Nascar

In a stunning victory for five-time champion Jimmie Johnson and Hendrick Motorsports, NASCAR penalties that were levied against Johnson and his team at Daytona last month were overturned Tuesday. Prior to the Daytona 500, NASCAR found that a body part on Johnson's No. 48 Chevrolet was in violation of the rules. The sanctioning body docked Johnson 25 championship points and suspended his crew chief Chad Knaus and car chief Ron Malec for six races. All remained with the team while Hendrick appealed.

For some big-name NASCAR drivers, it's time to get moving. Jeff Gordon, Jamie McMurray, Jeff Burton, AJ Allmendinger and Kasey Kahne are among those mired deep in the Sprint Cup Series standings after eight races, and they need to start posting strong finishes if they hope to make NASCAR's title playoff this fall. That Gordon, a four-time Cup champion, and Kahne are struggling is especially notable because they drive for stock car racing powerhouse Hendrick Motorsports, whose other drivers are five-time champion Jimmie Johnson and Dale Earnhardt Jr. But as the series heads to Richmond (Va.)

Mitt Romney, in a tight race against Rick Santorum for next week's Michigan primary, took a side trip from Michigan campaigning to Daytona Beach, Fla., to attend the 54 th running of the premier stock-car racing event of the season, the Daytona 500. It's a regular pilgrimage for both past presidents and presidential contenders trying to solidify their standing with NASCAR dads, the bloc of patriotic, blue-collar voters with a history of voting Republican....

Carl Pettersson had another fast start and finished with a two-under-par 69 for a five-shot victory over Zach Johnson on Sunday in the RBC Heritage at Hilton Head Island, S.C. Pettersson had a run of five consecutive birdies on the front nine during the third round Saturday to move in front. This time, Pettersson birdied three of the first five holes and built a five-shot lead by the turn that he never relinquished. He finished at 14 under. It was Pettersson's fifth PGA Tour title and first since the 2010 Canadian Open.

In a sport that basically stretches from Valentine's Day to Thanksgiving, there's always something to talk about. As the NASCAR Sprint Cup series returned to Pocono Raceway this week for the second of two annual events here -- this one officially called the Sunoco Red Cross Pennsylvania 500 -- a new talking point emerged. And it one that many people can relate to because they have been guilty of it at least once -- getting a speeding ticket.

RACE TO MAKE THE CHASE NASCAR'S race Saturday at Richmond, Va., is the last before the top 12 drivers in points qualify for the10-race Chase playoff that determines the Sprint Cup Champion. Rank; Driver; Points; Points behind; Wins; Money winnings Kevin Harvick; 3,585; Leader; 3; $5.04 million. Jeff Gordon; 3,366; -219; 0; $4.26 million. Kyle Busch; 3,325; -260; 3; $4.66 million. Tony Stewart; 3,302; -283; 1; $4.16 million. Carl Edwards; 3,288; -297; 0; $3.96 million.

NASCAR on Wednesday suspended Jimmie Johnson's crew chief and car chief for six races, and docked Johnson 25 title points, after the car driven by the five-time Sprint Cup Series champion failed opening-day inspection for the Daytona 500. The sanctioning body found that the No. 48 Chevrolet had an unapproved C-post -- the sheet of metal connecting the roof and rear quarter panel -- that might have improved the car aerodynamically. Johnson's team, Hendrick Motorsports, said it would appeal the suspension levied against crew chief Chad Knaus and car chief Ron Malec, and both can remain at races during the appeal starting with Sunday's race at Phoenix International Raceway.

Jimmie Johnson's crew chief, Chad Knaus, said Friday that his Hendrick Motorsports team was surprised by the stiff fines it drew from NASCAR after Johnson's car failed opening-day inspection for the Daytona 500. Johnson, a five-time champion, was docked 25 Sprint Cup Series points and Knaus and car chief Ron Malec were suspended for six races after NASCAR found unapproved body work on Johnson's No. 48 Chevrolet. But Knaus and Malec remained with the team as it prepared for Sunday's race at Phoenix International Raceway because they're appealling the penalties.

Kyle Busch , already forced to miss two NASCAR races last weekend in Texas, also was fined $50,000 and given a stern warning by NASCAR on Monday. The sanctioning body put Busch on probation until Dec. 31 and said that if the driver makes another on-track move in that time deemed "detrimental to stock car racing or to NASCAR" or "disruptive to the orderly conduct of an event," then Busch "will be suspended indefinitely. " NASCAR's top-tier Sprint Cup Series has two more races this season: at Phoenix on Sunday and at Homestead-Miami (Fla.)

