Marco Andretti Among Indy 500's Fastest

Marco Andretti is the fastest driver after the first full day of practice for the Indianapolis 500.

Thirty-two drivers were on the track Thursday, with Andretti's top lap at 225.478 mph.

Penske teammates Helio Castroneves and Ryan Briscoe were next at 225.237 and 224.904, respectively, followed by defending champion Scott Dixon at 224.448 and his Ganassi teammate Dario Franchitti at 224.160.

Robert Doornbos was the fastest rookie and seventh overall at 223.592.

The slowest was Stanton Barrett, who finished his rookie test and had a top lap of 218.089.

Also, Townsend Bell landed a ride with KV Racing Technology as a teammate of Canada's Paul Tracy and Mario Moraes.

Ryan Hunter-Reay crashed, but was uninjured.

Nico Rosberg Wins at Spanish Granx Prix

Williams drivers Nico Rosberg and Kazuki Nakajima set the overall fastest times in Friday practice ahead of this weekend's Spanish Grand Prix.

Rosberg's time of 1:21.588 was only 15-100ths of a second faster than his teammate despite suffering a mechanical problem right at the end of the practice session. Both drivers managed to improve on their morning practice result, which also saw both drivers finish in the top 10.

The results should be encouraging for the team which has had a dissapointing start to the season, considering they were one of the three cars to take advantage of the diffuser controversy.

"Today was our first run with the new aero components on the car and they all seemed to work well," said Rosberg. "They're giving us a few tenths extra per lap so we've made definite progress. Everyone has brought new developments here though so we will see how things look in qualifying.

"We also ran some tire comparisons today. It's not obvious which direction will be the right one, so strategy is going to be very important and will have a major impact on the race."

Local favourite Fernando Alonso was third quickest in the Renault while Jenson Button was fourth best overall having set his best time in the morning session. Teammate Rubens Barrichello rounded out the top five.

Button is going after his fourth win in five races this season and after dominating the winter test times in Spain, there are high hopes for the Brawn GP team.

The Red Bull Racing duo of Mark Webber and Sebastian Vettel were sixth and seventh respectively followed by Jarno Trulli, who set his best time in the Toyota in the morning session. The Toyota duo were actually closer to the bottom of the time charts in the afternoon.

"The car is not perfect and it needs to be a bit more balanced before I am happy with it," said Trulli. "However, I think the track conditions will change for qualifying so I am not too worried."

Robert Kubica, whose had a disappointing start to the year in the BMW-Sauber, managed the ninth best overall time while Nelson Piquet Jr, who endured a difficult afternoon session, rounded out the top 10. The Brazilian, who is hearing rumors about his future at Renault, found himself in the gravel traps on two separate occassions, brushing the wall slightly at the Campsa turn on one off his offs.

Kimi Raikkonen was the fastest of the Ferrari's, setting the 12th best time overall while Felipe Massa could only muster the 18th best time. The team are counting on several upgrades to their car to vault them to the front of the grid this weekend including a new double-decker diffuser, which brings them in-line with the likes of Brawn GP, Toyota and Williams.

The McLaren duo of Lewis Hamilton and Heikki Kovalainen found themselves near the bottom of the time sheets as well, posting the 14th and 19th best overall times. A frustrated Hamilton told reporters afterwards that it wasn't likely to get much better over the course of the weekend.

"That is our true pace, as you just saw... it is even worse than I expected," he said. "It is going to be a tough one for sure."

"We tried some upgrades and they are not working for me. There has been no improvement to the car whatsoever."

Adrian Sutil did not take part in the afternoon practice due to a fuel cell issue, leaving him with the slowest time overall which he set in the morning practice.

Sebastien Buemi was limited to just 17 laps in the afternoon practice after a fire broke out in his rear brakes at the start of the session. The Swiss rookie managed to make it back on track and set the 11th best time overall.

NASCAR Champions Week in Las Vegas

NASCAR's season-ending party is heading to Las Vegas.

The weeklong salute to Sprint Cup's stars is leaving New York after nearly three decades.

NASCAR announced the move Thursday, citing an aggressive pitch from Las Vegas officials that stressed reasonable room blocks and additional fan activities on the city's famous strip.

The week will include the return of the "Victory Lap," a procession of the top 10 Cup drivers in their race cars, and the Pit Stop Tour.

The annual banquet had been held in New York since 1981. NASCAR chairman and CEO Brian France said he expects the circuit to have a continued presence in the Big Apple.

FIA OKs Rear Diffusers

Motor racing's governing body has approved the use of a car part that helped Brawn GP's Jenson Button win this season's opening two Formula One races.

The FIA's International Court of Appeal says in a statement that the rear diffusers on the cars of Brawn GP, Toyota and Williams F1 are legal.

