“We’ve gone through seven races, and you can throw a blanket over the three of us,” said Kevin Harvick after the race at Talladega Superspeedway on Sunday.
Harvick finished second behind Clint Bowyer at Talladega and now sits third in the Sprint Cup, 38 points behind Jimmie Johnson, who leads the championship, and 24 points behind Denny Hamlin, who is second.
It is the closest points separation in the seven-year history of the Chase.
“I think it’s going to be a small margin all the way to the end,” said Johnson, who finished seventh in Talladega.
More important, he stayed out of trouble in a race that saw 87 lead changes and a major crash at the white flag, signaling the final lap.
“It’s really going to just come down to dotting the i’s, crossing the t’s, keeping that performance level where it needs to be,” Harvick said. (The Associated Press)
Nascar: Gordon to Be Sponsored by AARP
Jeff Gordon, the four-time Nascar champion, has picked up AARP to sponsor 22 races over the next two years. The sponsorship will be from the AARP’s Drive to End Hunger campaign — marking the first time a cause has sponsored a top Nascar team. Gordon’s current primary sponsor, Dupont, is cutting back its commitments. (The New York Times)
MotoGP: Lorenzo Passes Rossi to Win in Estoril
Jorge Lorenzo of Yamaha won the Estoril Grand Prix in Portugal on Sunday. It was his third win at Estoril in as many races. The main battle in the race was between Lorenzo, who had already clinched the championship, and his teammate, Valentino Rossi. Rossi held a two-second lead at one point, but Lorenzo eventually passed him.
“Valentino overtook me and got away from me for a while, but I stayed calm and began reeling him in bit by bit,” said Lorenzo.
“On the dry surface I lacked some speed and I couldn’t keep up with Jorge,” conceded Rossi, who will switch to Ducati next season. (Agence France-Presse)
Formula One: Raikkonen Rules Out Return in 2011
“We’re no longer looking at opportunities in F1. Kimi seems to be focused on rallying at the moment,” said Steve Robertson, part of Kimi Raikkonen’s management team. Raikkonen, the 2007 Formula One champion, switched this year to the World Rally Championship and is 10th in the series. Robertson said that Raikkonen had yet to sign a W.R.C. contract for 2011, but was “talking to several teams.” (Autosport).
N.H.R.A.: Season Will Come Down to Final Race
The National Hot Rod Association season will come down to the last race next week in Pomona, Calif. That’s because no titles were clinched last weekend in Las Vegas.
John Force, who is going for his record 15th Funny Car title, pulled to within 37 points of the leader, Matt Hagan, after winning in Las Vegas. Tony Schumacher kept his championship hopes alive by winning the Top Fuel class. And Greg Anderson won in Pro Stock.
Anderson’s win was especially meaningful because it was the first race that his team’s owner, Ken Black, had been able to attend since he had a stroke in December.
“I couldn’t have drawn up a better script for this weekend,” Anderson said. “This is the best thing that ever happened to me at a racetrack. It was like fate.” (Las Vegas Review-Journal)
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