Harvick Hits Pits, Comes Out on Top

Kevin Harvick took the lead following a yellow flag pit stop and dominated the rest of the way to win the inaugural Outback Steakhouse 300 Saturday night at Kentucky Speedway in Sparta, Ky.

Harvick, the only driver in modern NASCAR history to attempt to compete in every Winston Cup and Busch Series event in a single season, picked up his second Busch victory before hopping a flight to Long Pond, Pa., to race in today’s Pocono 500.

The race was red-flagged with 17 laps remaining when Travis Kvapil’s No. 21 Rockwell Automation Chevrolet collided with Rich Bickle on the back straightaway, flipped and slid about 100 yards on its top into the middle of Turn 3.

Greg Biffle stayed close over the final 12 laps but was not able to catch Harvick, who earned $82,000 of the $1.15 million purse.

Defending champion Audi overcame a shaky start and heavy rain to take control of the Le Mans 24 Hours race, holding the first three positions after five hours at Le Mans, France.

Bentley, making a comeback to the grueling endurance race after a 50-year absence, received a setback when one of its two cars was forced to retire after 56 laps.

Bidding for a second consecutive victory, Tom Kristensen of Denmark--who shares the leading Audi with Frank Biela of Germany and Emanuele Pirro of Italy--held a one-lap advantage after 63 laps.

The Audi team of Rinaldo Capello and Christian Pescatori of Italy and Laurent Aiello of France--who started in the pole position--was in second place.

Britain’s Johnny Herbert--sharing a private Audi with Germany’s Ralf Kelleners and Belgium’s Didier Theys--was 2 minutes, 31.473 seconds slower as rain lashed the 8.456-mile circuit.

The German carmaker swept the top three places in last year’s race and is the favorite to win this year after claiming the top three spots during qualifying. Kristensen, Biela and Pirro won the race in 2000.

Spiderman is back in Detroit, but there’s no wall-climbing, yet--just some fist-pumping in celebration of his third pole of the season.

Helio Castroneves, the Indianapolis 500 winner whose post-victory rites include leaping from his Marlboro Team Penske race car and climbing the nearest fence, was characteristically excited after taking the top qualifying spot for today’s Detroit Grand Prix.

Greg Ray added to his IRL record, capturing his 12th career pole position in qualifying for today’s Radisson 200 at Pikes Peak International Raceway in Fountain, Colo.