Auto Racing
Harvick snatches defeat from Montoya on the restart
RICHMOND, Va. – Kevin Harvick won Saturday night’s race at Richmond International Raceway by plowing through traffic on a two-lap sprint to the finish.
Juan Pablo Montoya was trying to hold off Harvick for his first win since 2010 when the caution came out with four laps remaining. It sent the race into two laps of overtime, and most of the field gave up track position to pit for tires.
Montoya came off pit road in sixth, and Harvick was seventh for the restart. But Harvick rocketed through the field to snatch away victory.
Clint Bowyer was second, Joey Logano third, and Montoya settled for fourth.
Tony Stewart restarted in fifth, but was bumped out of the way by Kurt Busch and wound up 18th.
Just to be safe, Toyota pulls three of Bowyer’s engines
RICHMOND, Va. – Toyota pulled three engines from Michael Waltrip Racing as a precautionary move after NASCAR found an illegal part in Matt Kenseth’s engine.
All three engines recalled were earmarked for Clint Bowyer. One was his engine for Saturday night’s race at Richmond. The other two were the primary and backup engines for Talladega.
Toyota Racing Development vice president Dave Wilson tells The Associated Press the three engines had a connecting rod inside that was too close to NASCAR’s minimum weight requirement.
Wilson says TRD officials did a thorough inspection of every connecting rod in inventory after NASCAR found one of the eight rods in Kenseth’s race-winning car from Kansas was too light. The review spurred TRD to take Bowyer’s engines as a precautionary measure.
Scott challenges Piquet Jr., then 2 of the crew arrested
RICHMOND, Va. – Nelson Piquet Jr. was involved in a postrace altercation that led to the arrest of two crew members for Richard Childress Racing, his team said Saturday.
Piquet and RCR driver Brian Scott tangled on the track during Friday night’s Nationwide Series race and in the pits after. Crews for both drivers confronted each other when Scott went over to Piquet’s car, and Piquet shoved him and then kicked Scott in the groin.
Henrico County police said there was a fight in the motorhome lot that led to the arrests of two crew members. Michael Searce was arrested on two charges of misdemeanor assault, and Thomas Costello was arrested on one count of misdemeanor assault. They were released early Saturday.
Cycling
Froome and Spilak play 1-2 in Switzerland’s snow
LES DIABLERETS, Switzerland – Chris Froome of Britain extended his Tour de Romandie lead Saturday, powering up a rain-hit final climb in the main mountain stage to finish on the wheel of winner Simon Spilak.
The Slovak covered the snow-shortened 115-mile route to Les Diablerets ski station in 5 hours, 10 minutes. Froome clocked the same time in the next-to-last stage.
Froome leads Spilak by 47 seconds overall.
Snow forced organizers to cut a scheduled second climb of Col de la Croix from the stage.
The final stage Sunday is an 11-mile time trial on lakeside roads in Geneva.
Cycling Ireland thinks better of McQuaid’s nomination
LONDON – Pat McQuaid’s bid for a third term as head of cycling’s governing body is in doubt, with his role in the Lance Armstrong scandal under scrutiny.
The Irishman secured the nomination of his national cycling organization two weeks ago on the condition he overhauls the International Cycling Union after revelations of Armstrong’s doping program to win seven Tour de France titles.
But Cycling Ireland withdrew its endorsement Friday and called an emergency meeting. Company secretary Geoff Liffey said the meeting will “consider matters which have arisen following the decision” to nominate McQuaid.
Associated Press
