Jamie McMurray holds off Kyle Busch, and his quest for 11 straight

McMurray, who raced to his first Nationwide Series win in Atlanta in 2002, won for the first time since 2004 in Darlington. He has two Sprint Cup wins this year.

Sports in Brief: Kovalchuk deal gets NHL's OK

The NHL reportedly signed off on Ilya Kovalchuk's latest contract with the New Jersey Devils. Five weeks after rejecting the Russian's landmark 17-year, $102 million contract with the Devils, the league approved a revised 15-year, $100 million deal on Friday after reaching an agreement with the NHL Players Association on an amendment covering long-term contracts. Kovalchuk's agent Jay Grossman ...

CHAMP HIGHT EXCITED ABOUT COUNTDOWN LAUNCH IN INDY

TEAM CASTROL/JFR25TH ANNIVERSARY SEASON ROBERT HIGHTPre-Race Package for the 56th annual Mac Tools U.S. NationalsSept. 1-6, 2010O’Reilly Raceway ParkIndianapolis, Ind. First race in the Countdown to 1 playoffs for the 2010 NHRA Full Throttle Championship * * * * follow John Force Racing at www.twitter.com/jfr_racingTo celebrate 25 years of Castrol sponsorship, go ...

IndyCar drivers like NHMS

Test runs leave drivers Scott Dixon and Tony Kanaan excited about next August's race.

Terry Blount: The NHRA Countdown is motorsports playoffs done right

Give me the Countdown over the Chase any day. The NHRA version of a playoff is fewer races than the Chase (six instead of 10) and fewer qualifiers (10 instead of 12) for each of its pro classes. Fewer playoff events mean each race has greater significance. And fewer competitors mean each driver has a better chance of winning the title. The NHRA also gets it right by starting the playoff with its ...