"Based on the arguments heard and evidence before it, the Court has concluded that the Stewards were correct to find that the cars in question comply with the applicable regulations," read the brief statement. Reasons behind the decision are expected to be released in the next few days.

Brawn GP owner Ross Brawn - who was described by Ferrari lawyers as a 'person of supreme arrogance' during Tuesday's hearing - says he has no hard feelings against his competitors for bringing the issue to the Court of Appeal.

"We respect the right of our competitors to query any design or concept used on our cars through the channels available to them," he said. "The FIA Technical Department, the Stewards at the Australian and Malaysian Grands Prix and now five judges at the International Court of Appeal have confirmed our belief that our cars have always strictly complied with the 2009 Technical Regulations."

Toyota team boss Tadashi Yamashina expressed his confidence that what they were doing was legal as well.

"I was confident the Court of Appeal would reach this verdict and I am satisfied with it. It is important to stress we studied the technical regulations in precise detail, consulting the FIA in our process, and never doubted our car complied with them."

Ironically, it was Brawn who one year ago suggested to his fellow designers that the regulations be tightened up to prevent teams from exploiting the loophole he has taken advantage of when it came to the diffuser designs. The other teams rejected his proposals.

"I offered them and they were rejected, so my conscience is very clear," he told Autosport back in March 2008. And those rules that I put on the table would have stopped a lot of things. It would have stopped the diffuser, it would have stopped all those bargeboards around the front, and it would have cleaned the cars up... but nobody was interested. They are interested now."

The decision is expected to force rivals Ferrari, Renault, Red Bull Racing and BMW Sauber to redesign their cars to "catch up" with the three other teams using the split diffuser. Renault is said to be ready with an updated design which could be in place in time for this weekend's race in China.

Ferrari, which has had a dismal start to the season, says the decision will force them to fundamentally change the design of its car.

"Unfortunately this decision forces us to intervene on fundamental areas of the car's design in order to be able to compete on an equal footing with some of the teams," said team boss Stefano Domenicali. "That will take time and money. We will now double our efforts to get the team back to the highest level of competitivity."

Red Bull Racing technical director Adrian Newey has cancelled his appearance in China this weekend in order to work on the team's diffuser solution. Helmut Marko, the team's motorsport advisor, says they hope to have the new parts on the car in time for the Monaco Grand Prix. Marko added that they were angered by the decision because a similar design submitted by Red Bull to FIA for approval was rejected.

BMW-Sauber boss Mario Theissen says while he accepts the ruling, the change will have a dramatic effect on the track.

"This ruling means we now have clarity regarding the application of the regulations. However, it does not achieve the reduction in downforce and cornering speeds intended by the Overtaking Working Group when the new regulations were drawn up."

Jenson Button Wins at Malaysian Grand Prix

A torrential downpour delivered the shortest Formula One race for 18 years and back-to-back victories for Brawn GP's Jenson Button at the Malaysian Grand Prix on Sunday.

The race suspended when the red flag came out after 32 laps as a tropical storm lashed the Sepang track, making conditions impossible for drivers. A restart was considered for 50 minutes, but with the rain continuing and darkness descending after the twilight start, the race director elected not to attempt a restart.

Because less than three quarters of the scheduled 56 laps were completed, only half points were awarded to drivers and teams. It was the first time that had happened in F1 since the Australian Grand Prix at Adelaide in 1991.

"It wasn't like a river, it was a lake," Button said of the track conditions when the race was stopped.

Canny strategy delivered a second place finish for BMW's Nick Heidfeld and an impressive third place to Toyota's Timo Glock.

Ferrari's Felipe Massa and Kimi Raikkonen finished out of the points, making it the first time since 1992 that Ferrari had been pointless after the opening two races of the season.

Jarno Trulli of Toyota was fourth, ahead of Brawn's Rubens Barrichello. Red Bull's Mark Webber was sixth, Lewis Hamilton was seventh for McLaren, giving him some reward after a dire week, with Williams' Nico Rosberg eighth.

Conditions deteriorated very rapidly. The first rain arrived in the 22nd lap, but 10 laps later the conditions were undriveable.

The track was awash in rain, and the twilight start meant the skies were very dark and visibility poor.

Abandonment of the race raised questions about the wisdom of scheduling twilight races -- this race began at 5 p.m. local time -- to make at a more convenient time for European television audiences.

Button's win was the third of his career and built on his victory at last weekend's season-opening Australian Grand Prix.

"What a crazy race, it really was," the Briton said. "You could not actually see the circuit, it was that bad.

"We were going around at walking pace and it still felt like you were going to go off."

Button said there was no choice but to end the race. Even when conditions eased to make a restart appear possible, but real racing out of the question. The cars would have had to parade around behind the safety car until the two-hour time limit was reached.

