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Indy 500 qualifying, practice canceled because of rain

By AJ Mast (AP)

Qualifying and practice at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway have been canceled for the day due to rain.

Qualifying for positions 12-22 for drivers at the May 25 Indianapolis 500 was to be decided Sunday. Now those slots will be added to next Saturday's scheduled qualifying. It was the fourth day this month that speedway events were canceled or limited because of rain.

By IBRAHIM USTA (AP)

Felipe Massa held off Lewis Hamilton to win his third straight Turkish Grand Prix on Sunday and earn Ferrari's fourth consecutive Formula One victory.

Massa finished 3.779 seconds ahead of McLaren driver Hamilton on the 58 laps at Istanbul Speed Park to continue a trend of winning from pole position in Turkey. All four winners at the circuit have come from the pole.

Defending world champion Kimi Raikkonen finished 4.2 seconds back in third place as Hamilton denied Ferrari a third successive sweep of the top two positions.

Robert Kubica of BMW Sauber was fourth, ahead of...

By Daniel Plassmann (AP)

Kyle Busch won the battle of attrition Saturday night as NASCAR's least popular driver overcame a pit-road penalty and several scrapes with the wall to win at Darlington Raceway.

Busch's third Sprint Cup Series victory of the season hardly thrilled the crowd, which viciously booed him in prerace introductions and hadn't softened by the time he took the checkered flag. Already loathed by many, he enraged Dale Earnhardt Jr.'s massive fan base by wrecking him as they raced for the win last week in Richmond.

It created a frenzy of hatred toward Busch, but the 23-year-old driver ...

By Daniel Plassmann (AP)

Kyle Busch won the battle of attrition Saturday night as NASCAR's least popular driver overcame a pit-road penalty and several scrapes with the wall to win at Darlington Raceway.

Busch's third Sprint Cup Series victory of the season hardly thrilled the crowd, which viciously booed him in prerace introductions and hadn't softened by the time he took the checkered flag. Already loathed by many, he enraged Dale Earnhardt Jr.'s massive fan base by wrecking him as they raced for the win last week in Richmond.

It created a frenzy of hatred toward Busch, but the 23-year-old driver ...

By Kurt Bauer (AP)

Rookie driver Ryan Hunter-Reay has crashed during a qualifying attempt for the Indianapolis 500.

Hunter-Reay, who was bumped from the lineup earlier, went out for another attempt with about a half-hour left in Saturday's qualifying. He completed one lap at just over 223 mph but spun and hit the wall hard on the first turn of the next lap.

He climbed out of the car on his own, apparently unhurt, but the Dallara car had heavy damage to the left side.

...

By Darron Cummings (AP)

Danica Patrick watched contentedly from Indianapolis' pit wall as the first day of qualifying ended.

With fans shouting her name and crew members hustling to put away her equipment, Patrick shook her head and reflected on the opportunity that had just slipped away _ winning the Indy 500 pole.

For 34 minutes, Patrick sat on top of the IndyCar world with a four-lap qualifying average of 225.197 mph. Then, in the blink of an eye as often happens at this 2.5-mile oval, it was gone. She lost the top spot for the May 25 race and never got a second chance to earn it back.

"I...

By Darron Cummings (AP)

Danica Patrick watched contentedly from Indianapolis' pit wall as the first day of qualifying ended.

With fans shouting her name and crew members hustling to put away her equipment, Patrick shook her head and reflected on the opportunity that had just slipped away _ winning the Indy 500 pole.

For 34 minutes, Patrick sat on top of the IndyCar world with a four-lap qualifying average of 225.197 mph. Then, in the blink of an eye as often happens at this 2.5-mile oval, it was gone. She lost the top spot for the May 25 race and never got a second chance to earn it back.

"I...

By Darron Cummings (AP)

Strategy was almost as important as speed Saturday as Scott Dixon won the pole for the Indianapolis 500 with a big gamble by his Target Chip Ganassi Racing team.

Dixon and teammate Dan Wheldon, who took the second spot, both took advantage of Indy's unique qualifying format, which allows each entry up to three tries on each of the four days of time trials.

