Kyle Busch wins 8th race of incredible season

Joe Gibbs Racing's hold on the Nationwide Series finally has been snapped. By one of its drivers.

JGR superstar Kyle Busch drove a Toyota fielded by Braun Racing to victory Friday night at Lowe's Motor Speedway, snapping a six-race winning streak Gibbs' cars have had in the Nationwide Series.

But in stretching a tank of gas the final 68 laps, Busch still ensured a JGR driver celebrated in Victory Lane for a seventh consecutive race.

It was Busch's fourth Nationwide victory this season and eighth overall spanning NASCAR's top three series. It was also Toyota's ninth win in 13 Nationwide events this season.

As Busch celebrated his win on the frontstretch with his trademark sarcastic bow to the crowd, the crews for Denny Hamlin and Brad Keselowski scuffled on pit road over contact the drivers had on track. NASCAR officials needed several minutes to control the scene, and Hamlin and Keselowski watched confused from inside their cars.

Ferrari's Felipe Massa wins his 3rd straight Turkish GP

Felipe Massa held off Lewis Hamilton to win his third straight Turkish Grand Prix on Sunday and earn Ferrari's fourth consecutive Formula One victory.

Massa finished 3.779 seconds ahead of McLaren driver Hamilton on the 58 laps at Istanbul Speed Park to continue a trend of winning from pole position in Turkey. All four winners at the circuit have come from the pole.

Defending world champion Kimi Raikkonen finished 4.2 seconds back in third place as Hamilton denied Ferrari a third successive sweep of the top two positions.

Robert Kubica of BMW Sauber was fourth, ahead of teammate Nick Heidfeld. Heikki Kovalainen of McLaren finished 12th after starting from second on the grid.

Raikkonen leads the standings with 35 points, seven ahead of Hamilton and Massa. Kubica is next with 24. Ferrari opened up a 19-point lead over BMW Sauber in the constructors' standings.

"I'm in the fight. Sometimes you win, sometimes you don't win, but it's important to be competitive," Massa said after his seventh career win. "It's important to be consistent."

Massa's win was his second in three races. The Brazilian has taken 28 of a possible 30 points since failing to finish the first two races of the season.

"It's just fantastic, today was a very difficult race," Massa said. "Lewis was pushing me hard the entire race. Three stops was quite a lot optimistic and it opened up a reasonable gap."

Hamilton overtook Massa after 24 laps, but the McLaren driver's three-pit strategy didn't leave enough time to pass him again on soft tires with Raikkonen bearing down.

"I'm thrilled to come second ... on the strategy we were on today," Hamilton said. "I lost a bit of time in my middle stint. We started on the harder tire and we knew it was going to be tough to battle the Ferraris, so to finish in the points is great.

"I think this is the best race ever for me," Hamilton said. "It's not about winning, it's about feeling that you extract 100 percent from yourself and the car and I did that today. If I had managed to get the car on pole, I could have won."

Hamilton said the three-stop strategy was adopted because the safety of his tires couldn't be guaranteed. Hamilton experienced a tire failure in Turkey last year.

"We had a structural concern on the tires which we had in practice, and we discussed with Michelin and decided to make it a three-pit strategy in the concerns of safety," McLaren team principal Ron Dennis said.

Kovalainen punctured a tire as he squeezed Raikkonen out at the start. After a quick pit stop, he returned to the track in last place before working his way up to finish 12th.

Kovalainen was knocked unconscious and hospitalized for a day with a concussion after his car slammed into a wall at high speed at the Spanish GP two weeks ago.

Renault's Fernando Alonso, Mark Webber of Red Bull, Nico Rosberg of Williams, Red Bull's David Coulthard and Jarno Trulli of Toyota rounded out the top 10 Sunday.

No driver had won the same race in three consecutive years since Michael Schumacher's four straight victories at the U.S. Grand Prix in 2003-06.

The next stop on the F1 calendar is the Monaco GP at Monte Carlo on May 25.

