Elliott Sadler gets his first victory at Darlington with Xfinity Series win

Dale Earnhardt Jr. surely needed a break from his unsettled future in racing. Elliott Sadler provided the perfect distraction Saturday with his Xfinity Series win at Darlington Raceway.

Sadler, who drives for Earnhardt’s JR Motorsports, held off Denny Hamlin over the final two laps to win at the track “Too Tough To Time” for the first time since first lining up here in 1996. It was also a joyous finish that Sadler and his team knew would please the boss, who announced Friday that his season behind the wheel was done because of concussion-like symptoms.

It wasn’t long after reaching victory lane that Earnhardt called Sadler with congratulations.

“To hear him talking on the telephone today, it’s neat to hear the excitement in his voice,” Sadler said. “It gives him something to cheer about when he’s had so much bad news. This has got to be good for him.”

Earnhardt, who’ll come to the race track Sunday to talk about his recovery, Tweeted his happiness at Sadler’s win. “I’m so proud of (at)Elliott—Sadler and (at)JRMotorsports!!!!! A win (at)TooToughToTame is so hard to accomplish,” Earnhardt posted.

Sadler was second in this event in 2013 and 2014, trailing Sprint Cup star Kyle Busch both times. In this one, Busch’s Joe Gibbs Racing teammate, Hamlin, made a late charge and nosed in front two laps from the end.

But Sadler held strong through the final turns and crossed in front to earn the checkered flag at Darlington for the first time in 32 career starts — 18 in Sprint Cup, 13 in Xfinity and one in the truck series.

“I’ve been wanting to win here for a long time,” Sadler crowed after.

Hamlin ended second after leading 47 of 147 laps. Daniel Suarez was third and Kyle Larson, last week’s Sprint Cup winner at Michigan, was fourth.

Sadler, the series points leader, took the lead from Hamlin with 35 laps to go. He had opened a wide gap on the field until Hamlin, who’s won four Xfinity races at Darlington, steadily ran him down.

It looked like Hamlin would send Sadler to another second at Darlington as Sadler bobbled near the wall with two laps left and Hamlin ducked underneath and nosed ahead.

But Sadler, who led a race-high 75 laps, found the power to keep in front.

Dixon takes IndyCar pole

Scott Dixon won the IndyCar pole at Watkins Glen International on Saturday for the Grand Prix at The Glen in a penalty-filled affair.

Fastest in all three practices, Dixon topped the Fast Six with a track-record time of 1 minute 22.5259 seconds at 147.008 mph. It was Dixon’s second pole of the season and 25th of his career, tying him with Paul Tracy for 11th all-time.

Will Power, second in points to Team Penske teammate Simon Pagenaud, will start second, followed by Sebastien Bourdais, Helio Castroneves, Tony Kanaan, and Max Chilton.

Pagenaud failed to make the final six for the first time this season and will start seventh. He leads Power by 28 points with two races left in the season.

Hamilton edges Rosberg for F1 pole

Lewis Hamilton took the all-important pole position for the Italian Grand Prix on Saturday, beating Mercedes teammate Nico Rosberg’s time by nearly half a second in a commanding performance.

Since 2000, the pole sitter has won 13 of 16 races in Monza and each of the past six years — with Hamilton himself taking three of those victories.

That means the pole has been more important in Italy recently than Monaco, where the top qualifier has won only 11 of the last 17 years.

Featuring long straights and the highest speeds in F1 — up to 220 mph — there’s plenty of space to overtake but aerodynamics make it a challenge.