HOMESTEAD, Fla. (AP) — Championship contender Matt Kenseth posted the fastest speed during final practice for NASCAR’s season finale. One major problem: points leader Jimmie Johnson was fast, too. Johnson had the second-quickest lap around Homestead-Miami Speedway on Saturday and had the fastest 10-lap average. Kenseth reached 171.980 mph around the 1½-mile oval, just ahead of Johnson’s 171.647. Defending series...

HOMESTEAD, Fla. (AP) — There’s a handmade Colombian flag hanging inside Juan Pablo Montoya’s motorhome that was given to him by a fan several weeks ago. Three words are embroidered into the stripes: IndyCar Champ 2014. Eight years after Montoya came into NASCAR amid great hype and high expectations, he’ll quietly close out his career Sunday at Homestead-Miami Speedway with...

HOMESTEAD, Fla. (AP) — The Sprint Cup champion will get to vote on NASCAR’s Hall of Fame. NASCAR officials announced it Thursday at Homestead-Miami Speedway, adding other “significant changes” to the Hall of Fame selection process and eligibility rules will be revealed during Champions Week in Las Vegas next month. The addition brings the total number of voters to 56....

Three-time Indianapolis 500 winner Dario Franchitti says doctors have told him he can no longer race because of injuries sustained in an IndyCar crash last month. Franchitti fractured his spine, broke his right ankle and suffered a concussion in the Oct. 6 crash at Houston. The crash occurred on the last lap when his car made contact with another car...

HOMESTEAD, Fla. (AP) — Matt Crafton has reason to celebrate, and not just because he is close to winning the NASCAR Truck Series championship. Crafton got a contract extension with ThorSport Racing on Thursday, ensuring him a 10th consecutive season with team owner Duke Thorson. It’s a fitting reward for Crafton considering he wrapped up his first series title last...

HOMESTEAD, Fla. (AP) — There was no trash talking, no attempts at mind games. If there was tension or nerves, nobody could tell. In one of the tamest NASCAR title contenders’ news conferences in recent memory, Matt Kenseth and Kevin Harvick kept it light and breezy as they discussed their championship chances against Jimmie Johnson. Why? Because Johnson needs only...

AVONDALE, Ariz. (AP) — Jimmie Johnson has taken control of the championship battle following a disastrous performance by Matt Kenseth at Phoenix International Raceway. Johnson widened his lead in the Sprint Cup standings to 28 points over Kenseth heading into next Sunday’s season finale at Homestead by finishing third in a workmanlike performance for the five-time champion. Kenseth had a...

CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) — Travis Pastrana is leaving NASCAR after this weekend’s season finale Nationwide Series race at Homestead. Pastrana announced his decision Monday on his Facebook page. He cited a lack of sponsorship, a desire to spend time with his wife and new daughter and frustration over his struggles in NASCAR as his reasons for leaving the sport. Pastrana...

AT 17, Erik Jones became the youngest driver to win in the NASCAR national touring series.

AVONDALE, Ariz. (AP) — Mark Martin currently has no plans to race beyond next week’s season finale at Homestead. He shied away from announcing an official retirement Friday when discussing his NASCAR future. For now, the 54-year-old plans only to work with Stewart-Haas Racing. He’ll test the No. 14 Chevrolet until Tony Stewart can race again, but said he has...

AVONDALE, Ariz. (AP) — Erik Jones became the youngest winner in Truck Series history with his first career NASCAR national victory, and Matt Crafton finished fifth to make the season championship a formality next week. Crafton needs only to start in the season finale at Homestead to seal his first series title after eliminating all other contenders Friday night. Jones...

AVONDALE, Ariz. (AP) — Mark Martin was chatting with Matt Kenseth some two months into the season about Kenseth’s remarkable start with Joe Gibbs Racing. Kenseth had won two of the first eight races, and Martin believed Kenseth could have won all eight. It was the sort of success nobody thought possible. But it’s been a dream year for Kenseth,...