Stewart exploring options that could take him from Gibbs

Tony Stewart has several different offers to leave Joe Gibbs Racing, and the two-time champion is considering every option — including ones that could make him the owner of his own NASCAR team.

"We've got multiple offers on the table right now, and there's a couple in particular that really have caught our interest," Stewart told reporters Thursday after Nationwide Series practice at Talladega Superspeedway.

"We haven't made a 100 percent decision yet on what we're going to do, but we're going to look at all the options. And the options are exciting, all the way around."

Stewart's deal with JGR runs through 2009, and he said last summer he was interested in signing an extension with the team he's driven for since 1998. But contract talks moved slowly, with Stewart saying in January he was in no rush to get a deal done.

But a pair of internet reports Wednesday said Stewart was in negotiations to purchase at least a portion of Haas CNC Racing in a deal that would require him to leave JGR.

Stewart said Thursday he has not ruled out staying with JGR, but when he began negotiating a new contract, other teams approached him with new opportunities. The same thing happened back in 2003, when Stewart was able to leverage several deals — including one from Chip Ganassi — to secure a more lucrative contract with Gibbs.

"A wise person told me it never cost a dime to listen, so right now we're all ears," Stewart said of the latest offers. "Right now it's just a matter of figuring out what we want to do, and being smart. We've had a great run at Joe Gibbs Racing. It doesn't mean it's over. We're just going to look at everything that's out there.

JGR president J.D. Gibbs indicated Thursday the team intends to hold Stewart to his contract, and Stewart said he's not asked to be released from it early.

"We've got Tony signed through '08 and '09, and we want to go full bore and win a bunch of races and championships together," Gibbs said. "Our hope is that if you do that, then long term this will be the spot he chooses to retire. But the reality is we only control these next couple of years, and we went through this his last contract negotiations when he had a lot of options out there.

"Our hope is we do our job, and he retires here."

Stewart, winless this season, is tied for sixth in the Sprint Cup standings. In nine full seasons with Gibbs, he has won 32 career Cup races, championships in 2002 and 2005 and more than $67 million in prize money.

Stewart said Thursday he has informed Gibbs officials of his offers, and there were discussions of potentially leaving the team early depending on what deal he agreed to. But he said "a couple offers" included ownership, and the thought of running his own team excited him. Stewart said he has not discussed owning a portion of JGR with owner Joe Gibbs.

"Right now we've not asked to be released out of our contract," he said. "They know there are other offers on the table and we've said, `What if this is the case? And what if this is presented to us? Is there a possibility we could be released from our contract early?' But we have not asked to be released from our contract."

Cary Agajanian, who represents Stewart through the Motorsports Management Int. agency, cited the sensitivity of contract talks in declining to comment.

"His contract is through 2009 with Joe Gibbs Racing," said Agajanian, "that's about all we know, and all we can say."

Stewart previously has stated he'd like to retire from NASCAR still driving for JGR, and that he can't imagine a scenario where he's not working with crew chief Greg Zipadelli. The two are in their 10th season together, the Cup Series' longest active driver-crew chief pairing.

There are some who believe Stewart's desire to test the market is nothing more than a bargaining chip to use with JGR, similar to how he bettered his deal in 2003.

But Stewart has more options now — he said the offers are mounting and he received a new one Thursday morning — and there's even more at stake for the driver: He turns 37 next month and likely is negotiating his final contract.

"The good thing is we have a year left on our contract, we're not in a rush, there's nobody putting any pressure on us to make a decision next week," he said. "Right now we're going to do our due diligence on all the offers and try to figure out the best option for us."

He long ago set in motion an aggressive business plan that centers around his love of grass-roots racing, and the former sprint-car star owns several lower-level race teams and has ownership in a handful of race tracks, including full ownership of famed Eldora Speedway in Ohio. Moving into an ownership of a Cup team would complete his portfolio.

There's widespread speculation that General Motors is trying to lure Stewart from Gibbs, which left GM at the end of last season after 16 seasons with the manufacturer. JGR now fields Toyotas, and the Japanese automaker allowed Stewart to continue his Chevy deals despite the conflict of interest.

