After a season of "almosts" and "what ifs?" Brad Keselowski (No. 2 Penske Racing Miller Lite Ford Fusion) broke through for his first NASCAR Sprint Cup win of the season in the Bank of America 500 at Charlotte Motor Speedway Saturday night. It was his tenth win in NASCAR's top series, his first win for Ford and his first win at Charlotte. The sigh of relief could be felt all the way to Dearborn. Watch the NASCAR videos here.
“It was just a never-give-up night,” Keselowski said in Victory Lane. “We had a lot of struggles tonight. We didn’t qualify well (23rd), but we kept working our way forward. I knew we had a good car. I’m not sure we were as good as the 48 (Jimmie Johnson) or the 5 (Kasey Kahne). “I never got to really race them until the end and (Kahne) had two tires, so I think we were probably pretty even. When (crew chief) Paul (Wolfe) made the call to take four tires, and I saw we were that close to the front, I knew we could get them.”
Kasey Kahne (No. 5 Hendrick Motorsports Quaker State Chevrolet SS) led a race-high 138 laps in Saturday night's NASCAR Sprint Cup race at Charlotte Motor Speedway but ended up finishing second.
Matt Kenseth (No. 20 Joe Gibbs Racing Dollar General Toyota Camry) finished third Saturday night, adding one point to his Chase lead over fourth-place finisher Jimmie Johnson (No. 48 Hendrick Motorsports Lowe's Chevrolet SS). Kenseth now leads Johnson by four points with five races left in the Chase.
Jimmie Johnson (No. 48 Lowe’s Dover White Chevrolet SS), here running next to teammate Jeff Gordon (No. 24 Hendrick Motorsports Axalta Chevrolet SS), finished 4th after leading 130 laps Saturday night. Johnson held a two-second advantage in first place and looked ready to assume the series lead when NASCAR called a caution for debris on the backstretch on Lap 307 of the 334 lap race. Johnson then restarted third on four fresh tires but was shuffled back to seventh on Lap 312 and spent the rest of the race working his way back to fourth.
Kyle Busch (No. 54 J.D. Gibbs Racing Monster Energy Toyota Camry) won the Dollar general 300 Nationwide race at Charlotte Motor Speedway Friday night. The victory was the series-best 11th of the season for Busch, who won for the eighth time in the series at Charlotte and for the 62nd time in his career, extending his own series record. In Victory Lane, Busch announced that he and wife Samantha were donating all the race winnings to the Pretty in Pink Foundation to combat breast cancer. Austin Dillon (No. 3 Advocare Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet Camaro) finished second and Sam Hornish Jr. (No. 12 Penske Racing Detroit Genuine Parts Ford Mustang) finished third. Watch the video here.
Drayson Racing has increased the World Electric Land Speed Record for sub-999kg cars during official FIA-sanctioned runs at Elvington Airfield in Yorkshire, England (*subject to FIA homologation). The all-electric prototype racing car driven by Lord (Paul) Drayson and developed by Drayson Racing Technologies achieved a two-way average speed of 205.139 mph over the measured mile and 333.271kph over the measured kilometer (*subject to FIA homologation) on the 3km-long Elvington runway. The car reached an unofficial maximum speed of 219.1mph / 352.6kph during the runs in difficult, windy conditions, according to GPS data. This speed also represents a new British Land Speed Record (*subject to MSA ratification) over the measured mile for cars of any propulsion type driven by their wheels. In addition, the Drayson Racing team submitted the car to FIA-sanctioned timed acceleration runs, setting a new World Electric Record from a standing start over a quarter mile with a time of 9.742 seconds and a top speed of 92.383mph (*subject to FIA homologation).
Nicolas Prost (No. 12 Rebellion Timepieces/Lemo Connectors/Speedy Garage Lola B12/60-Toyota) set the fastest time in the third and final day of testing for Saturday’s 16th Petit Le Mans Powered by Mazda, running a lap of one minute, 9.942 seconds (130.737 mph) at Road Atlanta to lead Wednesday’s session. Rebellion Racing is defending its victory in Petit Le Mans, but it is running its first American Le Mans Series presented by Tequila Patrón event since May. Prost will co-drive with Neel Jani and Nick Heidfeld. Prost and Jani won the 2012 event for Rebellion, joined by Andrea Belicchi. Muscle Milk Picket Racing, seeking its ninth consecutive ALMS victory, was second with a lap of 1:10.754 (129.237 mph) in the No. 6 HPD ARX-03c turned by Klaus Graf, who will co-drive with Lucas Luhr and Romain Dumas. Ryan Briscoe (No. 551 Alpina Watches/Siemens/Ohiya Casino Resort HPD ARX-03b) led the P2 class on Wednesday with a lap of 1:12.770 (125.656 mph). Dirk Muller, currently second in the GT championship, led the class on Wednesday with a lap of 1:19.299 (115.310 mph) in the No. 56 BMW Team RLL Crowne Plaza BMW Z4 GTE co-driven by Bill Auberlen and John Edwards. Leading the Prototype Challenge presented by Continental Tire (PC) class was the No. 25 8Star Motorsports ORECA FLM09 of Shawn Rayhall, 1:16.131 (120.109 mph). Jeroen Bleekemolen led the GT Challenge class with a lap of 1:24.780 (107.856 mph) in the No. 22 WeatherTech Porsche 911 GT3 Cup. Official practice gets underway on Thursday, with the first of three sessions beginning at 10:45 a.m. ET. There also is an afternoon session at 2:45 p.m., followed by two-hour night practice starting at 7 p.m. Final practice and qualifying is set for Friday, with the event taking the green flag at 11:30 a.m. Saturday. The 1,000-mile (394-lap) or 10-hour Petit Le Mans will be televised live on FOX Sports 2 beginning at 11 a.m. ET on Saturday. Coverage throughout the day alternates between FOX Sports 2 and FOX Sports 1, including a live segment from 6:30-8 p.m. on FOX Sports 1. There will also be an encore presentation the following day on FOX Sports 1, beginning at 4 p.m. ET. Live coverage of the entire event will be available on FOX Sports’ new mobile application, FOX Sports Go.