Richards Fifth In Fontana

Spokane driver Kevin Richards finished fifth Saturday at the Pontiac Wide Track Grand Prix 200 NASCAR Winston West Series race in Fontana, Calif., and took a healthy jump in the season standings.

It was the second top-10 finish for Richards this season. He drove his Monte Carlo to a season-opening win in Phoenix. He jumped from fourth to second in the Winston West Series championship standings and trails Brendan Gaughan, who finished third Saturday.

Johnny Benson won Saturday’s race, holding off fellow Winston Cup competitor Ken Schrader. Benson, who started the event alongside Schrader on the outside of the front row, charged past Gaughan to take the lead on lap 93.

Former NFL head coach Jerry Glanville finished sixth.

Kenseth wins Busch

Matt Kenseth took advantage of Ward Burton’s crash with eight laps remaining, then held off Jeff Burton to win Saturday’s Auto Club 300 Busch Series race at California Speedway in Fontana.

“I’m not really sure what happened,” Ward Burton said. “I don’t know if I lost it or what. My crew chief told me he thought the axle might have broke. I don’t know if we had it won, but we maybe had a good opportunity for it.”

Runner-up Burton was followed by Jeff Green, Michael Waltrip, Todd Bodine and Mike Skinner, who will start from the pole in today’s NAPA Auto Parts 500 Winston Cup race here.

Spokane’s Chad Little who started in the 22nd spot, finished 12th and earned $17,975. Little earned a provisional spot at No. 38 for today’s 500.

Mike Skinner’s pole victory for today’s race was the fourth of the season for Chevrolet. Ford has won the other six poles. Pontiac has yet to take the top qualifying spot this season.

Rookie takes CART pole

Rookie Alex Tagliani won the first pole of his CART career, edging series champion Juan Montoya in qualifying Saturday for the Rio 200 in Rio De Janeiro, Brazil.

Driving a Ford-Reynard for the Player’s Forsythe team, the 27-year-old Canadian had a fast lap of 173.903 mph on the 1.864-mile Emerson Fittipaldi Speedway. He got around in 38.587 seconds, beating Montoya’s run of 38.969.

Force tops qualifiers

John Force topped Funny Car qualifying for the fourth time this year, thanks to a track-record performance at the Moto1.net NHRA Nationals in Dinwiddie, Va.

Force had a quarter-mile run of 4.826 seconds with a top speed of 317.72 mph on the Virginia Motorsports Park track. He’ll face Bob Gilbertson to start today’s elimination runs.