GM heavily supports Stewart's many race teams, and Stewart acknowledged in February that the move to Toyota was difficult for him. Haas is a GM team that has a support alliance with Hendrick Motorsports, the leader of the Chevy teams.

Lee White, senior vice president of Toyota Racing Development, said the manufacturer is thrilled with Stewart on its roster and is hopeful the former series champion stays with JGR.

"We are extremely happy with Tony. We love being involved with him, and we hope to continue the relationship with him for a very long time," White said. "Now what he chooses to do with Joe Gibbs Racing, that's a team issue and we have no involvement in that."

Stewart said Thursday his relationship with GM is still special, but that he'd built solid ties with Toyota since joining that manufacturer in January.

"It's not that there's anything wrong there," he said. "But I have a lot of strong ties to Chevrolet, obviously."

Franchitti leaves on stretcher after hard crash at Talladega

Dario Franchitti injured his ankle in a hard crash Saturday at Talladega Superspeedway that sent Franchitti and another racer to a hospital for observation.

Team owner Chip Ganassi said Franchitti was awaiting X-rays on his ankle.

Franchitti, who came to NASCAR this season as the reigning Indy Car Series champion and Indianapolis 500 winner, wrecked when his car apparently lost its right rear tire on the 10th lap of the Nationwide Series race.

His Dodge bounced into the wall and spun down the track, finally drifting down to the apron. It was there that the real damage was done — a car driven by Larry Gunselman slammed into his driver side door.

Franchitti had to be helped from his car and toward an ambulance. About 90 minutes after the accident, Gunselman also was taken to the hospital for observation.

Franchitti injured in Talladega wreck

Dario Franchitti broke his left ankle in a hard crash Saturday at Talladega Superspeedway that sent him and another racer to a hospital for observation.

Franchitti, who came to NASCAR this season as the reigning IndyCar Series champion and Indianapolis 500 winner, also was treated for contusions and was unlikely to race Sunday in the Sprint Cup event.

Chip Ganassi Racing didn't immediately announce a replacement driver, but David Stremme said following the race that the team had approached him about filling in. Stremme drove that car for two seasons before he was replaced by Franchitti this season.

Franchitti wrecked when his car apparently lost its right rear tire on the 10th lap of the Nationwide Series race.

His Dodge bounced into the wall and spun down the track, finally drifting down to the apron. It was there that the real damage was done — a car driven by Larry Gunselman slammed into his driver side door.

Franchitti had to be helped from his car and toward an ambulance. About 90 minutes after the accident, Gunselman also was taken to the hospital for observation, and there was no immediate word from NASCAR on his condition.

Kevin Harvick Inc. implementing drug testing

Kevin Harvick Inc. has implemented a different type of testing the past couple of weeks.

The racing team has started a random drug testing program since recent revelations that former Nationwide and Craftsman Trucks driver Aaron Fike had used heroin on some race days.

"The whole company will be tested within the next week," Harvick said. "We've got most of them done. We haven't had any failures yet, so that's a good thing."

An outside company was hired to administer the tests, and he said all the drivers and crew chiefs volunteered to go to the drug-testing facility. Harvick is hoping NASCAR will adopt a similar policy to help keep the sport clean. He initially approached officials pushing that idea last season.

"If you wreck or something and you have to go through the infield care center, it should be just standard procedure to take a drug test even if you've been through there 10 times in 10 weeks," Harvick said. "I think that would fix a lot of the questions that we have and be a pretty simple solution."

NASCAR's substance abuse policy is based on "reasonable suspicion" and allows drug tests anytime. Fike and his fiancee were arrested in the Kings Island parking lot outside Cincinnati in July.

'Front Row' Joe steals pole from Tony Stewart at Talladega

It's been all about Tony Stewart at Talladega Superspeedway, where he's planted himself inside the spotlight by entering free agency. He's backed up the high level of interest being shown in NASCAR's two-time champion with strong runs on the race track, including a stout qualifying lap Saturday that seemed to lock down the pole position.

