Hornaday cruises to victory

Ron Hornaday Jr. took the lead on a restart with 42 laps to go and was out front most of the way en route to a victory Saturday in the Craftsman Truck Series race at New Hampshire Motor Speedway in Loudon.

Hornaday raced to his series-high fifth victory of the season, holding off a late charge by points leader Johnny Benson to win his second straight race. Hornaday had the truck to beat all day in the 200-lap race, never faltered on his restarts and cruised to victory even as the race was marred late by cautions.

Hornaday, who has a record 38 career truck victories, said earlier this week that he used a testosterone cream during 2004 and 2005 to treat a medical issue. NASCAR met with the reigning series champion Friday and found no reason to punish Hornaday for the admission.

Benson was tight on Hornaday’s bumper over the final few laps, but couldn’t get his No. 23 Toyota past the winner’s Chevrolet.

Benson’s points lead dropped to 74 over Hornaday.

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NASCAR’s Chase for the Championship begins today at New Hampshire Motor Speedway as the series’ top 12 drivers begin their quest for the title.

Today’s lineup was set by points because rain had washed out qualifying, leaving Kyle Busch and Carl Edwards as the top two, followed by Jimmie Johnson and Dale Earnhardt Jr.

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Sebastian Vettel of Toro Rosso will become the youngest Formula One driver to start from the pole position after setting the fastest qualifying session for the Italian Grand Prix at Monza.

The 21-year-old German driver took advantage of the rain-drenched Monza circuit to earn the first pole for him and the team with a lap time of 1 minute, 37.555 seconds.

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Valentino Rossi of Italy won the pole position for today’s inaugural Red Bull Indianapolis GP, ending a streak of seven straight poles for Australia’s Casey Stoner in the MotoGP series.

Rossi turned a lap in 1 minute, 40.776 seconds, or an average of 93.583 mph.