PHOENIX — NASCAR has inspected the cars the three championship contenders plan to race in next week’s season finale.
NASCAR spokesman Ramsey Poston said the cars for Jimmie Johnson, Denny Hamlin and Kevin Harvick were inspected at its North Carolina research and development center this week.
The cars were measured to make sure they fit the templates ahead of the Nov. 21 Ford 400 at Homestead-Miami Speedway.
NASCAR said it was a precautionary measure during the tightest Chase for the Sprint Cup championship since the format was introduced in 2004.
Points leader Hamlin goes into Sunday’s Kobalt Tools 500 at Phoenix with a 33-point lead over Johnson. Harvick is 59 points out with two races remaining in the Chase.
Hagan leads funny car qualifying
POMONA, Calif. — Funny car points leader Matt Hagan took the provisional No. 1 qualifying position in the season-ending Automobile Club of Southern California NHRA Finals, earning three bonus points with a blistering 4.139-second pass at 293.86 mph Thursday.
Hagan extended his lead over second-place John Force to 40 points. If Hagan, who holds the tiebreaker over Force, maintains that margin throughout qualifying, Force would have to win three more rounds Sunday to win the season championship.
“That’s huge,” Hagan said, “It sounds great right now, but we’ve got a lot of qualifying left. I don’t think it will stick.”
Larry Dixon (top fuel), Jason Line (pro stock) and Hector Arana (pro stock motorcycle) also led their divisions.
Footnotes.
Action sports star Travis Pastrana signed a deal with Michael Waltrip Racing that could put him in NASCAR’s second-tier Nationwide series as early as next year.
• Russian sports car manufacturer Marussia Motors bought a “significant” stake in Virgin Racing’s Formula One team.
Denver Post wire services
Sprint Cup leaders
1. Denny Hamlin 6,325 points
2. Jimmie Johnson 6,292
3. Kevin Harvick 6,266
4. Carl Edwards 6,008
5. Matt Kenseth 6,000
6. Jeff Gordon 5,994
7. Kyle Busch 5,986
8. Tony Stewart 5,962
9. Greg Biffle 5,953
10. Clint Bowyer 5,928
11. Kurt Busch 5,890
12. Jeff Burton 5,852
13. Mark Martin 4,107
14. Jamie McMurray 4,091
15. Ryan Newman 3,986
16. Joey Logano 3,974
17. Juan Pablo Montoya 3,945
18. David Reutimann 3,890
19. Dale Earnhardt Jr. 3,750
20. A.J. Allmendinger 3,734
