Major Martin: Truex holds off Harvick to win Southern 500
Martin Truex Jr. has already won two of NASCAR’s most coveted races. Now, he’s seeking a much bigger honor.
Truex led the final 28 laps and held off the Kevin Harvick’s powerhouse car to win the Southern 500 in Darlington, South Carolina, closing the summer season with a second of Sprint Cup’s “crown jewel” races on Labor Day weekend. He began things by winning at Charlotte Motor Speedway on Memorial Day weekend.
Truex patiently stayed in the top 10 throughout and pounced when the opportunity struck, moving past leader Ryan Newman and never surrendering the top spot.
It was Truex’s sixth fifth NASCAR win and first in 11 career Darlington races.
IndyCar
Scott Dixon won the IndyCar Grand Prix at the Glen on Sunday at Watkins Glen International in New York.
It’s his 40th victory overall, moving the New Zealander him fourth place on the career list. He also won for the second time this season, and fourth time at The Glen.
Josef Newgarden was second, followed by Helio Castroneves, Conor Daly, and Sebastien Bourdais fifth.
Simon Pagenaud finished seventh and increased his lead over Will Power to 43 points standings with one race remaining in the season. Power crashed just past the midpoint of the race and finished 20th.
Formula One
Nico Rosberg won the Italian Grand Prix in Monza, Italy, virtually unchallenged after Mercedes teammate Lewis Hamilton wasted pole position with a poor start.
Hamilton got off the line at the same time as the other cars but immediately fell behind, dropping to sixth before the first corner.
Rosberg cut Hamilton’s championship lead to two points with seven races remaining.
Hamilton climbed his way back to finish second.
Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel and Kimi Raikkonen crossed third and fourth, respectively.
NHRA
Courtney Force won the Funny Car portion of the NHRA Traxxas Nitro Shootout and Matt Hagan topped qualifying in the Chevrolet Performance U.S. Nationals at Lucas Oil Raceway in Brownsburg, Indiana
Force sprinted to a $100,000 payday in her Chevy Camaro SS, powering to a 4.018-second pass at 266.04 mph to beat teammate Robert Hight in the final round of the specialty event.
Truck Series
John Nemechek raced Cole Custer door-to-door through the grass as their trucks barreled to the finish line at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park in Bowmanville, Ontario. The rough racing to the checkered flag required a lengthy review by NASCAR before Nemechek was declared the winner.