Burton, Bowyer take charge at qualifying
Jeff Burton and rookie Clint Bowyer gave Richard Childress Racing a sweep of the front row Saturday in qualifying for the Allstate 400 at the Brickyard.
Burton, who has driven in each of the 12 previous NASCAR races at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway without qualifying higher than 16th, made an early lap of 182.778 mph stand up for his third pole of the season and only the fifth of a career that began in 1993.
“I think I left a little bit out there,” said Burton, who along with Bowyer had to leave the track immediately after the Nextel Cup time trials to practice for the Busch Series race at nearby O’Reilly Raceway Park.
Burton was the second of 50 drivers who tried to qualify for the 43 Brickyard starting spots, so he didn’t really know what it was going to take to stay on top with the track getting hotter and more slippery as the session went on.
“I ran as hard as I thought I could run and come back,” Burton said. “I was a little bit conservative in a few places that if somebody has a little more confidence, they might be able to do better than that.”
Michael Waltrip will miss a Nextel Cup race for the first time since 1998 after failing to qualify.
Busch Series
Once Kevin Harvick got the lead, no one could catch him.
The NASCAR Busch Series points leader passed pole-starter Denny Hamlin on lap 84 and held off Reed Sorenson in the Kroger 200 at Clermont, Ind., for his series-high fifth win of the season.
Caution periods kept the field bunched most of the race. Harvick went in front by 2.5 seconds before the final caution and led Sorenson by less than a second after the green came out with 13 laps to go. Neither Sorenson nor J.J. Yeley, who wound up third, could cut into the lead in the final laps, and Harvick’s winning margin was 1.4 seconds.
Purvis breaks neck
Former NASCAR driver Jeff Purvis broke his neck in a crash on I-65 after the rig carrying his race car crossed the median, struck an oncoming car and burst into flames, officials said.
Formula One
Michael Schumacher and Fernando Alonso were hit with time penalties and will resume their championship duel from the middle of the starting grid at the Hungarian Grand Prix at Budapest.
Kimi Raikkonen of McLaren-Mercedes, last year’s winner, won the pole position for today’s race in 1 minute, 19.599 seconds.
Schumacher and Alonso incurred 2-second penalties per qualifying session.
Schumacher was 12th and Alonso 15th in the qualifications, but Schumacher will move up to 11th when Jenson Button moves down from fourth to 14th because of an engine change, which indirectly caused Schumacher’s penalty.
Hydroplanes
Jean Theoret drove Miss Beacon Plumbing to an easy victory in his first preliminary heat for today’s Chevrolet Cup at Seafair unlimited hydroplane race.
Theoret averaged 137.996 mph to outrun Mike Allen in Formulaboats.com II and Jimmy King driving Acura of Seattle.
Allen averaged 130.097 mph, King 126.045.
Dave Villwock, driving Miss E-Lam Plus, encountered trouble in the second heat and finished last at 97.509 mph.
He was behind at the start on the inside lane, and in the second turn crossed through the spray of Fairweather Masonry driven by J.W. Myers and went dead in the water.
Villwock restarted a lap later and finished at the back of the pack.
Myers had a side-by-side duel with Steve David driving Oh Boy! Oberto, but won the heat by a boat length, averaging 138.715 mph. David finished second at 137.961.
Today will feature two additional preliminary heats, with the winner-take-all final heat scheduled for the afternoon.