Driver of No 18 car Kyle Busch
celebrates NASCAR Sprint Cup series NRA 500 auto race at Texas Motor Speedway,
Saturday, April 13, 2013, in Fort Worth, Texas.
Before lead the race Kyle Busch was
just trying to maintain the place behind Martin Truex Jr. while waiting for his
chance. After following Truex lap after lap he charged forward his Toyota.
Busch finally regained the lead on pit
road during that caution then held on for the final 16 laps after the last
restart Saturday night in the Sprint Cup race, completing a NASCAR weekend
sweep.
Busch got 26th career cup win in his
300th start.
It was the second time this season,
and a NASCAR-record seventh time in his career, that Busch won Cup and
Nationwide races in the same weekend. He was the polesitter Saturday night, and
won the Nationwide race Friday night on the 1½-mile, high-banked track.
Busch, who also won both races at
Fontana last month, led eight times for 171 of 334 laps. He is the first driver
to win in all three series at Texas, with six Nationwide wins and two in
trucks.
Busch has 111 career victories in
NASCAR's three top series — 26 in Sprint Cup, 55 in Nationwide and 30 in
Camping World Truck.
His weekend sweep in California last
month was overshadowed by the last-lap crash in the Cup race between former
teammates Denny Hamlin and Joey Logano that left Hamlin with a fractured
vertebra in his lower back.
The Tarrant
County medical examiner's office on Sunday said the death of 42-year-old Kirk
Franklin of Saginaw was a suicide
Kirk Franklin, 42, shot himself in the
head following a verbal altercation during the NRA 500 NASCAR race at Texas
Motor Speedway Saturday night.
Authorities say Kirk Franklin, 42, killed
himself. He apparently had been in an argument with fellow spectators before he
shot himself at the race, sponsored by the National Rifle Association.
The
day before the NRA 500, NASCAR said it might take a closer look at how it
approves sponsors after the NRA became the title sponsor of the race in the
midst of a national debate over gun rights.
NASCAR
said it has no official position on gun rights.
“The
NRA’s sponsorship of the event at Texas Motor Speedway fit within existing
parameters that NASCAR affords tracks in securing partnerships,” NASCAR said.
“However, this situation has made it clear that we need to take a closer look
at our approval process moving forward, as current circumstances need to be
factored in when making decisions.”
Fort
Worth police have said a man who was camping in the infield died of a
“self-inflicted injury” after getting into an argument with other campers. Police
spokeswoman Cpl. Tracey Knight has said alcohol may have been a factor. Knight
said several people witnessed the incident, but nobody was in danger.
Track
spokesman Mike Zizzo say the death occurred “in or around a pickup truck” in
part of the infield near the middle of the backstretch.
Truex had more than a 4-second lead
over Busch soon before pulling in for a green-flag stop on lap 281 just before
two cars spun on the backstretch bringing out a caution. Truex had pushed back
to a 1.3-second lead just before that last yellow flag that determined the
race.
NASCAR said that during a postrace
inspection, it was determined that Truex's No. 56 car was too low in the front.
The series said the car would be looked at further, and the issue addressed
next week.
Logano barely made the start of the
race after prerace inspections turned up problems. He started at the back of
the field, but worked back to a fifth-place finish. Jimmie Johnson maintained
his series points lead by finishing sixth, ahead of Aric Almirola.
"It was one of the toughest races
I think we've ever dealt with and to come home with a top-five out of something
like that, we couldn't be more excited about that," Logano said.
NASCAR confiscated the original
rear-end housing parts from Logano's No. 22 Ford and the No. 2 of Penkse Racing
teammate Brad Keselowski, the defending Sprint Cup champion. NASCAR officials
said the situation will be evaluated further next week, when decisions about
any penalties could be made.
Logano gave up his starting spot of
18th after being late to the starting grid while having to get additional
inspections. Keselowski got on pit road in time and started 16th, and finished
ninth.
In keeping with a long tradition for
the winner at Texas, Busch received a cowboy hat and got to fire trophy
six-shooters loaded with blanks in Victory Lane.
The title sponsor of the race was the
National Rifle Association, which came at a time when the U.S. Senate weighs
legislation intended to reduce gun violence in the wake of the December
shootings at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn. A senator from
Connecticut requested that the Fox network not broadcast the race.
Busch didn't get a rifle or shotgun
for his qualifying run Friday like the other fastest Cup qualifiers had gotten
since 2005. But track president Eddie Gossage said Saturday that was because
there wasn't a sponsor for that award this year, and not any reason other than
that.