"The race was way, way too wet and the call was correct," Button said.

"When the safety car is pulling away at 20 seconds per lap, you know its too wet for a Formula One car."

Brawn became the first new team to win its opening two races since Alfa Romeo won the first ever two races in 1950.

Heidfeld's correct decisions on tires, as the rain gradually moved in, meant he pitted only once, while other drivers had three or four stops to switch rubber as conditions rapidly changed. It was the German's best result since the equally chaotic finish to the Belgian Grand Prix last season. He now has eight career second places against just two wins.

Glock's third place was only the second podium finish of his career, having been runner-up in Hungary last year. The German was running eighth up to the first set of pit stops, but benefited greatly from the decision to switch to intermediate tires in the initial light rain while others went to full wets. The resultant speed advantage sent him storming through the field.

"It was one of the best races I ever could do," Glock said. "I said go to 'inters', took the risk, and it paid off."

Rosberg, 4th on the grid, got the best of the start and led the race up until the scheduled first slew of pit stops. Heidfeld backed the decision to red flag the race, and not to restart it.

"It was very clearly impossible to run if the rain continued like it was when the race was quote rightly stopped," he said. Glock also approved the race director's call. "I was trying to follow the safety car, it was quite difficult, I was swimming around," Glock said. "It was just unbelievable and impossible to drive for me at the end, and the right call was to stop the race."

Jenson Button Wins Australian Grand Prix

Jenson Button on Sunday won the Formula One season-opening Australian Grand Prix in dominating fashion at Albert Park in Melbourne. Rubens Barrichello finished second to give the new Brawn GP team a one-two finish in its maiden race.

Button started on the pole and led all 58 laps to record his second career grand prix victory. His first win came in 2006 in the Hungarian Grand Prix.

Not since the French Grand Prix in 1954 has a new F1 team finished first and second in their debut. Juan Manuel Fangio and Karl Kling did it for Mercedes- Benz.

The only time Button came close to relinquishing the lead was when he made his final pit stop with 11 laps remaining. The Briton had a slow stop after his crew encountered problems with the fuel hose. He made it out of the pits just ahead of second-place runner Sebastian Vettel.

Button began to pull ahead, but with three laps remaining, Vettel and Robert Kubica made contact and crashed as Kubica attempted to pass him. That allowed Button's teammate, Rubens Barrichello, to move up from fourth to second just before the safety car came out for the final laps.

"Some people might say that it was a pity it finished under the safety car, but I don't care, I won the race today, and that's all I care about" Button said. "It's been a dramatic few months for all of us, but I can't put it out as to how tough it's been."

Brawn GP team principal Ross Brawn recently acquired the former Honda team and immediately surprised the competition in testing at Barcelona and Jerez, Spain where Button and Barrichello turned in the fastest times in their BGP 001 car.

Button and Barrichello both were uncertain of their futures in F1 before Brawn purchased the team.

"It's not just for me but for the whole team," Button said, "A fairy tale ending really to the first race of our career together, and I hope we can continue this way. We are going to fight every way we can to keep this car competitive and at the front. This has got to continue and this is where we want to be. Bring on Malaysia."

Barrichello, who started on the outside pole, and Mark Webber collided as they headed into turn one on the opening lap. Heikki Kovalainen, Nick Heidfeld and Adrian Sutil also were caught up in the incident.

Barrichello battled his way back for his first podium finish since the British Grand Prix last July.

"I've been hit from behind, and I hit someone in front," Barrichello said. "For me, I never thought I could finish on the podium after the start."

Toyota's Jarno Trulli finished third, despite starting from the rear of the field. Trulli, along with teammate Timo Glock, had their qualifying times cancelled after stewards found their TF109 cars to have "extreme flexibility" in their rear wings. Glock ended up finishing fifth.

Defending World Champion Lewis Hamilton was a surprise fourth-place finisher after disappointing performances in qualifying and practices. Hamilton started 18th but patiently made his way through the field.

Toro Rosso's Sebastien Buemi was impressive in his F1 debut with an eighth- place finish.

Not so impressive were Ferrari drivers Felipe Massa and Kimi Raikkonen, who both failed to finish the race. Massa ran in third, but on lap 45, sustained a reliability issue that put him out of the event. Three laps later, Raikkonen spun out and smacked the wall.

Hamilton's teammate, Kovalainen, became the first driver to retire after his front suspension was damaged beyond repair from the first-lap crash.

Kazuki Nakajima slammed into the wall on lap 18, forcing the safety car to be deployed for the first time.

The next F1 race is scheduled for Sunday, April 5, in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

Alex Tagliani to IndyCar Series

Alex Tagliani says he is close to securing enough sponsorship which would see him return full-time to the IndyCar Series this year.

