Penske disputes cheating

Roger Penske said his organization wasn’t cheating but rather working in a gray area of the rule book when NASCAR confiscated parts from the cars of defending champion Brad Keselowski and Joey Logano.

NASCAR severely punished Penske Racing this week with six-race suspensions for seven team members, $200,000 in fines and the loss of 25 points from each driver. Penske is appealing.

The team owner said Saturday at the IndyCar race in Long Beach the parts taken from the rear-end housings of both Fords last week in Texas had been approved by NASCAR.

Penske says NASCAR has accused the team of modifying the parts after approval.

He said Logano had already passed pre-race inspection at Texas when NASCAR called the car back to tech after Keselowski’s had failed.

Crafton wins at Kansas

Matt Crafton charged to the lead in a crash-filled race at Kansas Speedway, and then held off a late run by Joey Coulter to pick up his third career Truck Series victory at Kansas City.

Crafton and Coulter were engaged in a spirited game of cat-and-mouse over the final 20 laps, but Crafton held onto his truck-length lead as they crossed the start-finish line, allowing him to celebrate his first win since Iowa in 2011 with a burnout that tore up one of his rear tires.

Serious injuries avoided

Fans escaped serious injury Saturday when the body of Funny Car driver Robert Hight’s car blew off near the finish line after his engine exploded in the NHRA Four-Wide Nationals at Concord, N.C.

The carbon fiber body went high in the air and came down in a walkway in front of a grandstand at zMAX Dragway. As a precaution, two fans were evaluated at the track and released by paramedics.

Rookie Funny Car driver Chad Head raced to his first career No. 1 qualifying position with a run of 4.014 seconds at 315.19 mph. Head is the son of longtime NHRA nitro racer Jim Head.

Pit stops

Dario Franchitti has won the pole for today’s IndyCar Series race at Long Beach. Franchitti’s last lap was 1:07.2379 and bounced Ryan Hunter-Reay off the pole at the last second. … Honda Performance Development has added two-time champion Gil de Ferran as a technical consultant and adviser. The 2003 Indianapolis 500 winner has been associated with Honda since 1996, and de Ferran won his first CART race for the manufacturer that year at Cleveland. He won six races, 16 poles and the 2000 and 2001 championships with Honda. … Michael Andretti believes IndyCar made the right call in leaving James Hinchcliffe’s disabled vehicle stranded on the course for the entire race at Barber. Hinchcliffe’s car was damaged on the first lap, which led to a tire problem two laps later. … Slapped with penalties ahead of Bahrain Grand Prix qualifying, Red Bull’s Mark Webber and Mercedes Lewis Hamilton knew they had to put in a strong showing just to remain in the top 10. They both managed it, barely. Hamilton placed ninth on the grid after getting a five-grid penalty for a gear box change ahead of qualifying, while Webber will start seventh after he was penalized for colliding with Toro Rosso’s Jean-Eric Vergne.