Kyle Busch

BROOKLYN, MICH. - Michigan finally unrolled the welcome mat for Kyle Busch, the first official member of the 2011 Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup. Busch got his first Sprint Cup Series victory at Michigan International Speedway in his 14th start at the 2.0-mile track, holding off Jimmie Johnson in a green/white/checkered-flag finish to win yesterday's Pure Michigan 400. Busch beat Johnson to the finish line by .568 seconds to claim...

BRISTOL, Tenn. - The situation was perfect for Carl Edwards to issue some payback on Kyle Busch. Instead, Edwards passed on a chance to knock Busch out of the lead over the closing laps at Bristol Motor Speedway. As Busch pulled away for yesterday's win - his fifth-straight dating back to last August at the Tennessee track - Edwards regretted not racing harder to potentially steal the victory. The two have a history at Bristol, and Edwards is still smarting from contact last month at Phoenix that he believed wrecked a car capable of winning the race.

Kyle Busch and Jimmie Johnson were staging a high-speed duel for the lead late in yesterday's NASCAR Sprint Cup race at Dover International Speedway. Within five laps they swapped the lead four times, averaging about 150 mph. Then, on the final pit stop, on Lap 364 of the 400-lap race, Johnson was penalized for speeding on pit road. Race over. Busch led the final 35 laps of the Autism Speaks 400, outdistancing runner-up Jeff Burton by 7.5 seconds, to sweep the weekend's races at Dover.

BROOKLYN, Mich. - Kyle Busch won his fourth Sprint Cup race of the year, outlasting Jimmie Johnson in a green-white-checkered finish at Michigan International Speedway on Sunday. Busch, the series points leader coming into the race, passed Johnson with about a dozen laps remaining and was opening up a comfortable margin when brother Kurt Busch scraped a wall, forcing a caution from laps 198 to 201. The yellow flag erased much of Kyle Busch's lead, but he was able to fight off a quick move from Johnson after the restart and pull away.

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. - The pack is back. And so is the Big One. Kyle Busch edged Tony Stewart in a thrilling finish to the first race of 2012, using a sling-shot pass Saturday night on the last lap of the exhibition Budweiser Shootout to beat the defending NASCAR champion to the checkered flag. It gave Busch a victory in a wild race that included two incredible saves by the eventual winner to stay in contention in the 75-lap sprint around Daytona International Speedway. "I don't know how many times I spun out, but I didn't spin out, you know?"

CHARLOTTE, N.C. - Kyle Busch and Kevin Harvick were fined $25,000 apiece and put on probation yesterday by NASCAR for their actions on pit road at Darlington Raceway. The probation for all NASCAR-sanctioned events runs through June 15, a span that includes four Sprint Cup Series championship races and the non-points $1 million All-Star event. Busch and Harvick's on-and-off feuding resumed Saturday night after contact Busch had with Harvick led to Harvick's wreck with Clint Bowyer.

Rookie Kyle Busch outdrove NASCAR's top contenders to win yesterday. All but one, that is. "I just want to say I'm behind my brother 100 percent," Kyle said of defending Nextel Cup champion Kurt Busch, who was suspended earlier in the day by Roush Racing for the final two races after police cited him for reckless driving Friday night. Standing on top of his car and waving to the crowd at Phoenix International Raceway, Busch called his older brother, "a true champion. " He later said, "Usually, things in the media are false and that's just what it comes down to sometimes.

WATKINS GLEN, N.Y. - Qualifying last, Kyle Busch did what he had never done before: He won a pole on a road course, shattering the track record at Watkins Glen International on Saturday. "This feels very good," Busch said after posting a lap of 126.421 m.p.h. around the 11-turn, 2.45-mile circuit. Busch, who qualified last after posting the best time in practice Friday, was nearly 2 m.p.h. faster than the mark Jeff Gordon set eight years ago. That knocked A.J. Allmendinger off the pole and deprived Richard Petty Motorsports of a front-row sweep for Sunday's Sprint Cup race.

DOVER, Del. - Kyle Busch led 89 percent of the laps over two days at Dover International Speedway, and he nearly came away with nothing to show for his dominance. But after a late-race caution set up a green-white-checkered finish - and some daylight fireworks between two drivers working out their frustration on the track - Busch blew away the field over the final two miles Saturday to win the Nationwide Series' Heluva Good! 200 race. Busch seemed unstoppable Friday as well, only to fall victim to a faulty fuel pump that removed him from the lead and dropped him to 16th at the finish line in the Camping World Truck Series' Dover 200. "We've been fast here at Dover, but we've been kind of snakebit," Busch said after climbing out of his bright-orange No. 18 Toyota in Victory Lane.