Dixon, who has three pole positions in five tries in the IRL IndyCar Series this season, got the biggest benefit of the team strategy, canceling out a four-lap average of 225.178 mph earlier in the day and making it pay off...

By Darron Cummings (AP)

Strategy was almost as important as speed Saturday as Scott Dixon won the pole for the Indianapolis 500 with a big gamble by his Target Chip Ganassi Racing team.

Dixon and teammate Dan Wheldon, who took the second spot, both took advantage of Indy's unique qualifying format, which allows each entry up to three tries on each of the four days of time trials.

Dixon, who has three pole positions in five tries in the IRL IndyCar Series this season, got the biggest benefit of the team strategy, canceling out a four-lap average of 225.178 mph earlier in the day and making it pay off...

By Tom Strattman (AP)

Dan Wheldon held the provisional Indianapolis 500 pole after the first flurry of qualifications on Saturday, knocking Danica Patrick off the top spot.

After a rain-interrupted opening week of practice for the May 25 race, there was a long line of cars ready to go when the first of four days of time trials began at noon with the top 11 positions in the 33-car field up for grabs.

Patrick, just two weeks past making history as the first woman to win an IndyCar race, set the early pace with a four-lap, 10-mile qualifying run averaging 225.197 mph on the famed Indianapolis Motor...

By Brett Flashnick (AP)

Tony Stewart must've needed a new surface to finally break through at Darlington Raceway. The two-time Sprint Cup champion had never won here in 19 previous races, four of them Nationwide events, dating to 1996. Yet, Stewart was dominant throughout in gliding to victory in the first race on Darlington's slicker, repaved surface Friday night.

He was about the only one who got away unscathed, with Sprint Cup stars Carl Edwards, Kyle Busch, Matt Kenseth and Mark Martin all wrecking.

"We had an awesome race car today," Stewart said. "I'm telling you, this thing was head-and-sh...

By Virginia Postic (AP)

Tony Stewart must've needed a new surface to finally break through at Darlington Raceway.

The two-time Sprint Cup champion had never won here in 19 previous races, four of them Nationwide events, dating to 1996. Yet, Stewart was dominant throughout in gliding to victory in the first race on Darlington's slicker, repaved surface Friday night.

He was about the only one who got away unscathed. Fellow Sprint Cup stars Carl Edwards, Kyle Busch, Matt Kenseth and Mark Martin had their nights ended by wrecks.

Stewart made it through nine cautions, one off the Nationwide's Darli...

By AJ Mast (AP)

In the past, there was usually little strategy involved in trying to win the pole for the Indianapolis 500. Just hold the gas pedal down and drive.

Thanks to the qualifying format adopted two years ago, Saturday's opening day of time trials for the May 25 race could be a strategic nightmare.

"This year, it's going to be such a mess," said Scott Dixon, the fastest driver in this week's rain-abbreviated practice on the 2.5-mile Indy oval with a lap of 226.968 mph Friday, considerably faster than the four-lap average of 225.817 that won the pole for Helio Castroneves last May....

By Tom Strickland (AP)

Rookie driver Alex Lloyd hit the wall hard during practice for the Indianapolis 500 on Friday.

Lloyd, the champion last season in the IRL's developmental Indy Lights Series, completed a lap at more than 223 mph and lost control of his Dallara in the first turn. He struck the outside wall with the rear of the car and continued into the second turn.

The 23-year-old Englishman was out of the car, apparently uninjured. The car was heavily damaged.

...

By (AP)

Qualifying and practice at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway have been canceled for the day due to rain.

Qualifying for positions 12-22 for drivers at the May 25 Indianapolis 500 was to be decided Sunday. Now those slots will be added to next Saturday's scheduled qualifying. It was the fourth day this month that speedway events were canceled or limited because of rain.

...

By (AP)

Felipe Massa held off Lewis Hamilton to win his third straight Turkish Grand Prix on Sunday and earn Ferrari's fourth consecutive Formula One victory.

