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CLERMONT, Ind. — Jason Leffler’s second career NASCAR Busch Series victory was much more memorable than his first.Leffler took the lead from Greg Biffle with two laps to go in the Kroger 200 on Saturday night and raced to his first Busch win in three years — and Toyota’s first victory ever in the series .Biffle led in lap 191 before a caution brought the field together at O’Reilly Raceway Park.
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INDIANAPOLIS — Two-time NASCAR Cup series champion Terry Labonte is retired, but he will take a break from his break to compete in Sunday’s Brickyard 400 for Michael Waltrip.

Labonte drove in place of Waltrip — owner of a three-car Toyota team — last month on the Infineon Raceway road course and will get the NAPA-sponsored car in the 43-car field here.

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DETROIT — Helio Castroneves was here to find fault, but the two-time Indianapolis 500 winner gave the race circuit at Belle Isle a whole-hearted thumbs-up.Castroneves took several laps around the 14-turn, 2.1-mile course early Tuesday morning to offer feedback to team engineers, and Indy Racing League and Detroit Grand Prix officials.
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ORLANDO, Fla. — Control cables were broken in the NASCAR plane that crashed into two suburban homes, killing five people earlier this month, federal investigators said Tuesday.

It wasn’t known whether the cables broke before or during the crash, though, and the cause of the July 10 crash in suburban Sanford remained unclear, according to a preliminary report from the National Transportation Safety Board.

Inspectors found numerous separations in the cables running through the right wing and forward fuselage of the twin-engine Cessna 310, according to the NTSB.

Witnesses had reported seeing smoke trailing from the plane as it sped low over the neighborhood and seeing its wings “rocking” before it sharply banked and slammed into the homes, the report said.

The crash killed both people aboard, NASCAR Aviation pilot Michael Klemm and Dr.

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OMAHA, Neb. — NASCAR driver Carl Edwards was released early Monday from an Omaha hospital after being injured Sunday night in a dirt track race in nearby Greenwood, a hospital spokeswoman said.

Details of the injury were not immediately available. Edwards’ younger brother, Kenny Edwards, told the Omaha World-Herald it could be a dislocated thumb, caught in the steering wheel during a crash.

Edwards hit the back of another car that had spun out in the third lap, starting a 10-car pileup that battered his car.

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Here’s the difference between NASCAR Nextel Cup stars Jimmie Johnson and Tony Stewart:Johnson was planning a trip to Europe to spend time with his wife, Chandra, before the next race, at Indianapolis Motor Speedway on July 29.Stewart, after winning the Cup race at Chicagoland Speedway on Sunday, said he was going to drink a case of Schlitz and then, later in the week, head to Macon Speedway in Illinois for a late-model race Saturday night.”You have no idea how glad I am to have a week off,” said Stewart, driver of the No.
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Ginn Racing, a NASCAR team owned by golf course and resort developer Bobby Ginn, fired veteran Nextel Cup drivers Sterling Marlin and Joe Nemechek, and might drop one car from its stable as the company seeks new sponsors.

Aric Almirola, a 23-year-old driver in the Busch series, has been hired to share driving duties with Mark Martin in the No. 01 Chevrolet, Ginn’s top team, the Mooresville, N.C.-based company said in a statement.

Regan Smith, also 23, will drive the No.

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DETROIT — Dave Villwock has enjoyed the pinnacle of success in unlimited hydroplane racing with the biggest, baddest, most highly financed team in the sport, the Miss Budweiser team.

But it’s now that the Gold Cup feels so real and so well deserved and appreciated.

Villwock won his sixth Chrysler Jeep Superstores APBA Gold Cup on Sunday on the Detroit River in the 99th running of the event, this time with the U-16 Miss Elam Plus owned by Erick Ellstrom.

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JOLIET, Ill. — Some people have criticized Chicagoland Speedway for its bland “cookie cutter” layout, but it’s more like a cookie jar for Kevin Harvick.Harvick won the Busch Series race at Chicagoland on Saturday, his fourth overall victory at the 7-year-old track on the outskirts of Chicago.What makes him so good here?”I don’t know,” Harvick said. “I wish I knew, so we could build some more like this.”Harvick won the first two Cup races at Chicagoland in 2001 and 2002, and won the track’s Busch race in 2005.
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DETROIT — Dave Villwock continued his assault on the unlimited hydroplane record books by winning his sixth Gold Cup on the Detroit River on Sunday afternoon.

Villwock, the dominant driver all weekend, winning all three qualification heats heading into the Gold Cup, had an easy ride to victory.

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