Brad Keselowski

Brad Keselowski held off points leader Kyle Busch on the final lap to win the Kroger On Track For the Cure 250 in a green-white-checker finish in Saturday's Nationwide Series race. Keselowski was leading at Memphis Motorsports Park in Tennessee when a caution came out with two laps to go because Stephen Wallace spun after tangling with Matt Kenseth. Wallace banged into Kenseth's car after the race and the two had words on pit road. Keselowski held on to the lead through the overtime segment.

Brad Keselowski got a huge push from Kyle Busch to take the lead with a lap to go Sunday, then used a calculated move to prevent Busch from taking the win away from him at Talladega (Ala.) Superspeedway. A nine-car accident with four laps remaining brought out the yellow flag, setting up a two-lap overtime sprint to the finish. Keselowski ended up in Victory Lane for the second time this season, and continued a hot streak for team owner Roger Penske , who won for the first time in the Sprint Cup Series at Talladega.

Brad Keselowski got a huge push from Kyle Busch to take the lead with a lap to go Sunday, then used a calculated move to prevent Busch from taking the win away from him at Talladega (Ala.) Superspeedway. A nine-car accident with four laps remaining brought out the yellow flag, setting up a two-lap overtime sprint to the finish. Keselowski ended up in Victory Lane for the second time this season, and continued a hot streak for team owner Roger Penske , who won for the first time in the Sprint Cup Series at Talladega.

Joey Logano won the NASCAR Nationwide Series race Saturday at Auto Club Speedway in Fontana, giving team owner Joe Gibbs a remarkable eight consecutive Nationwide wins at the two-mile track. "Just really exited for all of our guys," said Gibbs, the Hall of Fame NFL coach who led Logano's crew in prayer on pit road moments after Logano crossed the finish line. "That was awesome," Logano said, adding that his No. 18 Toyota "was the class of the field all day. " Reigning Nationwide champion Ricky Stenhouse Jr.finished second, Brad Keselowski was third and Brian Scott finished fourth.

Marcos Ambrose missed his daughter's first day of school. She probably won't mind. The snakebit Ambrose, deprived more than once of a NASCAR victory, beat Brad Keselowski and Kyle Busch on a two-lap dash to the checkered flag Monday to win the rain-delayed Sprint Cup race at Watkins Glen International in upstate New York. It was his first victory in 105 starts in NASCAR's top series and atoned for a slip-up a year ago on the road course at Sonoma, Calif., when he stalled his car under caution while leading with six laps to go and finished sixth.

The idea seemed simple enough: NASCAR would let its drivers race a bit more aggressively and give the fans a better show. But thanks to Carl Edwards, Brad Keselowski and some unexpected physics, that idea has become a lot more muddled. NASCAR on Tuesday put Edwards on probation for the next three races but did not suspend the Sprint Cup Series driver for an apparent payback bump that sent Keselowski's car airborne at Atlanta Motor Speedway on Sunday. How NASCAR chose to penalize Edwards was watched closely, because NASCAR said in January that it would ease rules to promote more exciting racing.

As Carl Edwards' car soared toward the grandstand fence -- after flipping on the track, skidding on its roof, then lifting into the air at Talladega Superspeedway -- Edwards just hoped he'd survive, that his roof wouldn't hit the fence and the roll cage meant to protect him wouldn't crush his neck. Metal pieces flew off the car, the fence lurched toward the stands as all 3,400 pounds hit and a fire ignited inside. Debris spewed into the stands -- injuring seven fans -- then the No.

Clint Bowyer raced to his second Nationwide Series victory of the season on Saturday, taking the lead with 83 laps to go on the concrete at Dover (Del.) International Speedway. His celebration was ignored as all attention turned to a brief but heated confrontation on pit road between Denny Hamlin and Brad Keselowski. They made contact late in the race, sending Hamlin to the garage. Keselowski finished third and was greeted when he got out of his car by an angry Hamlin. They exchanged words, and Hamlin shoved Keselowski.

Reporting from Avondale, Ariz.-- NASCAR 's Penske Racing said Thursday it's switching back to Ford race cars from Dodge next season, a move that would leave Dodge without a major team in the elite Sprint Cup Series. Team owner Roger Penske, whose two Cup drivers are Brad Keselowski andA.J. Allmendinger, also said his team would shift to Ford in NASCAR's second-tier Nationwide Series in 2013. Penske had been with Dodge for the last decade but, with its contract expiring after this season, the team chose Ford to keep pace with the likes of Ford powerhouse Roush Fenway Racing, Penske said.

Joey Logano won the NASCAR Nationwide Series race Saturday at Auto Club Speedway in Fontana, giving team owner Joe Gibbs a remarkable eight consecutive Nationwide wins at the two-mile track. "Just really exited for all of our guys," said Gibbs, the Hall of Fame NFL coach who led Logano's crew in prayer on pit road moments after Logano crossed the finish line. "That was awesome," Logano said, adding that his No. 18 Toyota "was the class of the field all day. " Reigning Nationwide champion Ricky Stenhouse Jr.finished second, Brad Keselowski was third and Brian Scott finished fourth.