THIS WEEK'S RACE Coca-Cola 600 Charlotte Motor Speedway Concord, N.C. When: Sunday, 6 p.m. TV/Radio: Fox/WNPV (1440-AM) Race course: 1.5-mile oval Race distance: 400 laps/600 miles Race forecast: Clear, high 70s Last year's winner: Kevin Harvick Last year's pole winner: Brad Keselowski, 192.089 mph Track qualifying record: Elliott Sadler, 193.216 mph (October 2005) Track facts: Sprint Cup champion Rusty Wallace heads the list of NASCAR Hall of Fame selections named Wednesday.

TALLADEGA, Ala. - Brad Keselowski got a huge push from Kyle Busch to take the lead with a lap to go Sunday, then was able to prevent Busch from taking the Sprint Cup win away from him at Talladega Superspeedway. A nine-car accident with four laps left brought out the yellow flag, setting up a two-lap overtime sprint to the finish. Daytona 500 winner Matt Kenseth was the leader, and chose the outside line for the restart so Roush Fenway Racing teammate Greg Biffle could line up behind him and push him to the victory.

TALLADEGA, Ala. - The leader on the last lap isn't supposed to win at Talladega Superspeedway. Everybody knows that. Brad Keselowski disagrees, and he showed how to do it Sunday with a calculated plan that sent him to Victory Lane. Keselowski used a big push from Kyle Busch to pass leader Matt Kenseth, and after leaving the Daytona 500 winner in their wake, Keselowski staved off Busch's attempt to snatch the win. Using a move Keselowski said he had dreamed about, he held on for his second win of the season and second at Talladega.

Major League Soccer's leading scorer, Thierry Henry, netted his ninth goal in the seventh minute, then went down with what appeared to be a serious hamstring injury in the 23d minute on Saturday. But the New York Red Bulls' defense made the 1-0 score stand up for a win over the New England Revolution in Harrison, N.J. Robin van Persie scored his 28th league goal to earn third-place Arsenal a 1-1 draw at Stoke City in the English Premier League. Everton goalkeeper Tim Howard tipped a shot from fellow American Clint Dempsey over the bar to preserve a 4-0 shutout of visiting Fulham.

FONTANA, Calif. - Tony Stewart got his second NASCAR victory of the season Sunday when rain shortened the race at Auto Club Speedway to 129 laps. The defending Sprint Cup champion has won seven of the last 15 races in a remarkable stretch of dominance, including Las Vegas last month. Stewart passed Kyle Busch on the 85th lap, and led when the looming rain clouds finally halted a race run entirely on green flags to that point. Busch finished second, and Dale Earnhardt Jr. added to his strong start to the season in third.

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. - The pack is back. And so is the Big One. Kyle Busch edged Tony Stewart in a thrilling finish to the first race of 2012, using a sling-shot pass Saturday night on the last lap of the exhibition Budweiser Shootout to beat the defending NASCAR champion to the checkered flag. It gave Busch a victory in a wild race that included two incredible saves by the eventual winner to stay in contention in the 75-lap sprint around Daytona International Speedway. "I don't know how many times I spun out, but I didn't spin out, you know?"

TIGER WOODS played his first bogey-free round in 9 months, shooting a 4-under 68 at the first round of the Australian Open in Sydney. Jarrod Lyle had a 7-under 65 at The Lakes for a one-shot lead over Dustin Johnson and Nick Watney, two of the eight Americans tuning up for the Presidents Cup next week. The last time Woods played bogey-free was the second round of the Dubai Desert Classic on Feb. 11. In a related development, it was announced that Woods signed an exclusive endorsement deal with Fuse Science Inc., a Florida-based sports nutrition company.

The Union's Michael Farfan is one of the finalists for MLS rookie of the year, along with Perry Kitchen of D.C. United and C.J. Sapong of Sporting Kansas City. The winner will be announced Tuesday. The Houston Dynamo's Brad Davis , D.C. United's Dwayne De Rosario , and FC Dallas' Brek Shea are the finalists for most valuable player, which will be announced Nov. 18. The Los Angeles Galaxy's David Beckham , D.C. United's Charlie Davies , and the Chicago Fire's Dominic Oduro are nominees for comeback player of the year, to be announced Monday.

ANASCAR fined Kyle Busch $50,000 yesterday and placed him on probation through the end of the year for wrecking Ron Hornaday under caution at Texas. NASCAR also warned Busch that he will be suspended indefinitely if he is involved in any other action "detrimental to stock car racing or to NASCAR, or is disruptive to the orderly conduct of an event. " Busch was scheduled to run only in the Sprint Cup Series race this weekend at Phoenix. It's not clear how many events he had planned to enter in next week's season finales at Homestead.