Waltrip Wins Another Busch Race

Michael Waltrip held off a strong challenge from Todd Bodine before pulling away to win the NASCAR Busch Series race Saturday at Michigan International Speedway in Brooklyn, Mich.

The victory in the Cabela’s 250 was the ninth in Busch competition for Winston Cup driver Waltrip, and his first since October 1999.

“It’s a lot of fun when you win,” Waltrip said.

Jeff Burton finished second, nearly four seconds back, and Jeff Green edged Bodine for third to give Winston Cup drivers a sweep of the top four spots.

Bodine, in a Chevrolet, appeared to have the fastest car for most of 125-lap race but dropped to 10th after a four-tire pit stop on lap 79 during the fourth caution.

Waltrip, who changed only two tires on his Chevy during that caution, took the lead from Joe Nemechek with 38 laps to go and began pulling away.

But Bodine charged through the field and caught Waltrip, pulling beside the leader on several occasions. The cars touched in Turn 2 on lap 103 and when they got to the front stretch later during that lap, Waltrip pulled down and slammed into Bodine.

The contact damaged Bodine’s right-front fender and kept him from challenging again.

“He ran into me in Turn 2, and that’s not how you pass the leader,” Waltrip said.

“I waited until he got to my door, and I turned into him and tried to cave his fender in to make him push. I don’t know if worked or not.”

When told it apparently worked, Waltrip said, “I’m glad, he deserved it.”

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After Bruno Junqueira hit the wall on his final qualifying lap, a smile seemed to leave his face for the first time since his arrival at Road America in Elkhart Lake, Minn.

But it didn’t take long for the smile to return.

“I just love this place,” the defending race champion said after nipping CART series leader Cristiano da Matta for the pole for today’s Motorola 220, despite the crash.

Just like Friday, it came down to the final few moments of the 60-minute qualifying session, with Junqueira and fellow Brazilian da Matta battling for the top spot.

Da Matta, trying to end a three-race mini-slump, started the session on the provisional pole after a lap of 1 minute 42.640 seconds at 141.980 mph.

While da Matta was unable to improve on that lap, Junqueira went gunning for his childhood friend and finally knocked him off the top spot only one minute from the end with a lap of 1:42.151 at 142.659.

Meanwhile, Martin Championship Auto Racing Teams announced an expanded Entrant Support Program in which it will provide an additional $400,000 to each of 20 cars entered in the 2003 season, bringing incentives up to $850,000 in total cash payments.

To offset the costs, each team will be mandated to make space available on its car for associate sponsors found by CART.

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Rubens Barrichello edged Ferrari teammate Michael Schumacher to claim the pole for the Hungarian Grand Prix at Budapest.

Schumacher, the five-time Formula One champion who is seeking a record 10th victory of the season today, had dominated the practice sessions. But Barrichello was quicker in the qualifying.

Barrichello, who had spun out in his first run, had a fast lap of 1 minute 13.333 seconds on the 2.47-mile Hungaroring circuit for his third pole of the season and sixth of his career.

Schumacher, who has won nine of 12 races this season and clinched his record-tying fifth title last month, finished .071 seconds behind his teammate.

Passing is virtually impossible on the tight circuit, and starting from the pole is a huge advantage in the 77-lap race.

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Rip Michels of Mission Hills swept the Jani-King Super Late Model series twin 50-lap races at Irwindale Speedway in front of 5,422.

In the first race, Michels was second behind Tony Green with less than five laps to go when Green’s right front tire blew, sending Green sliding along the walls of turns one and two. On the restart, Michels held off Tony Bruncati and Brandon Loverock for the win.

In the second race, Michels, who started on the pole, easily went wire-to-wire for the victory, this time holding off Tim Woods III and Bruncati for the second win.

The victories, combined with Green’s accident, catapulted Michels into the lead for the championship title with 602 points, with Loverock second and Green in third.

In the 50-lap Southern California Auto Club main event, Tim Huddleston earned his first win in four races by overtaking Todd Burns with five laps to go to win his sixth of the season.

In the 40-lap Vista Paint Super Stock series, Andrew Phipps claimed his fourth consecutive win of the season, holding off Darren Cheek for most of the race.