BRISTOL, Tenn. — Kyle Busch saved his season Saturday night by winning a gutsy side-by-side sprint to the finish against Mark Martin in the Sharpie 500 at Bristol Motor Speedway.
Fighting hard for a berth in the Chase for the championship, Busch drove a steady and smooth race at one of the toughest tracks in NASCAR to climb off the ropes and keep his title hopes alive. His fourth win of the season — tied with Martin for most in the Sprint Cup Series — jumped him two spots in the standings to 13th.
With two races to go before the 12-driver field is set, Busch trails 12th-place driver Matt Kenseth by just 34 points.
Busch was silent for a few seconds before celebrating with a smokey burnout on the frontstretch and his traditional bow to the crowd. He then grabbed the checkered flag from a NASCAR official, but gave it to a fan through a hole in the fence.
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"I hope this just isn't a fluke to get in the Chase," he said in Victory Lane. "We need to run well at Atlanta and Richmond."
Martin, the pole-sitter, finished second in the 1,000th start of his career. Just like Busch, he improved his Chase chances and moved up two spots to 10th.
But he could have moved Busch out of his way several times over the final 50 laps, including the dramatic four-lap sprint to the finish.
Instead, he raced him clean and defended his decision not to use his bumper on Busch.
"Anyone who thinks I was soft out there on the race track wasn't watching," Martin said. "I raced my guts out."
Martin led for 240 of the 500 laps; Busch praised Martin afterward.
"Mark Martin, what a class act. He deserved to win this race," Busch said. "I'm sorry he got second. I know how he feels. But man, I drove as hard as I could. He had a chance, could have done it. He raced me clean."
Marcos Ambrose was third. Greg Biffle and Denny Hamlin rounded out the top five. Hamlin came back from an early tire issue to grab his top-five finish.
Ryan Newman was sixth, followed by Kurt Busch, Jimmie Johnson, Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Kenseth.
Franchitti wins IRL pole
SONOMA, Calif. — Dario Franchitti spent extra time in the pits preparing his car for the final session of qualifying. Then, the 2007 IRL champion went into the dirt midway through his run because of trouble downshifting.
Somehow, Franchitti's tires quickly came clean and he overcame the gearbox problems Saturday to capture the pole for the Sonoma Grand Prix.
"I've been off in the dirt there a few times in my life," said Franchitti, of Target Chip Ganassi Racing. "It came back pretty quickly. That was good."
That same uphill turn — a tricky 3A on the 12-turn, 2.303-mile road course at Infineon Raceway — was the site of a frightening crash earlier during practice. Will Power, the third driver for Team Penske, broke two vertebrae in his lower back and sustained a concussion after crashing into Nelson Philippe of Conquest Racing.
Philippe also sustained a concussion along with an open fracture to his left foot that required surgery. Both were hospitalized overnight.
Franchitti turned in a lap of 76.7987 seconds, narrowly beating out Ryan Briscoe for his fourth pole of the season heading into today's 75-lap race.
Defending champion Helio Castroneves, the reigning Indianapolis 500 winner of Team Penske, will start in the second row along with Marco Andretti, followed by Hideki Mutoh and Graham Rahal in the third row.
McLaren 1-2 in F1 qualifying
VALENCIA, Spain — Lewis Hamilton took the pole position for the European Grand Prix on Saturday to lead a McLaren 1-2 in qualifying.
Hamilton had a best lap of 1 minute 39.498 seconds around the Valencia street circuit to give the defending Formula One champion his first pole of the season. Teammate Heikki Kovalainen will start today's race from second spot.