Tagliani was in Edmonton Wednesday to help promote the start of ticket sales for this year's Rexall Edmonton Grand Prix. The 35-year-old is also hoping that his road back to the IndyCar Series will go through the province of Alberta.

"One of the reasons I'm here is we've put together a proposal to a group of companies that will benefit the whole province and the city and the race," he said. Without going into too much detail, Tagliani says the deal would provide plenty of sponsorship exposure while benefitting local racing programs and charities as well as helping secure the long-term future of the race in Edmonton.

"It's real important that we protect the events we have in Canada ... and that means we have to give sponsors a wider platform and that's what we're trying to do."

Tagliani drove the final three races of the 2008 season for Eric Bachelart's Conquest Racing team, with a fourth place finish in the season-ending event in Australia. Conquest has confirmed Jaime Camara as its lone entry for 2009 but hopes to add Tagliani if enough sponsorship can be found.

Tagliani admits a deal is likely weeks away, which means he will be hard pressed to be on the starting grid for the April 5th season opener. However, he is hopeful of competing in at least 16 of the 17 events scheduled for this year, including races in Toronto and Edmonton.

Meanwhile, Northlands' president Ken Knowles confirmed that the city of Edmonton was on the hook for $5.3-million in losses from last year's race.

"We fully recognize that there were financial challenges to 2008 and the 2009 event will be a much different picture," he said. "We're confident that we can move forward to make the race more financially sustainable in the future."

Last year, Knowles and the city were not informed about the Indy Racing League's intention to retain the Edmonton race until eight week's before the event was held. That left them little time to promote and market the race. This year, tickets go on sale Friday for the July 26th race.

Kyle Busch Wins Shelby 427

Kyle Busch has had plenty of highlights in his short NASCAR career: setting a record as the youngest winner in series history, giving Toyota its first victory and returning Joe Gibbs Racing's flagship car to prominence.

None of it compared to winning at home.

Busch notched the biggest win of his young career Sunday by driving from the back of the field to win at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, his hometown track.

Although there are far more hallowed tracks in NASCAR, this 1.5-mile oval in the desert was where "The Wild Thing" most wanted to win. He proved that with an elaborate victory celebration that ended with him on his knees, kissing the finish line.

"I tell you what, this is pretty cool," Busch said. "I didn't know exactly what it would mean, but coming to the checkered flag, there were knots in my stomach. It's bigger than winning the Daytona 500. I said it wasn't going to be, but it is."

Busch struggled in his first visit to Vegas, wrecking 11 laps into his Cup debut race and finishing 41st.

He bounced back to compete for the wins the next to seasons, but settled for second- and third-place finishes to then-teammate Jimmie Johnson. His best chance might have been last year, when he returned home leading the points for the first time in his career and won the pole. But he struggled with the handling on his JGR Toyota, and wound up 11th.

This year, he wouldn't be denied. Busch came prepared at the start of the weekend, beating big brother Kurt for the pole to put brothers on the front row for the first time since 2000. But an engine change in his Toyota meant he had to drop to the back of the field at the start of the race, and Busch had to power his way through the field over 285 laps.

In a brief address to the crowd before the start of the race, he promised to get to the front.

"I just said, `Hey, you know what? We're going to the back so get ready for a show. Here it comes,"' he recalled. "Even if I got up to 20th and then backed it in, it was still going to be a show."

Busch took the lead with 57 to go, then lost it during a late round of pit stops. Busch was third on a restart with 22 to go, then chased down Jeff Burton and leader Clint Bowyer to move out front again.

"Say goodnight, Gracie," spotter Jeff Dickerson radioed as Busch moved out to a dominating lead.

But there were two more cautions, and Busch had to hold off the competition over two final restarts for his first victory of the season. It was his first win at Las Vegas in six career Cup Series starts, 13 total spanning NASCAR's top three series.

"We just had to battle back," Busch said. "We didn't have the best car out there, but we had a car we kept on working on. I don't know where I get credited for winning this thing, whether it's from the back or from the pole. Either way, we conquered both of them."

He celebrated with thick burnouts through the grass, then apparently blew his engine again. Enveloped in thick white plumes of smoke, he emerged from the clouds to make his trademark bow to the crowd.

He then collected the checkered flag from NASCAR, and kneeled to kiss the finish line on the track.

"I just had to kiss the ground this place was built on," he said, recalling every phase of construction.

He was met in Victory Lane by his tearful mother, Gaye, and Kurt Busch, who gave him a hearty hug despite his disappointing 23rd-place finish.

"He said, `We watched this place be built and you were the first one to conquer it,"' Busch recalled. "And mom was right there, too. Her face was soaked."

Kurt Busch remains winless at Las Vegas in nine career Cup starts. But forced to stay in Vegas another night because a winter storm had shut down all air traffic back to North Carolina, he was likely headed to the celebratory party on the Strip.

