Wheldon Wins; Patrick Is Fourth

Rookie Danica Patrick has drawn attention as the only woman competing in the Indy Racing League’s IndyCar Series. After her breakthrough performance in the Indy Japan 300 on Saturday, she’ll get more credit for her driving.

Patrick, in a Honda-powered Panoz, led the first 18 laps on the Honda-built 1.5-mile Twin Ring Motegi oval before settling for fourth, easily her best finish of the year.

Dan Wheldon, in a Honda-powered Dallara, successfully defended his title and became the first IndyCar Series driver to win three of a season’s first four races, edging Scott Sharp by 3.4612 seconds.

Buddy Rice was third in front of Patrick, who temporarily fell back to ninth while conserving gas before rallying for fourth. She started from the front row.

Bryan Herta finished fifth, followed by Tony Kannan and pole-sitter Sam Hornish Jr.

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Martin Truex proved he’s just as good at restrictor-plate racing as his boss, winning his second consecutive NASCAR Busch Series race at Talladega Superspeedway in Alabama.

Truex, who drives a car co-owned by Dale Earnhardt Jr., battled back after an early accident damaged his Chevrolet. Then he avoided several other crashes, a flurry of late cautions, and an overtime finish. He jumped out on the restart of the three-lap overtime and pulled away.

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Ted Musgrave dominated the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series’ Dodge Ram Tough 200 from start to finish at Madison, Wis., leading all but two laps en route to a 0.935-second victory over Dennis Setzer. Musgrave, who started his Dodge from the pole after a record qualifying lap, easily held off Setzer on two late restarts.

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Ricky Carmichael won his fourth 250cc AMA Supercross championship for his 12th AMA national title, finishing third behind James Stewart and Chad Reed in front of 43,445 at Reliant Stadium in Houston. Carmichael gave Suzuki its first 250cc AMA title since 1981.

Carmichael recently won the THQ World Supercross GP championship, making him the first rider ever to hold the THQ World Supercross GP and THQ AMA Supercross series titles.

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Pole-sitter Tim Huddleston led wire-to-wire to win the Auto Club Late Models Series race at Irwindale Speedway.

Travis Thirkettle started second and stayed second, finishing 0.702 of a second behind Huddleston in the 50-lap race.

The victory was the second in the season’s five races for Huddleston, who was tied with Brian Kelley for the series lead with 170 points. Kelley finished seventh.