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Johnson wins, but Busch retains lead

Brian Vickers' car hits the wall on the front stretch at the UAW-GM Quality 500. (Associated Press / The Spokesman-Review)
From wire reports
Brian Vickers' car hits the wall on the front stretch at the UAW-GM Quality 500. (Associated Press / The Spokesman-Review)

For so long Saturday night, it seemed that the story of the UAW-GM 500 at Lowe’s Motor Speedway in Concord, N.C., would be a simple one to tell. Kasey Kahne led 207 of the first 267 laps and his Dodge was clearly the class of the field.

And then, a dime-store novel broke out.

When it was over, it was Jimmie Johnson right back in Victory Lane where he’d been in May after the Coca-Cola 600 and Kurt Busch, who narrowly averted disaster barely 400 yards into the race, still atop the Nextel Cup standings.

“What a way to right the ship,” said Johnson, who’d finished 37th and 32nd in the past two races to fall into a deep hole in the Chase for the Nextel Cup. “The past couple of months have been hard for us, but we never give up Who knows how the championship will turn out?”

If it turns out that Busch wins the championship, Saturday night will loom big in that story. When traffic backed up behind Scott Riggs’ hobbled car going into the first turn on the first lap, Busch’s Ford went into a spin that could have wiped out his evening.

Instead, Busch kept going and eventually fought his way back to lead the race. After that, he still had to drive wide open through the infield grass to avoid another crash that ruined teammate Mark Martin’s race to finish fourth and stay 24 points ahead of Dale Earnhardt Jr., who wound up third.

“I don’t know what to say,” Busch said. “It was the adventure of Kurt Busch and team tonight.”

Bodine wins trucks race

Todd Bodine won his second straight NASCAR truck race, leading the final 38 laps after a lengthy red flag in Fort Worth, Texas.

Bodine, the 40-year-old former Nextel Cup driver, finished a full second ahead of Johnny Benson, another former Cup driver also in a Toyota. Bodine’s average speed was 115.179 mph and he became the first driver this season to win consecutive races.

“The truck was perfect, absolutely perfect,” Bodine said. “That last run, I was barely lifting out of the throttle. When you can do that, it’s awesome.”

Bodine regained the lead on the 109th lap, the first green-flag lap after the race had been stopped for 28 minutes because of a crash involving five trucks.

Series points leader Bobby Hamilton finished third in his Dodge, ahead of the Chevrolets of David Starr and Jack Sprague.

Kanaan not taking last race lightly

Tony Kanaan isn’t planning to take an easy drive to the IndyCar Series championship.

While he has the season title clinched even before firing up his engine, Kanaan still has a couple of goals he can accomplish at Texas Motor Speedway in Fort Worth, Texas.

Kanaan can become the first driver in a major American motorsports series to complete every lap of the season. And he can be the first driver to sweep both Texas races in the same season.

“I don’t have the pressure, but I still have to do my job,” Kanaan said. “Especially here with the type of racing we have. You have to concentrate. When I’m in the car, I’m just serious. The effort will be the same, the amount of work as well.”

Kanaan qualified 10th for today’s 200-lap Chevy 500.