"We're partying it up big," Kyle Busch said. "The plane can't go home tonight, so it's going to be one heck of a party in Las Vegas."

Bowyer finished second and Burton was third, bouncing back from a horrible run last week at California.

David Reutimann, one of the five Toyota drivers who had to change a motor this weekend, finished fourth and was followed by Bobby Labonte and Jeff Gordon, who missed pit road late in the race and blew his tire on the subsequent trip around the track.

Greg Biffle was seventh and Brian Vickers, another Toyota driver with an engine change, was eighth. Jamie McMurray and Dale Earnhardt Jr. rounded out the top 10.

Jimmie Johnson, strong all afternoon, wrecked with six laps to go to finish 24th.

Carl Edwards' motor blew with two laps to go while he was running fourth. He finished 17th.

Matt Kenseth, trying to become the first driver in NASCAR history to win the first three races of the season, lost his engine six laps into the race and finished last. In all, Roush Fenway Racing lost three of five motors.

Greg Biffle Wins at Las Vegas Motor Speedway

Greg Biffle was caught speeding on pit road, had another bad stop, and ran out of gas while leading - twice.

He overcame all of the miscues Saturday at Las Vegas Motor Speedway to snap his 76-race winless streak, partly because almost every other driver had similar issues while leading.

''It was definitely not short of action,'' said Biffle, who last won a Nationwide race at California in February of last year.

Biffle ran out of gas while leading with 54 laps to go, re-claimed the lead after other drivers had their own issues, and then lost his fuel pressure on the final restart. Carl Edwards, his teammate, surged into the lead for a two-lap overtime sprint to the finish, but Biffle was able to regain the gas pressure and snatch the lead back from Edwards.

Edwards, who nearly lost control of his car as Biffle passed him, finished second despite losing a tire earlier in the race and speeding off of pit road on a late pit stop.

''Man it was a wild day from the beginning,'' Edwards said. ''We had a great race car. There were a lot of wrecks. We had that tire go down and we had a speeding penalty, all sorts of things happened and luck was on our side and we had a chance to race up there for the win.''

Brian Vickers, who was penalized for a missing lug nut after a pit stop while he was leading, finished third.

''All the fast cars were having problems,'' Vickers said. ''You are out here on this track trying to run wide open, and that's going to lead to problems. But it seemed like everybody that got in the lead had a problem.''

Jason Leffler, who ran out of gas on the final restart, finished fourth and Dale Earnhardt Jr. was fifth. He was followed by Michael McDowell, Brendan Gaughan and Justin Allgaier. Scott Lagasse and Jeff Burton rounded out the top 10.

D.J. Kennington of St. Thomas, Ont., finished 33rd.

It seemed for a stretch that nobody wanted to win the race, evidenced by a slew of problems to the top contending cars.

The first sign of trouble came early, when Denny Hamlin spun just nine laps into the race. Later, teammate Kyle Busch wrecked while racing Kevin Harvick for the lead. The accident also collected pole-sitter Scott Speed.

''It was just 100 per cent my fault for racing for the lead that early in the race,'' said Busch, a Las Vegas native who is seeking his first career win at his home track. ''I shouldn't have been doing that that early in the race. I should have just rode around in second place all day and waited to make the move on the last lap.''

Biffle ran out of gas as the leader, which put Hamlin out front. Then Hamlin was too fast exiting pit road, had to return for a pass-through penalty, and was too fast again.

Hamlin's mistake gave Vickers the lead, but he coughed it up when he left his pit stop with a missing lug nut.

Gaughan inherited the lead, then he spun trying to enter pit road to give David Ragan the lead. Edwards, who had rallied to third from an earlier punctured tire, was penalized for driving too fast off pit road. But as he tried to argue his penalty, Ragan wrecked on the track to take NASCAR's attention.

''The team was really good and I just screwed it up for them,'' Ragan said. ''Just driving it too hard for the situation I was in.''

Allgaier, who had stayed out of trouble to put himself in position to make a late challenge for the lead, then scuffed the wall while running in the top 10.

When it was done, Biffle had cycled through to retake the lead. Hamlin, who had rallied to 11th, then brushed the wall to create damage to the front of his car. The damage ultimately caused his tire to burst as he drove in front of Mike Bliss, who ran into the back of Hamlin, sending him hard into the wall in a fiery wreck three laps from the finish.

The Hamlin accident set up the two-lap overtime sprint to the finish.

''I guess it just ends a day that I don't understand,'' Bliss said. ''I can't wait to go home.''

Kimi Raikkonen Fastest F1

Ferrari's Kimi Raikkonen was fastest in a Formula One testing session Tuesday, although the Italian team missed out on three hours of track time because of a KERS malfunction.

