Carl Edwards wins first Sprint Cup race of the season at Bristol Speedway

Carl Edwards avoided tire issues that hampered his teammates and took off on the final restart to win the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race Sunday at Bristol Motor Speedway.

Starting on the pole for the second straight week, Edwards led 276 of 500 laps in Joe Gibbs Racing’s No. 19 Toyota en route to his first victory of the season and fourth on the half-mile oval. Dale Earnhardt Jr. was second, followed by Kurt Busch, Chase Elliott and Trevor Bayne.

Edwards’ flawless day contrasted the right-front tire problems endured by teammates Kyle Busch, Matt Kenseth and Denny Hamlin after all of them started in the top five.

Busch, the defending series champion and points leader, had trouble throughout the race. He exited after his car smacked the wall on Lap 259 and sustained heavy damage, failing to finish a race for the first time since June at Michigan.

Formula One: Nico Rosberg wins Chinese Grand Prix for his sixth straight victory

Nico Rosberg of Mercedes captured the Chinese Grand Prix with ease on Sunday to extend his perfect start to the Formula One season and become just the fourth driver in history to win six straight races.

Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel, who collided with teammate Kimi Raikkonen at the first corner, finished second, 37.7 seconds behind Rosberg, while Red Bull’s Daniil Kvyat used an aggressive race strategy to take third — only the second podium of the 21-year-old’s career.

Rosberg started on pole position and led nearly the entire race by a wide margin to win his third race to start this season and his sixth consecutive dating back to last year.

Every driver who has started an F1 season with three straight wins went on to win the title that year.

“It was a great weekend here for me in China. It’s a special place for me — first pole, first win here (in 2012),” Rosberg said. “I was just pushing to try to get the best gap possible. I’m glad that it worked out so well.”