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It was a blow to Montoya, 24th in the season points and struggling most of the year to be competitive.

A team spokesperson said Ganassi officials were “evaluating the situation” and would have no comment until today.

Before NASCAR’s announcement, a delighted Montoya said, “It’s huge. There’s times where it’s getting darker and cooling down and you run at the end and all of a sudden you pick up a half a second and you’re up there. But we were in the middle of the pack and the track didn’t really change that much.

(More in ‘Montoya’s pole win taken away’…)

“I’ve been building vehicles since I was 6 with my dad,” said Wilkie, a sophomore at Ypsilanti Lincoln. “I’ve been coming to races here a couple of times, but this is my first time competing. … What an adrenaline rush. It was a thrill to go down that strip like that.”

Drivers competed in different divisions, based on their average speed during practice runs. Wilkie had a run of 16.8 seconds, running at more than 81 mph.

(More in ‘For these fast students, high school is a drag’…)

“It was a pretty flawless day for us,” Busch said. “We made it look easy.”

That was win No. 19 this season for Busch in the Nationwide, Trucks and Sprint Cup races. No one is having a season like Busch, even though his 34th-place finish in the Cup race last week dropped him from first to eighth in the points standings.

“I think we’re all tired of hearing about Kyle Busch,” said runner-up Mike Bliss, chuckling.

(More in ‘Busch races to 8th Nationwide win’…)

How could it have been better?

• Hayden could have won. Instead Rossi relentlessly closed the lead and made his move on the wounded American rider (broken foot — thanks to the X Games) just past the halfway mark. Until then Hayden had looked unassailable, setting “fast lap” time after time.

• It could have been dry. Racers and fans alike were challenged by the capricious weather.

(More in ‘Bruce McLaughlan: Rossi vs. Hayden provides dream matchup for inaugural USGP’…)

“It would improve my overall awesomeness,” Earnhardt declared.

Awesomeness?

“Yeah. I worked on greatness for a while,” he explained, “but I tapped it out.”

The quest for “awesomeness” begins Sunday at New Hampshire International Speedway, where Earnhardt starts the Chase for the championship seeded fourth in the 12-driver field.

After a one-year absence, he’s back in the title hunt and couldn’t be more thrilled to be among the contenders.

(More in ‘Earnhardt ready to race for first Cup championship’…)

It was redemption for Dixon, who lost the race and the championship to Dario Franchitti last year at Chicagoland Speedway when he ran out of fuel two turns from the finish. Dixon, who came in with a 30-point lead, wound up winning the title and the $1 million bonus that goes with it by 17 points.

“It’s been an amazing year, starting with marrying my beautiful wife, Emma, and just a great race season,” Dixon said.

(More in ‘Dixon gets second title’…)

“Ironic thing,” Gordon said at Richmond International Raceway, where weather postponed the race to set the 12-driver field for the playoffs to Sunday. Gordon is 10th in the standings, 102 points ahead of 13th-place David Ragan, heading into the Chevrolet 400.

“Last week, Jimmie (Johnson) and his team went to Kentucky to test on Monday. Our team was scheduled to be there on Tuesday,” Gordon said of his Hendrick Motorsports teammate.

(More in ‘Gordon takes 30-race winless streak to Richmond, where Chase field will be set’…)

Track:Bolt wins 200 at Switzerland meet

Usain Bolt clocked 19.63 seconds after easing up before the finish in his first 200-meter race since the Olympics at the Athletissima Grand Prix in Lausanne, Switzerland.

It was the second-fastest time in the world this year — topped only by his world record of 19.30 while winning the gold medal.

He ran 30 minutes after Asafa Powell achieved the second-fastest 100 ever on the same track.

(More in ‘Sports briefs: Franchitti back with IndyCar in ’09′…)

“Bruno’s over-aggressive move to try and pass during the first lap forced me to hit the wall,” Duno said. “As a result, my rear wing was damaged and some suspension components, too. Unfortunately, I couldn’t maintain my race pace, and the race was over for me early.”

Junqueira remained aggressive throughout the race while driving the No. 18 car for Dale Coyne Racing. He was 14th on lap 22, ninth on lap 48, and then took advantage of a collision between Ryan Hunter-Reay and Will Power on lap 55 to take sixth.

Junqueira ran as high as fifth.

“I’m very pleased with our results today,” Junqueira said. “We didn’t have the fastest car out there, but we did what we could with it. We worked our way up with lots of passes and took every chance we could on the track. I’m very happy with our results, especially after what happened yesterday. The team worked all night repairing the car, so it’s nice to be able to repay them with a good result.”

Junqueira spun and made contact with the wall during qualifying Saturday. The car suffered substantial damage to its right side.

Junqueira’s season’s best finish is sixth at Watkins Glen.

Tough day for Patrick

Danica Patrick ‘s tough times continued on Belle Isle, the track where she finished second a year ago.

Patrick was involved in a crash with Vitor Meira on lap 33 when the cars touched wheels entering turn eight. Meira suffered damage to the right front suspension. Patrick suffered a flat left front tire and fell a lap down.

“It is a very disappointing day for the Motorola team because we were doing so well today,” said Patrick, who settled for 16th.

Race keeps dates

The Detroit Grand Prix will be held during Labor Day weekend again next year. The race will be held on Sept. 6, the 16th race of the 18-event season.

Sunday’s crowd was estimated at 40,000.

Draper gives command

Kris Draper of the Stanley Cup champion Red Wings gave the command of “Drivers, start your engines” to get the race under way.

Draper has helped the Red Wings win four Stanley Cups during his career. Training camp starts later this month in Traverse City.

Pobst wins SCCA race

Pole-sitter Randy Pobst led the SPEED GT Championship race from start to finish Sunday afternoon to earn his third win of the season and extend his points lead over Andy Pilgrim .

Pobst, the defending series champion, won in a Porsche 911 GT3. Pilgrim (Cadillac CTS-V) finished second, followed by Brandon Davis (Ford Mustang Cobra) and Michael McCann (Cadillac CTS-V).

LeMans champs DQ’d

The team of Emanuele Pirro and Marcel Fassler had their celebration cut short when they were disqualified from the American Le Mans Series race on Belle Isle for having its LMP1 class car underweight.

As a result, the Intersport Racing team received the win with drivers Jon Field , Clint Field and Richard Berry .

The team of Franck Montagny and James Rossiter (Acura ARX-01B) won the LMP2 class and overall race.