Busch scores victory at Richmond

Kurt Busch has spent time this year in a Delaware courtroom, then on NASCAR’s sidelines as he served a three-race suspension for an alleged domestic assault on a former girlfriend.

Now he has made a trip to Victory Lane, where Busch hoped his victory Sunday at Richmond (Virginia) International Raceway will help him close one of the messiest chapters of his volatile career.

“Standing on the truth the whole time, that gave me the feeling of when I do get back to the car, it’s going to be easy to focus, and I think I’ve shown that,” said Busch, who still has a no-contact order against him that was issued in February by a Delaware Family Court judge. The judge ruled that Busch likely assaulted ex-girlfriend Patricia Driscoll in September.

The 2004 series champion dominated the rain-delayed NASCAR Sprint Cup race that was originally scheduled for Saturday night under the lights.

The Stewart-Haas Racing driver led a career-best 291 of the 400 laps on the 0.75-mile oval, outrunning teammate Kevin Harvick over the final dozen laps to end a 35-race winless streak.

Earlier in his return, he said he was trying too hard.

“I think I might have been driving too hard, too much of a chip on my shoulder, so to speak,” he said, adding that he realized last weekend that there is danger in driving along the line that separates effectively aggressive and overly aggressive.

One week later, he’s already secured a spot in NASCAR’s 10-race playoff.

Harvick finished in the top two for the seventh time in nine races, but said he had to rally after his car struggled on one set of tires and drifted back into the pack.

Jimmie Johnson rallied from a No. 36 starting spot to grab third. Jamie McMurray was fourth and pole-sitter Joey Logano, who led the first 94 laps, was fifth. Rookie Chase Elliott, making his second start in NASCAR’s premier series, finished 16th.

IndyCar

Josef Newgarden held off a hard-charging Graham Rahal in the Indy Grand Prix of Alabama in Birmingham for his first IndyCar Series victory.

Newgarden got his milestone win at Barber Motorsports Park a few hours from his hometown of Hendersonville, Tennessee, with most of the major drama coming behind him.

Rahal finally slipped past Scott Dixon on the final lap after several tries, giving the American drivers a 1-2 finish.

• Spencer Pigot completed a weekend sweep of Indy Lights races with a victory at Sunday’s 35-lap competition.

Pigot, who took the series points lead, crossed the finish line 5.9781 seconds ahead of Jack Harvey of Schmidt Peterson Motorsports in the Legacy Indy Lights 100 at Barber Motorsports Park. Max Chilton of Carlin was third.

NHRA

Ron Capps raced to his second Funny Car victory of the season, beating teammate Jack Beckman in the O’Reilly Auto Parts NHRA SpringNationals in Baytown, Texas.

Capps powered past Beckman in the final round to earn his 44th Funny Car victory and move into second behind John Force on NHRA’s career wins list in the division.

Capps finished in 4.244 seconds at 258.32 mph, while Beckman trailed with a 4.480 at 205.16.

Doug Kalitta won in Top Fuel, and Erica Enders-Stevens topped the Pro Stock field.