Some three hours later, Joe Nemechek stole his thunder.

Nemechek, the 46th of 47 drivers to make a qualifying attempt, knocked Stewart off the pole with a lap of 187.386 mph. It was the first pole since 2005, a span of 93 races, for "Front Row Joe," and was his fourth career pole at Talladega — best among active drivers.

Nemechek credited his Furniture Row Racing team, a single-car operation based out of Denver that prepared a car that had to qualify on speed to make Sunday's race. Nemechek is ranked 42nd in the points, and has missed two of eight races this season.

"It takes a lot of work and a lot of innovative thinking to get your cars to go fast, and to get them through the air," Nemechek said. "And it's paying attention to all the details. The cool thing about us is we're just a small team. We don't have that many employees.

"Yates, Roush, Joe Gibbs Racing, Childress, there's some big companies there, and we were able to beat them today. I'm very proud of that."

Stewart, a six-time runner-up at Talladega, had to settle for the second starting spot. He was the seventh driver to make his lap, and his 186.896 held almost the entire session. He's now qualified inside the top 10 in eight of his 19 Talladega starts, but is still searching for his first win at the track.

Talladega is one of just four tracks where Stewart has yet to score a win.

"It is important to me," he said. "We've run second here six times in nine years, so a third of the races here I've run second. I'm ready to get one more spot finally."

Ken Schrader, the final driver to make his qualifying attempt, grabbed the third spot. Driving in his first race for Haas-CNC Racing, which has used a revolving door of drivers since Jeremy Mayfield left the No. 70 Chevrolet earlier this month, Schrader ran a lap at 186.499 mph.

He then joked that NASCAR had to scramble to print his nameplate in time for the post-qualifying news conference. His start Sunday will be his first Cup race since Texas last November.

"We knew we had a decent race car yesterday. We thought it ought to be a solid top 10, but you don't know what everybody else is running because they had the advantage of being able to do a little drafting practice," Schrader said. "We did some stuff for qualifying that we'll probably have to undo, but first thing first and that was to be in the (race) for sure."

AJ Allmendinger will start fourth Sunday in his season debut. He failed to qualify his Red Bull Racing car for the first three races of the year, and the team replaced him with Mike Skinner for the next five events. Allmendinger spent his time out of the seat learning everything he could from Skinner, who was also charged with giving the No. 84 team a playbook to work off the rest of the season.

"I would like to say that it was all driving skill, but it really wasn't," Allmendinger said. "It was important for everybody at the team to make this race, but it was probably double important for me to make it — just getting back in. I don't think I've ever been so nervous to shift a race car as I have been today."

Kyle Busch, Stewart's teammate at Joe Gibbs Racing, was fifth to give Toyota three cars in the top five. David Ragan was the highest-qualifying Ford at sixth, but Denny Hamlin and Brian Vickers followed in two more Toyotas.

Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Jimmie Johnson rounded out the top 10.

Among the drivers needing to qualify on speed who did were Nemechek, Allmendinger, Schrader, Jon Wood, Sterling Marlin, Kyle Petty, Patrick Carpentier and Dario Franchitti. But Franchitti was later injured in a hard accident in the Nationwide Series race and was transported to a local hospital for observation. There was no immediate word on his status for Sunday's race.

Failing to qualify were John Andretti, J.J. Yeley and Dave Blaney.

(This version CORRECTS base of Nemechek's team to Denver (Colorado) sted Denver, N.C.)

Front Row Joe steals pole from Tony Stewart at Talladega

It's been all about Tony Stewart at Talladega Superspeedway, where he's planted himself inside the spotlight by entering free agency.

He's backed up the high level of interest being shown in NASCAR's two-time champion with strong runs on the race track, including a stout qualifying lap Saturday that seemed to lock down the pole position.

Some three hours later, Joe Nemechek stole his thunder.