Raikkonen set a fastest lap of one minute 32.102 seconds at the Bahrain International Circuit to edge Jarno Trulli of Toyota by about one-10th of a second. BMW Sauber's Nick Heidfeld was further behind.

Ferrari used trouble-free weather to test various setups and its Kinetic Energy Recovery System until a problem with the cooling unit left Raikkonen's Ferrari pitted for a while.

"Nevertheless there was one positive aspect, as the team was able to experiment with an emergency in case of a KERS failure," Ferrari said in a statement.

The hybrid technology stores energy under braking to provide an extra boost to help increase overtaking chances. KERS is not mandatory on F1 cars this season.

Trulli was pleased with Toyota's progress after covering more than 2,000 kilometres over three days of driving.

"It seems competitive and reliable so a start like this gives us a solid base for the season ahead," the Italian driver said. "So far so good."

The season begins at the Australian Grand Prix on March 29.

Mark Webber Returns to F1

Red Bull's Mark Webber drove a Formula One car Wednesday for the first time since breaking his leg during the off-season.

Webber had surgery in November after breaking his leg in a bicycle accident. The 32-year-old Australian driver's best time was one minute 23.321 seconds from 83 laps around the Jerez circuit.

"There were a lot of questions going into today and I answered them," said Webber, who unveiled Red Bull's new season car Monday sporting a limp. "From my point of view, it all went better than expected and to do over a race distance on my first day back in the cockpit, with several weeks to go to Melbourne, is a good thing."

The F1 season begins with the Australian Grand Prix on March 29.

Sebastien Buemi, a rookie Swiss driver for Toro Rosso, set the pace at the track in southern Spain for the second straight day with a best lap of 1:17.591.

"Even though we are still in the '08 car, I have learned a lot in terms of how we operate over a race weekend, as we simulated a qualifying session and the race," Buemi said. "It was good preparation and now, all we need is our new car."

McLaren's Heikki Kovalainen led this season's crop of cars on Wednesday with a fastest time of 1:20.799, ahead of Webber, Kazuki Nakajima of Williams and Renault's Nelson Piquet Jr.

Ferrari's Felipe Massa set the fastest lap at Bahrain's International circuit before a sand storm halted testing for the day. BMW Sauber and Toyota are also testing at the desert track outside Sakhir.

Todd Bodine Wins Truck Series

Todd Bodine overcame a passing penalty and held off Kyle Busch in the closing laps to win Friday's NextEra Energy Resources 250 Camping World Truck Series race at Daytona International Speedway for the second year in a row.

J.R. Fitzpatrick of Cambridge, ON, came in fourth in the race. Fitzpatrick has now secured a ride with TRG Motorsports for the opening five races of the Camping World season.

Bodine, in his unsponsored No.30 Toyota for Germain Racing, beat Busch to the finish line by 0.249 seconds to become the first repeat winner in 10 season- opening truck races at Daytona.

"I can't believe it," Bodine said. "During the whole race, I'm following guys, under and behind them, and they're all fighting with their trucks, just bouncing all over. This thing was rock solid all night. It never pushed and never got loose."

Bodine was slapped with a pass-thru penalty on pit road after he dipped below the yellow line to grab the lead from pole sitter Colin Braun in the early stages of the race. Bodine fell back to 27th in the field.

"I wasn't worried a bit, not one bit," he said. "We were running times faster than the leaders, so I wasn't worried about it. I knew the caution would come out eventually, and it did, and it worked in our favor."

Bodine passed Braun and grabbed the lead for the final time with 11 laps to go. A caution for debris set up a six-lap shootout to the finish.

Bodine won his fourth straight superspeedway race. He also recorded his 16th career victory in the series.

Busch made several attempts to pass Bodine on the final lap, but settled for a second consecutive runner-up finish at Daytona.

"I've tried two years in a row to do something, and neither one of them have worked," Busch said. "I'm an idiot when it comes to the last lap in these trucks."

Terry Cook, J.R. Fitzpatrick, and Ron Hornaday, Jr. completed the top-five. Sixth through 10th were: Tim Peters, Mike Skinner, Matt Crafton, Braun and rookie Tayler Malsam.

The 100-lap race saw its share of wild crashes.

Brian Scott was in the middle of a three-wide battle for position on the sixth lap, but made contact with T.J. Bell and then spun into Mike Bliss. The caution set up the first round of pit stops.

As part of NASCAR's rule changes for the Truck Series this year, teams are limited to five men over the wall, instead of seven, and pit crews can either change tires or refuel, not both as in the past, on their stop.