FORT WORTH, Texas (AP) — Jimmie Johnson led 255 of 334 laps for a dominating victory Sunday that put the five-time champion back in the Chase for the Sprint Cup lead with two races left in the season. Matt Kenseth and Johnson arrived at Texas Motor Speedway tied in points, though Kenseth was the leader based on his seven wins....

Bubba Wallace wins First Career Truck Race

MARTINSVILLE, Va. (AP) — Kevin Harvick has apologized for his comments after an incident with Ty Dillon during the Truck Series race at Martinsville Speedway. Harvick told FOX Sports 1 he regretted comments he made about Dillon and his older brother, Austin. The Dillons are the grandsons of Harvick’s longtime team owner Richard Childress, and Harvick cited them as the...

MARTINSVILLE, Va. (AP) — Brian Vickers feels healthy enough to race. If he could promise his doctors he wouldn’t crash, he’d be in the car Sunday at Martinsville Speedway. Vickers was diagnosed with a blood clot in his right calf Oct. 14. He has been sidelined for the final five races of the season because he’s taking blood thinners. He...

CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) — Greg Biffle says he plans to apologize to Jimmie Johnson for how he handled his displeasure with the five-time champion at Martinsville. Biffle angrily grabbed Johnson by the collar and spun him around while Johnson was being interviewed on pit road after Sunday’s race. Biffle believed Johnson had run into the back of his car, causing...

CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) — NASCAR told its competitors Thursday it is considering eliminating single-car qualifying next season in an overhaul to how the field is set. Drivers from all three national series met with top NASCAR officials for almost two hours at the R&D Center in Concord to discuss several things under consideration for 2014. Among the ideas being considered...

The Army National Guard has extended its sponsorship of Dale Earnhardt Jr. through the 2014 season with Hendrick Motorsports.

MARTINSVILLE, Va. (AP) — It was a rough opening practice at Martinsville Speedway for NASCAR’s most prolific rookies. Danica Patrick and Ricky Stenhouse Jr., who are battling for Sprint Cup Series rookie of the year on the track and involved romantically off of the track, both ruined their primary cars. Patrick, who drives for Stewart-Haas Racing, hit the wall on...

CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) — NASCAR has ordered Richard Petty Motorsports development driver Corey LaJoie to undergo sensitivity training for an insensitive tweet. LaJoie was also placed on indefinite probation Wednesday. NASCAR did not refer to the since-deleted Oct. 15 tweet, by penalized LaJoie for “an insensitive and intolerable communication.” The tweet suggested TSA should conduct a cavity search of a...

FORT WORTH, Texas (AP) — Matt Kenseth says a tire problem caused him to crash during testing at Texas Motor Speedway on Tuesday. Kenseth says it’s always a concern when a tire blows apart for no reason after only nine laps. Kenseth is second in the race for the NASCAR Sprint Cup title, trailing Jimmie Johnson by four points with...

CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) — Elliott Sadler will replace Brian Vickers for the final four Sprint Cup Series races of the season at Michael Waltrip Racing. Vickers is sidelined for the remainder of the year with a blood clot in his right leg. He cannot race because of blood thinner medication he’s taking to treat the clot. Vickers informed MWR on...

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. (AP) — NASCAR has indefinitely suspended Todd Parrott, the crew chief for Sprint Cup Series driver Aric Almirola, for violating its substance-abuse policy. NASCAR announced its decision Thursday against Parrott, who works for Richard Petty Motorsports. “We have an expectation of all RPM employees to conduct themselves at the highest level of professionalism and within the competitive...

TALLADEGA, Ala. (AP) — Brendan Gaughan is moving back to the NASCAR Nationwide Series next year for Richard Childress Racing. The team announced Friday at Talladega Superspeedway that Gaughan will drive the No. 62 car with sponsorship from South Point Hotel & Casino in his hometown of Las Vegas. Gaughan is driving for Childress in the truck series this season...