Edwards’ Late Charge Worthy of Busch Victory

Carl Edwards raced to his third NASCAR Busch Series victory of the year Saturday night, passing Martin Truex Jr. with a little more than lap to go in the Meijer 300 at Kentucky Speedway at Sparta, Ky.

Edwards, who won the Nextel Cup event last Sunday at Pocono after missing the rain-delayed Busch Series race in Tennessee, worked his way back to the front of the field after dropping to ninth with a four-tire stop with 31 laps left.

Edwards led 150 of 200 laps in his Roush Racing Ford on the 1 1/2 -mile oval, finishing 0.69 of a second ahead of Truex’s Chevrolet. Edwards, who won a Craftsman Truck series race at Kentucky Speedway in 2003, also has won Busch Series races this season at Atlanta and Richmond. He and Truex are the only three-time series winners this year.

Edwards’ average speed was 117.097 mph.

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Dennis Setzer raced to his first NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series victory of the season, winning under caution after Ted Musgrave blew an engine while running second with less than two laps to go.

Setzer took the white flag for the final lap before NASCAR officials threw the caution flag for Musgrave in the Paramount Health Insurance 200 on the two-mile Michigan International Speedway in Brooklyn, Mich.

Nextel Cup regular Kyle Busch, the pole winner, finished second, and Bobby Hamilton was third to take the series season points lead from Musgrave.

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It took Ryan Newman just over 37 seconds to grab his fifth pole of the season and first at Michigan International Speedway for today’s Nextel Cup Batman Begins 400.

Newman turned a lap of 194.232 mph on the two-mile, high-banked oval. Series points leader Jimmie Johnson was 16th at 192.313.

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For the first time in the six years the Formula One U.S. Grand Prix has run at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, there will be no Ferrari driver on the starting front row.

Three-time winner Michael Schumacher qualified fifth and teammate Rubens Barrichello qualified seventh.

Jarno Trulli, with a time of 1 minute, 10.625 seconds in a Toyota around the road course, has the pole. Kimi Raikkonen in a McLaren was second with a time of 1:10.694.

Ralf Schumacher, who crashed Friday during a practice session, wasn’t medically cleared to race. His crash was attributed to tire failure, and officials at Michelin were trying to ship a fresh batch of tires from its France warehouse to Indianapolis.

Under Formula One rules, drivers must use the same tires for qualifying and the race. The Renault team, citing the safety of its drivers, said it would not race today if Michelin was denied permission to use new tires.

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Justin Wilson will start from the pole for the first time in the Champ Car Grand Prix of Portland, Ore., with the other front-row spot going belatedly to teammate A.J. Allmendinger after a power outage prompted a challenge over qualifying results.

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Larry Dixon led top fuel qualifying in the K&N; Filters Supernationals at Old Bridge Township Raceway Park in Englishtown, N.J., with a quarter-mile run of 4.482 seconds at a track-record 332.26 mph.

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Tom Kristensen of Denmark set out for a record seventh victory in the 24-hour endurance race at Le Mans, France, helped by a minor crash and gearbox troubles that slowed his competitors.