Edwards earns his $1 million, wrecks his car

Carl Edwards won the $1 million – and then he wrecked.

Edwards led all 10 laps of the final segment of Saturday night’s NASCAR Sprint All-Star race at Charlotte Motor Speedway in Concord, N.C., to win the $1 million top prize then promptly tore up his No. 99 Ford as he tried to begin a celebratory burnout on the frontstretch. It appeared Edwards’ car hit a manhole cover. Edwards got out of the car, sprinted to the flag stand and grabbed the checkered flag.

The win is Edwards’ first in the race. His previous best finish in the event was fourth in 2006.

Kyle Busch finished second, David Reutimann third, Tony Stewart fourth and Greg Biffle fifth.

Kyle Busch started from the pole but was soon overtaken by Biffle, who took command of the first 50-lap segment of the all-star race.

IndyCar

Alex Tagliani broke up the monopoly in the top-heavy IndyCar series and became the first Canadian to earn the pole for the Indianapolis 500.

On a day each of the series’ three top teams – Andretti Autopsort, Target Chip Ganassi and Team Penske – made big mistakes, it was a 37-year-old Canadian who got it right twice with a four-lap average of 227.472 mph on the day’s final run at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

One of Ganassi’s drivers, Scott Dixon, will start next to Tagliani on the front row. Defending champ Dario Franchitti could have joined them had he not run out of fuel on the final qualifying lap. Spain’s Oriol Servia will start third.

“I’m getting tired of the Penske and Ganassi domination, here especially at the 500,” Tagliani said after the morning run that gave Sam Schmidt Motorsports the provisional Indy pole. “I think a lot of people are craving for it, and if we can do it, it would be nice.”

He did it twice – once in the morning and again in the evening.

Meanwhile, the big boys struggled to keep up with Tagliani.

Seven drivers from the vaunted Andretti, Ganassi and Penske teams failed to make the field. Among them are three top Americans – Marco Andretti, Danica Patrick and Graham Rahal. Ryan Briscoe, one of two Aussies expected to contend for the pole, also failed to lock up a spot for the May 29 race.

The final nine spots will be determined today. After that, bumping begins.

Formula One

Mark Webber edged Formula One leader Sebastian Vettel in qualifying for the Spanish Grand Prix at Barcelona as Red Bull swept its fifth straight pole position of the season.

Webber got around the Catalunya Circuit in 1 minute, 20.981 seconds to edge Vettel by two-tenths.