If the world's greatest stock car drivers can't negotiate around a pothole, the rest of us don't stand a chance. . . . Dale Earnhardt Jr. was only joking Sunday when he suggested to his crew during one of two lengthy delays in the Daytona 500 that someone should put an orange cone over the hole and let the drivers try to avoid it. . . . Let's wait at least until after races at Fontana this week and Las Vegas next week before judging ...

When NASCAR raced onto the track at Fontana's Auto Club Speedway on Sunday, it did so accompanied by the distinct whiff of environmentalism. To help neutralize the carbon-dioxide emissions generated from the race, the track's owners will plant 100 trees around the community as part of the NASCAR Green Clean Air program. To reduce waste, Coca-Cola set up a portable processing center capable of recycling 1,000 containers per minute, adding to the 6 million containers the company will recycle at NASCAR events this year; Sprint was handing out postage-paid envelopes for fans to recycle their unwanted cellphones when they got home.

The race at today's Auto Club 400 NASCAR race might not be to the finish line as much as it is to beat the rain. Drivers were certainly aware of the impending weather system that by mid-afternoon should be soaking the Fontana area. So, you can probably expect a more robust start of the race as they try to put themselves in the best position when the rains come. They need to complete 100 of the scheduled 200 laps in order for the race to be official. But, with the sky turning dark as driver introductions started, the stands appear to be filling despite a multi-car pileup on Interstate 10 at Cherry Avenue, one of the main arteries to the track.

Kyle Busch took the lead early and held it after 100 miles of the Auto Club 400 in Fontana. There was no doubt that the drivers had a sense of urgency when the race started as the sky grew darker. Denny Hamlin won the first lap but soon gave up the lead to Busch on the second lap. By the sixth lap Busch had even extended his lead to almost a second. Tony Stewart, who started ninth, made a move as the race progressed. By the 18th lap he had moved up to fourth. By the 19th lap he passed Greg Biffle to move into third.

  Tony Stewart was declared the winner of the Auto Club 400 in Fontana on Sunday when officials called the NASCAR Sprint Cup race after an approximately 30-minute rain delay. Stewart clearly had the best car and worked his way up from his starting position of ninth to take the lead by the 85th lap. The race was without a caution period until Lap 123 when rain started falling in Turn 3. They continued under caution for six laps before red flagging the race.

The Auto Club 400 will finish today, regardless of the weather. The race reached the halfway point, so should there be a permanent stoppage the race will be declared official. The race leader at the 200-mile point was Tony Stewart, who took the lead from Kyle Busch on the 85th lap. Until that point, Busch had led all but four laps. The second round of pit stops started about Lap 67. Busch and Stewart pitted at the same time, and Busch beat Stewart back onto the track. But, there was little doubt that Stewart had the car to beat.

Ninety minutes before Sunday's NASCAR race, with sunshine still peeking through the growing clouds, Auto Club Speedway President Gillian Zucker was asked about the rainstorm bearing down on the Fontana track. Ever the optimist, Zucker said, "I'm extremely confident we'll get the race in today. " She was right, barely. With Tony Stewart leading, the Auto Club 400 had just crossed the halfway point — and become an official race — when steady rain arrived and the rest of the race was washed out. So Stewart, the reigning Sprint Cup Series champion, collected his second win in five races this season, the other coming in Las Vegas.

It's official: Danica Patrick will take on NASCAR's good ol' boys. Patrick, who became one of the most recognizable figures in sports as a driver of Indy-type race cars, announced Tuesday that she will also try her hand at NASCAR stock-car racing next season. Patrick, 27, said she would drive a No. 7 Chevrolet in a "limited number" of races in NASCAR's Nationwide Series -- the second-tier race circuit below its premier Sprint Cup Series -- in a car owned by JR Motorsports, a team co-owned by Dale Earnhardt Jr., NASCAR's most popular driver.

NASCAR might have convinced Dale Earnhardt's widow to have the racing star's autopsy photos sealed to protect itself against a wrongful death lawsuit, an attorney for a newspaper seeking access to the images suggested Tuesday. Attorney Tom Julin, in a memorandum filed in Volusia County Circuit Court, also argued that legislation passed last week restricting public access to all autopsy photos is unconstitutional and can't be applied retroactively to the Earnhardt case.

It was one of those crazy, hard-to-figure-out Sundays for the Hendrick Motorsports team at the Auto Club 400 in Fontana. The literati of the NASCAR crowd might even say it was the best of times, it was the … no, let's stick to racing. So, the star of the Hendrick team on Sunday was Dale Earnhardt, Jr. , whose wise pit management allowed him to steal a third-place finish. He employed a strategy called short pitting, where he comes in earlier than he might otherwise for fresh tires to gain track position when everyone else is running on slower tires.