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Wheldon Is Caught at Finish

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From the Associated Press

Helio Castroneves scaled the fence for the third time this season, stealing a victory Saturday night from Dan Wheldon at Texas Motor Speedway in Fort Worth.

Castroneves, nicknamed “Spider-Man” for his fence-climbing victory celebrations, grabbed the lead during a series of green flag pit stops late in the race. Then the Marlboro Team Penske star easily held off one final challenge from Wheldon teammate Scott Dixon on the last lap.

With only two caution flags and no crashes, the clean race was the third-fastest in Indy Racing League history with a winning average of 185.7 mph.

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Wheldon, the defending IRL IndyCar champion, had the lead for 171 of the 200 laps.

It was a dominant but fruitless performance with a familiar ring for the Englishman, who led 148 of 200 laps in last month’s Indianapolis 500 before a tire puncture cost him the win.

For Wheldon, a slow pit stop only 15 laps from the end cost him a shot at the victory.

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Carl Edwards won the Federated Auto Parts 300 at Nashville Superspeedway in Gladville, Tenn.

Edwards dominated the Busch Series race, unofficially leading 70 of the last 85 laps, and beat Clint Bowyer to the finish by 0.920 of a second. Kevin Harvick was third.

Paul Menard, the highest-finishing non-Nextel Cup regular, completed the top five.

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World champion Fernando Alonso won his fourth consecutive pole position with a blistering lap during qualifications at the British Grand Prix in Silverstone, England.

Alonso was timed in 1 minute 20.253 seconds on the 3.2-mile Silverstone circuit in qualifying for today’s race.

Kimi Raikkonen was second in 1:20.397, and Michael Schumacher was third in 1:20.574.

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