Nemechek wins first
Joe Nemechek kept Tony Stewart winless in the NASCAR Busch Series, then earned his first victory of the season in the series’ closest race this year.
Stewart, who has a Winston Cup championship and an Indy Racing League title but has never won a Busch race, dominated all but the last few laps Saturday at Kansas Speedway in Kansas City, Kan. But Nemechek reeled him in after a late restart, and Stewart was trying to hold him off when the two made contact in the backstretch with 1 1/2 laps to go.
“He just kept coming and coming, and I said, ‘Please, please, don’t come all the way up,’ ” said Nemechek, whose victory was the 16th of his Busch career. “But he comes up, and his bumper poked a hole in the nose of my car, and he went into the wall.”
Stewart spun into the backstretch wall, forcing a three-lap shootout that, combined with a caution lap, added 6 miles to the Mr. Goodcents 300.
Nemechek, who will start today’s Nextel Cup race on the pole, held off Greg Biffle’s Ford by .041 of a second.
“He just had a little more steam to the stripe,” Biffle said, adding that neither Nemechek nor Stewart was to blame for the crash.
“He was looking in the mirror, trying to mirror drive (Nemechek’s No.) 87,” Biffle said. “Someone said it looked like Joe never let up, but you can’t tell once a car starts darting off like that.”
Stewart, who finished 25th, left the track without commenting, while Nemechek said he felt compelled to apologize to his friend.
“It was one of those racing deals,” he said. “I don’t ever turn anyone, especially not on purpose.”
Points leader Martin Truex Jr. crashed in the third lap and did not return until the 47th lap, finishing 30th.
But Kyle Busch, who came into the race trailing Truex by 152 points, could not capitalize. He crashed in the 81st lap, was out for 27 laps and finished 29th – gaining just three points on the leader.
David Stremme was third behind Nemechek and Biffle, followed in the Top 10 by Ashton Lewis Jr., Ron Hornaday Jr., J.J. Yeley, Jason Keller, Casey Mears, Stacy Compton and Wally Dallenbach Jr.
Formula One
A powerful typhoon veered away from the site of the Japanese Grand Prix in Suzuka, Japan, boding well for today’s Formula One race after organizers were forced to postpone qualifying.
Forecasts had indicated that Typhoon Ma-on was moving directly for Suzuka, but it headed instead toward Nagoya and Tokyo.
Organizers closed the track, canceling the regular pre-qualifying and qualifying sessions. They were rescheduled to take place before the race today, a first in Formula One.
Teams had been advised to stay in their hotels while the typhoon approached. Winds of more than 100 mph and more than 16 inches of rain were expected to hit the track area if the typhoon struck, according to the Meteorological Agency.
But by mid-afternoon about 24 hours before the race – the weather cleared in the Suzuka area and the sun was shining. There were still concerns, however, that today’s schedule could be affected if the Suzuka circuit is flooded by all the rain.
Some drivers hoped to exercise during their enforced layoff. Seven-time world champion Michael Schumacher was denied a chance to play indoor soccer because a local gym had been booked for other activities. That left Ferrari, Minardi, Jordan and the rest of the teams to hang around the hotel with little to do but watch TV.