On Lap 48, a multi-truck pileup ensued on the tri-oval after Bodine made contact with James Buescher, putting Buescher into a spin. Reigning series champion Johnny Benson and series newcomers Johnny Sauter and Ricky Carmichael suffered significant damage to their trucks and were knocked out of the event. Shane Sieg, Dennis Setzer, Jason White, Stacy Compton and Larry Foyt also were involved in the incident.

"It's just an unfortunate situation," Carmichael said. "(The team) kept telling me that I was doing a great job, but then I wrecked. I don't know what happened...It's just an unfortunate thing."

Carmichael, making his series debut in the Kevin Harvick-owned No.4 Chevrolet, finished 24th.

Benson settled for a 26th-place finish in his debut for Red Horse Racing.

"I'm not sure where (Carmichael) came from, but he definitely came from a long way, and the time that I did see him, I tried to beat him, but I couldn't," Benson said. "He came up on us too fast."

Brent Raymer's truck got loose on the backstretch and then shot straight into the backstretch wall on Lap 68. A hung throttle caused it to hit the wall again. Raymer climbed out of his truck and appeared to be uninjured.

Jason White lost control of his truck and hit David Star, who then bumped into Rick Crawford on Lap 80.

The next race is scheduled for Saturday, February 21st at Auto Club Speedway in Fontana, CA.

Tony Stewart Wins Nationwide Race

Not even a wreck in Daytona 500 practice could ruin Tony Stewart's day. Getting to Victory Lane has a way of making things better.

Just five hours after Stewart stood brooding over his battered Daytona 500 car, he found himself celebrating a second straight season-opening Nationwide Series win at Daytona International Speedway.

"It was very disappointing this morning," Stewart said after holding off Kyle Busch on the last lap to win the Camping World 300. "It was so frustrating I almost couldn't see straight."

The two-time Sprint Cup champion, who left Joe Gibbs Racing at the end of the 2008 season to start his own Stewart-Haas Racing operation, had a very good week going until new teammate Ryan Newman's tire blew Saturday morning, collecting his teammate and boss in the final practice before Sunday's Great American Race.

Stewart was set to start fifth in the 500. Now, he and Newman must switch to backup cars and start from the rear of the 43-car field.

The wrecks prompted Stewart to criticize Goodyear for bringing a faulty tire to the superspeedway.

"I'm ticked right now. I'm not happy. I'm not cordial. I'm not nice," Stewart said after practice. It was temporary.

Stewart said his mood began to improve as he watched his new team quickly prepare the backup cars. As he got ready for the Nationwide race, his first time driving for car owner and longtime friend Rick Hendrick, he shifted his focus.

"When I went back to the bus and put this uniform on and saw Hendrick on it, you switch gears real quick in your mind," Stewart said. "You realized that, hey, you've got a job to do and put what happened this morning behind you and focus on the task at hand."

He certainly did that, passing 23 cars in 11 laps to get back into contention after pitting with 30 laps to go in the 120-lap event. Then he hung onto the lead as Busch, Carl Edwards and Clint Bowyer fought for position.

Stewart said it was his decision to pit for tires from third place on lap 91, giving up lots of track position. It turned out to be the key move of the race.

"I thought I made the worst call of the year," said Stewart, who saw most contenders stay on the track. "It actually ended up saving us at the end, though. We were fortunate we were able to get through the pack like that."

Brad Keselowski led several times and appeared to be one of the drivers to beat, but he banged off the wall on lap 108. Two laps later, his right rear tire blew, bringing out the last of six caution flags and setting up the dash to the finish.

Edwards led at that point, but Stewart, with help from Chevy driver Bowyer, pushed past into the lead after the restart on lap 114.

As the laps wound down, Stewart seemed to be a sitting duck, especially after Busch, who won 10 Nationwide races last year, moved into second place three laps from the end.

On the final trip around the 2.5-mile oval, Busch moved up to Stewart's rear bumper and gave him a nudge. Stewart's car wobbled and drifted high as Busch's Toyota moved nearly alongside. Somehow, Stewart stayed just ahead of Busch. Then Edwards and defending series champion Bowyer went to the outside to pass Busch.

"What Kyle did was try to get me in a position where my car got loose, and I had to try to race it up the racetrack to give him the bottom," Stewart said. "And that happened. (But) in doing so, he had to run up the racetrack, too. It wasn't like he just ran us up into the fence. He didn't do that.

"Kyle's the type of guy that if you beat him, in a race like this, if you can win the race, you know you did everything a hundred per cent right. Because, if you don't do it a hundred per cent right, he's going to find a way around you. ... I don't know how we came off the corner ahead of him."

Busch tried the same maneuver in the Camping World Truck Series opener Friday night, bumping Todd Bodine heading toward the third turn on the last lap. Like Stewart, though, Bodine was able to fend off the challenge and race on to the win as Busch finished second.

