NASCAR

  • Kyle Busch wins at Texas:#18-Kyle Busch won the Duck Commander 500 Sprint Cup Series race at Texas Motor Speedway for his 2nd win of the season, 2nd win at Texas and 36th career win. He led 34 of 334 laps. Busch also won the XFINITY Series race on Friday night. It is the 9th time he has swept both races at a track during the same weekend.
  • #88-Earnhardt, Jr. finished 2nd, followed by #22-Logano, #48-Johnson, #24-Elliott, #78-Truex, Jr., #19-Edwards, #5-Kahne, #41-Busch, and #4-Harvick.
  • Pole winner, Edwards led 124 laps but had to pit under green with a loose wheel, lost a lap, and couldn't get back to the front before the end of the race.
  • Truex, Jr. led 141 laps, the most of any driver, but did not pit under the last caution and lost the lead to Busch with 32 laps to go.
  • There was a large wreck late in the race when Johnson got into the back of #3-Dillon, who was on old tires, and sent him into a spin. 13 cars received some damage in the incident.
  • The start of the race was delayed by nearly 2 hours after light rain hit the track.
  • Kyle Busch leads the point standings by 6 points over Jimmie Johnson.

25 years since last race sweep on consecutive weekends: Four races in NASCAR's top three series over eight days - and Kyle Busch won them all. From Martinsville to Texas, Busch had consecutive weekend sweeps, something last done in NASCAR 25 years ago. Along with his second consecutive Cup victory, taking the checkered flag just after midnight into Sunday morning, his Texas two-step included winning for the fourth time in his five Xfinity starts of 2016. His sweep at Martinsville was a truck victory and the Cup race. The next Sprint Cup and Xfinity races are at Bristol, where Busch swept all three national series races in the same weekend in August 2010. Harry Gant had consecutive weekend sweeps at Richmond and Dover in 1991, during a stretch when he won four Cup races in a row at age 51. It was Busch's second weekend sweep at Texas, after doing it in the spring of 2013. Busch won his seventh Cup race in 32 starts since returning last year from a compound fracture of his lower right leg and a broken left foot sustained in a crash in the 2015 season-opening Xfinity race at Daytona.(Associated Press)(4-11-2016)

Stewart still unsure of when he can return: Tony Stewart said he feels good but needs to wait for a scan on his broken back later this month to determine when he will return to the driver's seat. The three-time Sprint Cup champion, speaking Thursday after being honored for raising $1.5 million through his "Smoke Show" fantasy camp for the Texas chapter of Speedway Children's Charities, said some days it has been hard and some days it has been easy not racing this year while his back heals. "I don't [know my return] -- not until they do the next set of scans," Stewart said. "The first thing they did were X-rays [in early March] just to make sure the rods and screws were in place. When we do the scans at the end of the month, then they'll be able to have an idea exactly when it's going to happen." Stewart suffered a burst fracture of his L1 vertebra in a Jan. 31 dune buggy accident. He was going 5 mph but landed hard in a drop he estimated was 20 to 25 feet in the California sand dunes.

"I feel great," Stewart said. "I've been doing everything now over the last week that I've wanted to do. If you step off a curb wrong or step too hard, you're definitely reminded you have these rods in your back. "Other than that, I feel really well. I'm anxious to get the scans. It's driving me crazy wanting to see what it looks like and what is the diagnosis and when they think they're going to let me go."(ESPN.com)(4-8-2016)

NEXT RACE: This Sunday at Bristol Motor Speedway; TV on FOX at 10 a.m. PT

 

NHRA

BOB VANDERGRIFF ANNOUNCES IMMEDIATE RETIREMENT FROM DRAG RACING

Bob Vandergriff, team owner of Bob Vandergriff Racing (BVR), an organization that has been fielding two Top Fuel Dragsters on the NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing tour, has announced his retirement from the sport following the NHRA Denso Nationals in Las Vegas. The Top Fuel cars had been driven by Dave Connolly and Leah Pritchett. Effective immediately, the entire BVR organization has been shut down and all employees have been released from their duties.

"I've been considering retirement for a few years now, and I've actually done it once already when I retired from the driver's seat at the end of the 2014 season. Now it's time to retire from the sport altogether. The recent unexpected death of BVR supporter and close friend Josh Comstock, from C&J Energy Services, has made me reflect and seriously reevaluate my priorities in life. I've missed a lot of things in my children's lives over the years and the desire to spend more time at home with my family has weighed on me greatly the last few years and when combined with the struggles the oil and gas industry has been facing over the last 12-18 months it seemed like now was the right time to retire. C&J Energy Services CEO Randy McMullen and I sat down recently, and after lengthy discussions he was in agreement and fully supported my decision."

NEXT RACE: NHRA Four-Wide Nationals at zMAX Dragway in Charlotte, April 22-24.

INDYCAR

ROOKIES DALY, ROSSI GET LEARNING EXPERIENCE AT SUPERCROSS EVENT

Conor Daly and Alexander Rossi took advantage of the off weekend in the Verizon IndyCar Series schedule to get a behind the scenes look at a different form of motorsports. The two Sunoco Rookie of the Year candidates were guests of the Honda HRC Supercross team for the Indianapolis round of the 2016 AMA Monster EnergySupercross on March 9 at Lucas Oil Stadium.

The experience actually started the previous day as Honda 450 class factory rider Trey Canard and GEICO Honda 250 class rider (think Indy Lights to Verizon IndyCar Series) RJ Hampshire took on Rossi and Daly in a friendly go-kart challenge at K1 Speed in Fishers, Ind.

NEXT RACE: Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach this Sunday; TV on NBCSN at 1 p.m. PT

AT SONOMA RACEWAY

  • Wednesday Night Drags & Sonoma Drift return this Wednesday
    • High school students will drag race against Bay Area law enforcement officers when the popular Top the Cops™ program returns. The Top the Cops™ program, which enters its 22nd season, offers an alternative to illegal street racing and gives teens the chance to race against law enforcement officers, who compete in full uniform in their official vehicles on the newly repaved drag strip.