Nemechek, the 46th of 47 drivers to make a qualifying attempt, knocked Stewart off the pole with a lap of 187.386 mph. It was the first pole since 2005, a span of 93 races, for "Front Row Joe," and was his fourth career pole at Talladega — best among active drivers.

Nemechek credited his Furniture Row Racing team, a single-car operation based out of Denver that prepared a car that had to qualify on speed to make Sunday's race. Nemechek is ranked 42nd in the points, and has missed two of eight races this season.

"It takes a lot of work and a lot of innovative thinking to get your cars to go fast, and to get them through the air," Nemechek said. "And it's paying attention to all the details. The cool thing about us is we're just a small team. We don't have that many employees.

"Yates, Roush, Joe Gibbs Racing, Childress, there's some big companies there, and we were able to beat them today. I'm very proud of that."

Stewart, a six-time runner-up at Talladega, had to settle for the second starting spot. He was the seventh driver to make his lap, and his 186.896 held almost the entire session. He's now qualified inside the top 10 in eight of his 19 Talladega starts, but is still searching for his first win at the track.

Talladega is one of just four tracks where Stewart has yet to score a win.

"It is important to me," he said. "We've run second here six times in nine years, so a third of the races here I've run second. I'm ready to get one more spot finally."

Ken Schrader, the final driver to make his qualifying attempt, grabbed the third spot. Driving in his first race for Haas-CNC Racing, which has used a revolving door of drivers since Jeremy Mayfield left the No. 70 Chevrolet earlier this month, Schrader ran a lap at 186.499 mph.

He then joked that NASCAR had to scramble to print his nameplate in time for the post-qualifying news conference. His start Sunday will be his first Cup race since Texas last November.

"We knew we had a decent race car yesterday. We thought it ought to be a solid top 10, but you don't know what everybody else is running because they had the advantage of being able to do a little drafting practice," Schrader said. "We did some stuff for qualifying that we'll probably have to undo, but first thing first and that was to be in the (race) for sure."

AJ Allmendinger will start fourth Sunday in his season debut. He failed to qualify his Red Bull Racing car for the first three races of the year, and the team replaced him with Mike Skinner for the next five events. Allmendinger spent his time out of the seat learning everything he could from Skinner, who was also charged with giving the No. 84 team a playbook to work off the rest of the season.

"I would like to say that it was all driving skill, but it really wasn't," Allmendinger said. "It was important for everybody at the team to make this race, but it was probably double important for me to make it — just getting back in. I don't think I've ever been so nervous to shift a race car as I have been today."

Kyle Busch, Stewart's teammate at Joe Gibbs Racing, was fifth to give Toyota three cars in the top five. David Ragan was the highest-qualifying Ford at sixth, but Denny Hamlin and Brian Vickers followed in two more Toyotas.

Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Jimmie Johnson rounded out the top 10.

Among the drivers needing to qualify on speed who did were Nemechek, Allmendinger, Schrader, Jon Wood, Sterling Marlin, Kyle Petty, Patrick Carpentier and Dario Franchitti. But Franchitti was later injured in a hard accident in the Nationwide Series race and was transported to a local hospital for observation. There was no immediate word on his status for Sunday's race.

Failing to qualify were John Andretti, J.J. Yeley and Dave Blaney.

(This version CORRECTS base of Nemechek's team to Denver (Colorado) sted Denver, N.C.)

Stewart makes it business as usual at Talladega

So often tempestuous, Tony Stewart was the picture of perfect calm Friday as he strolled through the garage seemingly without a care.

And why wouldn't he be at peace? NASCAR's two-time champion is back on top, soaking up the spotlight not for winning races, but as a highly coveted free agent who has triggered a bidding war that could lure him away from Joe Gibbs Racing.

His contract with Gibbs doesn't even expire until after the 2009 season, but Stewart is fielding so many enticing offers, he likely can't keep them all straight. He said he was presented with another option Friday morning, giving him two new offers in the past 24 hours.

"It's very humbling and I feel very honored to be in a position that we have that many organizations interested in me as a driver," Stewart said.

