There were questions about the judgment of team owner Joe Gibbs when he decided to replace departing two-time NASCAR champion Tony Stewart with a 19-year-old rookie this season. Even a rookie considered a phenom. The former NFL coach, head of Joe Gibbs Racing, admitted Sunday he tried not to put too many expectations on the talented, but woefully inexperienced Joey Logano.

Richard Petty Motorsports has made news this season for all the wrong reasons. Caught in the financial crunch of Chrysler’s bankruptcy, the team had a recent round of layoffs and companywide salary reductions. Star driver Kasey Kahne has been openly unhappy with RPM’s slow development of an improved Dodge motor, and the organization can’t shake whispers about its long-term stability. A win can cure most of those ills. Kahne returned team co-owner Richard Petty to Victory Lane for the first time in over a decade with a much-needed win on a road course, of all places at Infineon Raceway on Sunday.

Dario Franchitti was disappointed that Saturday’s qualifying for the Iowa Corn Indy 250 was canceled. He felt that a few late tweaks made to his No. 10 car had turned it into a “rocket ship.” Franchitti settled instead for Sunday’s checkered flag his second victory in two tries at the Iowa Speedway. Franchitti took the lead with 50 laps to go and cruised to victory in the Iowa Corn Indy 250. Franchitti beat Ryan Briscoe by just over five seconds to grab his first victory since the Streets of Long Beach in April and move into second place in the IRL standings.

Sebastian Vettel produced a faultless drive at Silverstone to lead a Red Bull one-two in the British Grand Prix. The 21-year-old tyro finished 15.188 secs ahead of Red Bull team-mate Mark Webber to prove that the much-improved Milton Keynes-based team have the potential to challenge for world championship honours in the second half of the season. Vettel started from the fourth pole of his career and was never challenged as he pulled clear from the start and delivered a perfectly-judged drive to secure the third win of his brief career - and his first in dry weather.

Il tedesco Sebastian Vettel precede il compagno di squadra Webber e la BrawnGP di Barrichello. Felipe quarto con la prima rossa davanti a Rosberg, Button e Trulli. Raikkonen ottavo.

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A fuel-mileage finish? A memorable heart-thumper? Epic? Euphoric? Heartbreaking? Fraught with twists, surprises and subplots? Yes, indeedee. Sunday’s LifeLock 400 may have been the Sprint Cup tour’s second straight fuel-mileage race, but this was vastly more entertaining than the one last week at Pocono. This was as suspenseful as any fender-slamming dogfight. Mark Martin, who inherited victory after Jimmie Johnson and Greg Biffle ran out of gas from dueling, ran out himself coming off the final turn but was able to coast to the checkered flag.

The talk all weekend was how the new double-file restarts with the leaders up front would change strategy for Sunday’s Sprint Cup race at Pocono Raceway. In the end it was an old, familiar strategy that determined the outcome. And it was an old, familiar face back in Victory Lane. Tony Stewart won the battle of fuel mileage, and in doing so won his first points race as an owner/driver for Stewart-Haas Racing. The emotion he felt overshadowed any excitement the double-file restarts may have produced for fans seemingly starving for something more. There was almost disbelief in Stewart’s voice as he crossed the finish line.

Jenson Button of Brawn GP extended his lead in the World Championship standings to 26 points by winning the Turkish Grand Prix in Istanbul from Red Bull duo Mark Webber and Sebastian Vettel. Button’s team-mate Rubens Barrichello, who had said earlier in the week that he expected to fight for the title, lost ground after retiring late in the race. McLaren’s reigning world champion Lewis Hamilton finished 13th after being lapped by his British compatriot for the second successive race. Jarno Trulli (Toyota), Nico Rosberg (Williams), Felipe Massa (Ferrari), Robert Kubica (BMW) and Timo Glock (Toyota) filled the points places.

L’inglese della BrawnGP Button trionfa nella settima prova del Mondiale davanti alle Red Bull di Webber e Vettel e a Trulli. Poi Rosberg e la prima Ferrari, quella di Felipe. Raikkonen è nono.

Helio Castroneves keeps smiling and climbing. Castroneves, who last month won the Indianapolis 500 for the third time after being acquitted of federal tax evasion charges, became a three-time winner at Texas Motor Speedway when he beat Penske teammate Ryan Briscoe off pit row after the final stop and stayed in front Saturday night. Briscoe was dominating the race, with more than a 10-second lead before a caution flag on the 150th of the 228 laps bunched the field after an extended stretch of green-flag racing. Castroneves worked past Marco Andretti after that restart and was on the tail of his teammate when A.J. Foyt IV crashed 15 laps later. When everybody went into the pits for the final time, Castroneves had a 6-second stop, beating Briscoe and Scott Dixon out by more than a half-second and led the final 46 laps of green-flag racing. The winning margin was 0.39 seconds, and Castroneves celebrated as usual by climbing the fence.

Scott Dixon was stuck in traffic with what he knew was the best car on the Milwaukee Mile. Less than 100 laps from the end of Sunday’s A.J. Foyt 225, the reigning IndyCar Series champion found himself behind both Target Chip Ganassi Racing teammate Dario Franchitti and defending race winner Ryan Briscoe, as well as having to deal with lots of lapped cars on the flat oval.

Jimmie Johnson went from running away from the field to running down Tony Stewart. Johnson nipped at Stewart’s bumper, went nose-to-nose, then soared past him on an outside pass on the concrete track. One Cup champion outdueling another in the battle for the checkered flag. Johnson thrashed the field, then rebounded from a late pit stop that dropped him back into traffic to catch Stewart with two laps left in a thrilling finish in the Sprint Cup series race Sunday at Dover International Speedway.