m. tape.
Track: Istanbul Speed Park (road course, 14 turns, 3.317 miles).
Race distance: 192.25 miles, 58 laps.
Next race: British Grand Prix, June 21, Silverstone circuit, Silverstone, England.
On the Net: www.formula1.com
