Labonte beats Stewart in close one at Talladega

Bobby Labonte pushed teammate Tony Stewart to the lead, then won with a dramatic pass in the last 200 yards Saturday in the NASCAR Busch Series race at Talladega (Ala.) Superspeedway.

Labonte, a Nextel Cup star, came away with his 10th Busch win and first since 1998, beating Stewart, a two-time Cup champion, to the finish line by less than a car length in the race that came down to a green-white-checker finish because of a late caution.

Casey Mears and Kevin Harvick were out front when debris from the battered car of Kasey Kahne brought out a caution flag on Lap 115, three laps from the scheduled finish of the Aaron’s 312.

NASCAR waved the green flag again for the overtime finish at the start of Lap 119 and Labonte, who restarted seventh, moved in behind Stewart, who was fifth, and the two Chevrolets, both owned by Harvick, worked in tandem, shooting to the front.

Both zoomed past Mears by the end of the first green-flag lap and Labonte just kept pushing Stewart, giving the two lead cars a big margin over Mears. Labonte bided his time on the final lap around the 2.66-mile oval until he came off Turn 4.

He then slipped up the banking and moved alongside Stewart, with the two cars nearly touching. As they neared the finish line, Labonte nosed ahead. His engine, which was overheating on the final two laps after he hit the rear of Harvick’s car, blew as he crossed the finish line.

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Jeff Gordon, the first driver to make a qualifying attempt for the Aaron’s 499 at Talladega today, posted a lap of 192.069 mph and then watched 51 drivers fail to knock him off the pole.

David Gilliland, last fall’s pole winner at Talladega, matched Gordon’s qualifying speed. But Gordon was awarded his third pole in nine tries this year and 60th of his career by virtue of being ahead of the second-year driver in the points.

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Erik Darnell picked up his first career NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series victory, dominating the O’Reilly Auto Parts 250 at Kansas Speedway in Kansas City, Kan., and ending Mike Skinner’s string of wins at three.

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Tony Kanaan ended a 29-race pole drought by turning in a lap of 214.118 mph on the 1.5-mile Kansas Speedway, beating out Sam Hornish Jr. in qualifying for today’s IndyCar Series Kansas Lottery Indy 300.

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Ashley Force, a 24-year-old rookie, will face her father, 58-year-old John Force, for the first time today at Atlanta Dragway in Commerce, Ga., in the first round of Funny Car eliminations at the NHRA Southern Nationals.

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Chris Carmody of Valencia picked up his first Auto Club Late Model victory at Irwindale Speedway when he took over the lead from 17-year-old rookie and teammate Jace Meier of Las Vegas on Lap 43 of the 50-lap race. Carmody won despite a flat tire on the final lap.