Massa finished 3.7 seconds ahead of McLaren driver Hamilton on the 58 laps at Istanbul Speed Park to continue a trend of winning from pole position in Turkey. All four winners at the circuit have come from the pole.

Defending world champion Kimi Raikkonen finished 4.2 seconds back in third place as Hamilton denied Ferrari a third successive sweep of the top two positions.

Robert Kubica of BMW Sauber was fourth, ahead of...

By (AP)

Felipe Massa of Ferrari has won his third straight Turkish Grand Prix.

Massa finished ahead of McLaren's Lewis Hamilton and Ferrari teammate Kimi Raikkonen in the 58-lap Formula One race at Istanbul Speed Park on Sunday.

Robert Kubica of BMW Sauber was fourth, ahead of teammate Nick Heidfeld.

Heikki Kovalainen of McLaren finished 12th after starting from second on the grid.

Raikkonen, the defending F1 champion, leads the standings with 35 points, seven ahead of Hamilton and Massa. Kubica is next with 24.

...

By (AP)

Rookie driver Ryan Hunter-Reay has crashed during a qualifying attempt for the Indianapolis 500.

Hunter-Reay, who was bumped from the lineup earlier, went out for another attempt with about a half-hour left in Saturday's qualifying. He completed one lap at just over 223 mph but spun and hit the wall hard on the first turn of the next lap.

He climbed out of the car on his own, apparently unhurt, but the Dallara car had heavy damage to the left side.

...

By (AP)

Sprint Cup star Denny Hamlin, who won the past two Nationwide Series events at Darlington Raceway, hit the wall during qualifying and did not make Friday night's Nationwide race.

Hamlin is still part of Saturday night's Dodge Challenger 500 in the Sprint Cup series.

He had hoped to jump start his weekend with a good run in the Nationwide race. Instead, he ran up against the wall in turn two and could not continue his lap.

"I feel bad for him. He really laid it out there," said Carl Edwards, who was to start the race from the pole.

The Nationwide Series is NASCAR...

By (AP)

Rain has ended practice for the Indianapolis 500, the third time this week track time has been curtailed by the weather.

Practice was washed out entirely on Wednesday and Thursday, and rain ended practice Friday afternoon, almost three hours early.

Thirty-three cars had been on the track, with Scott Dixon the fastest at 226.968 mph, followed by Marco Andretti at 226.710 and Tony Kanaan at 226.688.

There will be another two-hour practice session Saturday morning before the noon start of pole qualifying for the May 25 race.

...

By (AP)

NASCAR officials claim an electrical fire caused a fatal plane crash near Orlando last year that killed two aboard the aircraft and three on the ground, but federal investigators do not necessarily agree with that claim.

The NASCAR accident summary is included in Friday's release of reports by the National Transportation Safety Board into the July 10 crash of the NASCAR airplane. It claims the pilots were overcome by fumes and were incapacitated.

The NTSB says it is still investigating the crash, with a final report of the cause likely in the summer. NTSB reports say a radar...

By (AP)

Kyle Busch just might have a little "Itimidator" in him.

And that's from someone who'd know best, Dale Earnhardt Jr.

It was only a few days ago Busch and Earnhardt Jr. collided chasing victory at Richmond International Raceway. Dale Jr. admitted with a smile that Busch's racing style reminded him of his old man's earlier, hard-charging stock-car days.

"On the racetrack, there may be some comparisons there," Earnhardt Jr. said Thursday. "He's fast ... he's slick, he's aggressive."

"That's the way dad raced and Kyle has that same style," Earnhardt Jr. c...

By (AP)

X-rays are negative on rookie driver Jaime Camara's injured back.

The 27-year-old Brazilian was hospitalized Monday after a crash during practice for the Indianapolis 500. He will be examined again Tuesday morning before he may resume practice for the May 25 race.

Camara, who passed his rookie test Sunday, had just turned a lap at more than 218 mph when his Dallara went low through the first turn, made a half-spin and struck the outside wall at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. The car made another half-spin and came to a stop at the entrance of the second turn.

Camara...

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