But all the attention on Stewart has put his team under scrutiny, again, as it seeks its first victory at Talladega Superspeedway. Stewart has finished second at the track a maddening six times, and Talladega remains one of just four tracks where the team has not won.

Crew chief Greg Zipadelli wants nothing more than to cross Talladega off the list on Sunday, but must do so as an entire industry wonders if the team can once again handle another drama created by Stewart.

Zipadelli seemed confident the team he assembled 10 years ago is strong enough and has weathered enough to survive Stewart being pulled by outside interests.

"Dude, we've stuck with him through punched photographers, people being run over — it is what it is," Zipadelli joked about Stewart's many transgressions. "Here's the deal, it's really simple: Home Depot. The 20 car. Tony Stewart. Greg Zipadelli. We're here 'til 2009.

"We've all had opportunities to go do things. I've had them, he's had them, he obviously has another one that sounds like a great opportunity for himself and his future. Much more than that, I'm not getting caught up in that stuff right now. We've got a great team and a great opportunity to run good here this weekend and try to win a race. And that's what we're here for."

Even so, the attention was squarely on Stewart and a team that could very well disband at the end of this season despite an enormously successful tenure together that has so far racked up 32 victories, championships in 2002 and 2005 and more than $67 million in winnings.

Stewart has at least one known offer, to purchase a portion of Haas CNC Racing. Although it's not clear if driving for that team is part of the equation, the team fields Chevrolets and Stewart is currently in a Toyota for JGR. The conflict of interest would likely mean he'd have to choose between the two, and he admits his heart is with General Motors, which has supported him his entire Cup career and currently funds several of the open-wheel teams he owns.

But the ownership aspect is what's intrigued Stewart, who has slowly built an empire of low-level race teams and tracks, including the famed Eldora Speedway in Ohio. If he ultimately chooses to leave Gibbs, it most likely would be for a deal that includes a stake in the race team.

Car owner Richard Childress, who previously announced he's expanding to a fourth car next season, said he'd be interested in Stewart but doesn't have ownership to offer.

"He's got another year on his contract, and sure, after he finishes out his contract or becomes able, I'd talk to him and see what he has in mind," Childress said.

Stewart isn't revealing what offers he's got in front of him, but indicated more than one involved ownership. He also said he wasn't interested in starting a team from scratch, which is what the late Dale Earnhardt did when he formed DEI while driving for Childress.

Regardless, what seemed like a slam dunk not very long ago — Stewart had previously stated he'd like to retire with JGR — is suddenly very much in limbo and the ripple effect could race through the entire garage.

For starters, Zipadelli has spent all but one year of his Cup career with Gibbs and he and Stewart have the longest active-driver crew chief relationship in the garage. But his contract runs longer than Stewart's, although both have clauses that tie them together and could give Zipadelli an out if Stewart leaves.

He said it was way too early to contemplate his own future.

"There's obviously a comfort zone for both of us there," Zipadelli said. "When you look at it that way, it's kind of like getting a divorce or something. You just don't know what's on the other side of the fence. I've been here so long, it's outside of your comfort zone. But I guess nothing lasts forever."

And there's no telling who Gibbs would hire to replace Stewart if he decided to leave. This year's free agent crop is particularly stout, with Carl Edwards, Ryan Newman, Greg Biffle and Martin Truex all potentially hitting the market.

Both Edwards and Biffle indicated Friday they are leaning toward staying with Roush Fenway Racing, with Edwards saying he hoped to get an extension done soon while Biffle said he's currently in a holding pattern but "not in a big hurry to get it done."

Newman said he's had no discussions with any outside teams and wasn't sure if his future is with Penske Racing or elsewhere, and DEI holds an option on Truex that could prevent him from testing the market.

So for now, everyone will wait to see what happens with Stewart and his many offers.

"Any team in here would love to have Tony Stewart," points leader Jeff Burton said. "When you have a driver of that talent raise his hand and say, 'You know, I'm willing to look at other opportunities,' he's going to get a lot of interest. People like him with that talent, they don't grow on trees."