Edwards takes charge to win

Carl Edwards passed Jason Leffler with 48 laps left Saturday night and cruised to victory in the NASCAR Nationwide Series Missouri-Illinois Dodge Dealers 250 Saturday night at Madison, Ill.

It was Edwards’ second win at Gateway International Raceway in three years and it came in front of a mostly hometown crowd. Edwards grew up in Columbia, Mo., about a two-hour drive from the track.

Joey Logano, the 18-year-old racer in only his fifth race, finished second after starting fourth. Jason Kelley was third, followed by Leffler and London Cassill.

Edwards, driving a Ford, earned his second victory on the Nationwide circuit in 22 starts. He has nine top five finishes and 11 in the top 10. Edwards took advantage of the sixth caution in the 200-lap race. He got four tires and filled his tank, coming out of the pits third. He quickly overtook Leffler and James Buescher.

That final caution, caused when David Reutimann got underneath the back of Brad Keselowski, provided one of several pauses during the choppy race.

Cassill started a five-car accident that brought out a red flag with 84 laps left. He sent Scott Wimmer into the wall with a tap to the driver’s side back bumper, causing a chain reaction that knocked out Wimmer, Mike Bliss, last year’s winner Reed Sorenson and Steve Wallace.

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Kyle Busch came up five spots short in his bid to make NASCAR history, and Johnny Benson took advantage, holding off Michael Annett to win the Built Ford Tough 225 at Kentucky Speedway in Sparta.

Busch was attempting to become the first driver to win in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series, Nationwide Series and Craftsman Truck Series in successive starts. He won the Nationwide Series’ Dollar General 300 on July 11 and the Sprint Cup’s Lifelock.com 400 the following night.

The early portion of the race featured a number of yellow flags, and nine of the first 24 laps were run under caution. There were eight cautions overall, slowing drivers for 36 laps. There was also a 10 1/2 -minute stoppage for track repairs following a red flag.

Benson took the lead in the truck series points race by one over third-place finisher Matt Crafton. Previous points leader Ron Hornaday finished 10th, dropping him to third in the standings.

The race marked the debut for NFL wide receiver Randy Moss as a truck owner. Willie Allen drove the No. 81 Rascal Flatts Chevrolet for the newly formed Randy Moss Motorsports team and finished 15th.

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McLaren’s Lewis Hamilton edged Felipe Massa of Ferrari to win the pole position for today’s Formula One German Grand Prix at Hockenheim.

Hamilton topped Massa on his final lap to start first on the grid for the third time this season. Heikki Kovalainen of McLaren will lead the second row, with Jarno Trulli of Toyota in fourth, ahead of Renault’s Fernando Alonso.

Hamilton leads a three-way tie at the top of Formula One’s championship, ahead of Ferrari’s Massa and Kimi Raikkonen, who starts sixth. All three drivers have 48 points, two better than Robert Kubica of BMW Sauber, who will start seventh.

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It was a big day for Penske Racing at Lexington, Ohio, with Helio Castroneves and new teammate Ryan Briscoe taking the top two spots in qualifying for today’s Indy Racing League Honda 200.

It is the first front row sweep for Penske since Castroneves won the pole and then-teammate Sam Hornish Jr. took the outside spot at Kentucky Speedway in 2006.

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Nick Joanides started from the front row and led from start to finish in winning the NASCAR Auto Club Late Model division 40-lap feature race at Toyota Speedway in Irwindale.

It was his third win in the last four races, tying him for the division lead.