OCTOBER 12, 2016

(Getty Images/NASCAR)
Six-time NASCAR Champion Jimmie Johnson (No. 48 Hendrick Motorsports Lowe's Chevrolet SS) won the the rain-delayed NASCAR Sprint Cup Bank of America 500 at Charlotte Motor Speedway on Sunday. Johnson took the lead from Matt Kenseth (No. 20 Joe Gibbs Racing Dollar General Toyota) after a restart on Lap 317 of 334 and pulled away to win by 1.474 seconds over Kenseth. It was Johnson's third win this season and the 78th of his illustrious NASCAR career. Johnson also is guaranteed berth in the Chase's Round of 8. "That is massive," said Johnson, who led 155 laps in breaking a 24-race winless streak, the longest of his career. "I'm so happy about that. So happy to be in Victory Lane with this guy, with Chad Knaus. We're a brotherhood on this No. 48 team, and just so thankful for the friendship and the hard work. Same thing for everybody at Hendrick Motorsports. We're really going to enjoy this." Johnson's automatic advancement to the next round certainly puts him in position for a chance at a record-tying seventh title. Kasey Kahne (No. 5 Hendrick Motorsports Great Clips Chevrolet SS) finished third. Get more NASCAR info here.

(Getty Images/BBC)
Nico Rosberg (No. 6 AMG Petronas Mercedes) extended his championship lead to 33 points with his win in the 2016 Formula 1 Emirates Japanese Grand Prix on Sunday. Max Verstappen (No. 33 Red Bull Racing TAG Heuer) finished second and Lewis Hamilton (No. 44 AMG Petronas Mercedes) recovered from a horrendous start to finish third. The result gave Mercedes an unassailable lead in the constructors' championship, effectively securing the German manufacturer a third straight crown. Get more F1 info here.

(Formula E)

Sebastien Buemi (No. 9 Renault e.Dams) won the Hong Kong ePrix on Sunday, the opening race of the Formula E season. Lucas di Grassi (No. 11 ABT Schaeffler Audi Sport) finished second and Nick Heidfeld (No. 23 Mahindra Racing) came in third. Buemi, who won the Formula E title last year, delivered a faultless drive as competitors around him encountered issues. Read more here.

(Audi Motorsport)

Lucas di Grassi (No. 11 ABT Schaeffler Audi Sport) finished second after an eventful Formula E season opener in Hong Kong. After a poor effort in qualifying, the Audi factory driver started the race from 19th on the grid. At the start of the race, di Grassi was unable to avoid another competitor’s accident happening in front of him, which forced him to make a first unscheduled pit stop to change a damaged front wing. This dropped di Grassi to the back of the field again. He then used another safety car phase to make the mandatory car change. di Grassi's comeback drive onto the podium was secured by following a strict energy saving driving style around the city track. It was the 14th podium finish in Formula E for the 32-year-old driver. Teammate Daniel Abt (No. 66 ABT Schaeffler Audi Sport) was also involved in a collision at the start, but had to retire his damaged car in the pits. Audi increased its involvement with ABT Schaeffler - the only German team in Formula E - for the third season of the electric racing series and plans to expand its factory motorsport program to include Formula E for the 2017/2018 season. Audi factory driver Loïc Duval (No. 6 Faraday Future Dragon Racing) was 14th. Duval and di Grassi will share an Audi R18 cockpit at the seventh WEC race at Fuji/Japan next weekend.

(Photo by John Dagys/sportscar365)

Alvaro Parente (No. 9 K-PAX Racing/McLaren 650S GT3) captured the Pirelli World Challenge GT championship at Laguna Seca (Mazda Raceway) on Sunday by finishing second, but he was declared the race winner as well after Johnny O’Connell (No. 3 Cadillac Racing/Cadillac ATS-V.R. GT3) was assessed a 2.1-second penalty for "avoidable contact" in turn five with Patrick Long (No. 58 Wright Motorsports/Porsche 911 GT3 R) on the last lap as the two drivers were fighting for the lead of the race. The race ended O'Connell's four-year streak as GT champion as he ended up fifth in the 2016 championship. Michael Cooper (No. 8 Cadillac Racing/Cadillac ATS-V.R. GT3) finished third in the Sunday GT finale and second in the championship. Long finished fourth in the championship.