Saturday, Busch wound up fourth. He scrambled out of his car and ran to his team's hauler without talking to the media.

Edwards, who won the Nationwide title two years ago, was surprised to find himself in the runner-up spot at the finish.

"Coming off (turn) four ... Clint was right on my bumper and pushed me right by Kyle," Edwards said. "He gave me like the half inch I needed there. I thought he was going to come out, and I was just going to blow through his right rear bumper.

"I had a little of a run on Tony. He came up and I thought, 'Man, this is going to be smoke and walls and all that.' But it ended up he gave me enough room, and I still ended up second. It was an exciting at least half a lap, at least for me."

Greg Biffle finished fifth, followed by Brian Vickers, Dale Earnhardt Jr. and David Ragan, giving Sprint Cup drivers the top eight positions. Nationwide regular Jason Keller was ninth.

D.J. Kennington of St. Thomas, Ont., finished 18th.

Jason Leffler, another Nationwide regular, ignited a four-car crash just past the halfway mark in the race, banging into the rear of Steven Wallace and knocking Wallace sideways. Rookies Scott Lagasse Jr. and Justin Allgaier also were involved.

Leffler said he was just trying to let Wallace back in line, but NASCAR held him in the pits for five laps for aggressive driving.

David Donohue Wins at Rolex 24 Race

It turns out that the finish of the 47th Rolex 24 sports car race at Daytona International Speedway was closer than anyone realized.

After the Porsche Riley Daytona Prototype co-driven by David Donohue, Buddy Rice, Antonio Garcia and Darren Law nipped the Lexus Riley of Juan Pablo Montoya, Scott Pruett and Memo Rojas by 0.167 seconds Sunday, Grand-Am Rolex Series officials said it was the closest finish in the history of the race.

Monday, they updated the record to include all major international 24-hour endurance races.

The closest contested finish of the 24 Hours of Le Mans was 120 meters - or about one second - when a John Wyer Ford GT40 driven by Jacky Ickx held off the Porsche 908 of Hans Hermann in 1969.

The closest timed finish in the history of the French endurance race was in 2004, with 41 seconds separating the top two cars at the conclusion of the race.

The previous record for closest finish of the Rolex 24 was 30.926 seconds, set in 2000.

F1 Changes Pit Stop Rules

Formula One drivers will no longer be penalized for entering pit lane during the early stages of a safety car being sent onto the track because new software has enabled governing body FIA to ensure they don't rush to refuel.

The 2007 rule change has been reversed because drivers won't be able to pit "any quicker than your dashboard display allows you to," FIA race director Charlie Whiting said Tuesday in a technical briefing.

"We intend to implement a minimum time back to the pits," Whiting wrote. "When we deploy the safety car, the message will go to all the cars, which will then have a 'safety car' mode on their ECUs (electronic control units).

"As soon as that message gets to the car, it'll know where it is on the circuit, and it'll calculate a minimum time for the driver to get back to the pits. The driver will have to respect this and the information will be displayed on his dashboard."

Whiting also confirmed that the three consecutive race rule for F1 engines will not apply this season. Instead, teams will be allowed to use eight engines over the course of the 17 race season.

"A driver will only incur a penalty if he uses a ninth engine," explained Whiting. "So the teams can use the engines as they like."

"In the past, as you know, the two-race engine was used only on Saturdays and Sundays. Now, for 17 races, the eight engines will have to do the three days of each grand prix. What the teams will do is to have a Friday engine that'll probably do the first four races or something of that nature. They'll then take the engine out and use another one for Saturday and Sunday."

Whiting also confirmed that Renault's engine upgrade prior to the start of this season will be a one-off.

"We gave all the teams the opportunity to submit a list of things they would like to change in order to achieve engine parity, because there seemed to be some disparity between engine performance, which was not intended.

"Then, with Honda's withdrawal – they appeared to be the ones down on power – the engine manufacturers agreed among themselves that they would not seek any engine parity changes, and they would allow Renault to do something. It's what I would describe as a minor upgrade. It's a one-off thing; it's not an on-going thing. Now, teams have submitted their list; we've agreed to it and that's the end of it until 2012."

F1 to Race in India

India will definitely host a Formula One race in New Delhi in 2011, according to F1 boss Bernie Ecclestone.

Ecclestone said he and Indian partner Jaiprakash Associates were "fully committed" to bringing a race to the Indian capital.

"Of course, we will deliver. Otherwise we wouldn't have entered into an agreement," Ecclestone told the BBC.

Construction on a circuit in New Delhi has yet to begin.

India, with a population of more than one billion and possessing one of the world's fastest-growing economies, has been talked about as a potential race host since Force India entered the sport last season.

"It's a large, large country with a big population and it's good for the sponsors, car manufacturers and everyone involved in Formula One," Ecclestone said.