NASCAR returns to Southern California this weekend with a streak of parity among its winning drivers this season. Different Sprint Cup drivers have won the series' first four races as the sport makes its annual visit to Auto Club Speedway, a sweeping two-mile oval in Fontana. Matt Kenseth won this year's Daytona 500, Denny Hamlin won in Phoenix, reigning Cup champion Tony Stewart won the Las Vegas race and Brad Keselowski won in Bristol, Tenn. And Sunday's Auto Club 400 could yield a fifth winner because five-time Cup champion Jimmie Johnson is a perennial favorite in Fontana.

Reporting from Avondale, Ariz. NASCAR's Denny Hamlin is off to a fast start in this year's title chase thanks to his victory in Phoenix, but other early trends are developing as well. Here are some story lines to take away from Sunday's race at Phoenix International Raceway as the Sprint Cup Series heads to the 1.5-mile Las Vegas Motor Speedway next weekend. -- Joe Gibbs Racing is strong out of the gate after a disappointing 2011 . Not only did Hamlin earn his first victory at Phoenix, he climbed atop the early Cup standings.

Reporting from Avondale, Ariz.-- NASCAR 's Penske Racing said Thursday it's switching back to Ford race cars from Dodge next season, a move that would leave Dodge without a major team in the elite Sprint Cup Series. Team owner Roger Penske, whose two Cup drivers are Brad Keselowski andA.J. Allmendinger, also said his team would shift to Ford in NASCAR's second-tier Nationwide Series in 2013. Penske had been with Dodge for the last decade but, with its contract expiring after this season, the team chose Ford to keep pace with the likes of Ford powerhouse Roush Fenway Racing, Penske said.

Reporting from Daytona Beach, Fla. -- James Buescher avoided the third major crash of the race on the final lap and won the NASCAR Nationwide Series race Saturday at Daytona International Speedway. "They all piled up in front of me, and we made it through," Buescher said after the Drive4COPD 300. "It's hard to describe the feeling when you make it through the wreck and you're the only guy. " Buescher, 31, maneuvered his No. 30 Chevrolet through an 11-car wreck in Turn 4 that knocked out the lead cars and opened the door for him to claim his first NASCAR Nationwide Series win. "It's hard to put into words," said Buescher, who is running a partial schedule and is ineligible for series points.

Reporting from Avondale, Ariz. Former IndyCar champion Sam Hornish Jr. finally captured his first NASCAR stock car race Saturday by winning the Nationwide Series race at Phoenix International Raceway. Hornish switched to NASCAR after winning the IndyCar title three times and the Indianapolis 500 in 2006. He has mostly struggled since then, first in NASCAR's top-tier Sprint Cup Series and then in its second-level Nationwide Series. But the Ohioan qualified his Penske Racing Dodge fifth in the Wypall 200 on Saturday, took the lead with about 60 laps remaining and stayed in front on several restarts following crashes behind him. "I can't hardly believe it," Hornish said as he briefly choked up with emotion.

The United States' gold-medal drought in men's basketball at the Pan American Games will last at least another four years after a 71-55 loss to Mexico in the semifinals Saturday at Guadalajara. The U.S. has not won Pan American gold since 1983. Mexico last won a medal in basketball in 1991 — a silver — and is guaranteed of at least second place. Jovan Harris led Mexico with 15 points, while Lorenzo Mata added 12 and Paul Stoll scored eight. Harris and Stoll were born in the U.S. but carry Mexican nationality.

Carl Edwards drove to a dominant win in the NASCAR Nationwide Series race Saturday at Phoenix International Raceway in a Ford that Edwards declared "the best race car I've ever had. " Danica Patrick, meanwhile, had another rough outing in her part-time NASCAR experiment and finished 32nd in the 43-car field. Edwards, one of the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series regulars who also compete in the second-level Nationwide Series, won by five seconds over Kevin Harvick and led 153 laps of the 200-lap race at the one-mile Phoenix oval.

Kevin Harvick landed a familiar NASCAR sponsor, Budweiser, this season for the car he drives in stock-car racing's premier Sprint Cup Series. But when Harvick sought backing for a separate race team he owns, he searched "outside of that box" of conventional sponsors, he said. The result: TapouT, an apparel brand tied to mixed martial arts, debuted this month as the main sponsor of a Harvick-owned car. "That's a whole different group of fans we're going to cross-promote with," he said of MMA's following.

The Philadelphia Phillies said Ryan Howard has a torn Achilles' tendon, and it is uncertain if he will be ready for spring training. The first baseman was injured on the final play of Philadelphia's season-ending loss to St. Louis in Game 5 of the National League division series Friday night, falling as he ran out of the batter's box on his grounder. The team said an MRI exam Saturday revealed a rupture of the left Achilles' tendon and that Howard will need surgery once the swelling goes down.

Could Delaware be Jimmie Johnson's Waterloo? Johnson is trying to win a record sixth consecutive championship in NASCAR's Sprint Cup Series, but he is in trouble as racing resumes Sunday at Dover International Speedway. After two races in NASCAR's 10-race Chase for the Cup playoff, Johnson is 10th among the 12 Chase drivers, a sizable 29 points behind leader Tony Stewart, a two-time champion who won both races. It's the lowest Johnson has ever been in the Chase standings, and he needs a strong showing at Dover to improve his position because if he doesn't, the El Cajon native nicknamed "Five Time" could end up remaining just that at season's end. "I don't think we're in a position where it's win or nothing," Johnson told reporters at Dover on Friday, but he added that "we need to get a top-three run here.