(Photo by John Dagys/sportscar365)

(racer.com)
Brian Deegan (No. 38 Chip Ganassi Racing Ford Fiesta ST) used a savvy Joker Lap strategy to make the pass on Scott Speed (No. 41 Volkswagen Andretti Rallycross Beetle) to win the season-ending Red Bull Global Rallycross Los Angeles presented by Honda on Sunday, snapping a five-year winless streak. Speed cemented his second consecutive Supercar Driver's Championship by finishing second in the finale. “Last year, we came here and were pretty quick, so I was really looking forward to this race,” Deegan said from the podium. “We needed to make it happen the last race, because the team has done such a good job all year. We just kept missing a little bit, and we felt like we had a win a few times, and it was eating at me. We really just had to get it done!”
(VW)
Scott Speed (No. 41 Volkswagen Andretti Rallycross Beetle) and Tanner Foust (No. 34 Volkswagen Andretti Rallycross Beetle) delivered a big year for Volkswagen and Michael Andretti in the 2016 Red Bull Global Rallycross series. “GRC has given us an incredible series to race in,” Speed commented, who beat teammate Foust for the championship by six points. “The series is growing tremendously, and I just feel so lucky to have had the opportunity to drive for the first time in Brazil three years ago. It feels like just yesterday, but what a ride from that point to where we are now! We’re on the map, we’re a legitimate racing series in this country, and it just feels good to have been part of it from the beginning.”

(Photo by Joe Skibinski/INDYCAR)
Josef Newgarden, shown here with his girlfriend prior to the 2016 Verizon IndyCar Series Championship Celebration, is joining Team Penske for the 2017 season to drive No. 2 Team Penske Chevrolet in the Verizon IndyCar Series. Newgarden, the 2011 Indy Lights champion, spent his entire Verizon IndyCar Series career with Sarah Fisher Hartman Racing and Ed Carpenter Racing following a merger of the two teams in 2015. That 2015 season was a breakout campaign for Newgarden, who won at Barber Motorsports Park and on the streets of Toronto to finish seventh in the championship. This year, the 25-year-old overcame a fractured right clavicle and right hand suffered in a massive crash at Texas Motor Speedway to dominate the Iowa Speedway race - leading 282 of the 300 laps in winning. "When you look at the top talent in the series, both from a driving and commercial perspective, Josef is near the top of the list," said Roger Penske. "We are always looking to build toward the future and, when we had the opportunity to talk with Josef, we knew that he would be a great fit with our program. He is a fantastic driver on the track and will be great with our partners off the track. He is hungry to win more races and win championships and we hope to give him that opportunity as part of our team." Newgarden, from Hendersonville, Tenn., finished the 2016 season with four podiums and 11 top-10 finishes. He has made 83 starts in his five-season career, not missing a race after sustaining the injuries at Texas in June. "For any open-wheel racer - or any race car driver in general - Team Penske is a dream job," Newgarden said. "Roger Penske is a legend in the motorsports community and his team has done just about everything they've ever set out to do. I look forward to working with all of Team Penske's great partners. To get an opportunity to work with Simon, Will and Helio, along with the rest of the team, will just help make me a better driver." Celebrating its 50th anniversary of racing in 2016, Team Penske swept the top three spots in the championship for the first time since 1994, when it accomplished the same feat with Al Unser Jr., Emerson Fittipaldi and Paul Tracy. During the course of the 2016 season, Team Penske earned 10 wins - five for Pagenaud, four for Power and one for Juan Pablo Montoya - 11 poles and 22 podium finishes. The team led 811 of the total 2,070 laps (39 percent) over the course of the season. Montoya is moving on after a successful return to Indy car racing with Penske.