• NASCAR

Two days after facing questions about unauthorized auto parts and possible penalties, Denny Hamlin enjoyed a happier kind of scrutiny.

Hamlin raced to his first NASCAR Sprint Cup victory over the year, holding off Matt Kenseth on Sunday at Michigan International Speedway in Brooklyn, Mich. The drivers appeared headed for a fuel-mileage finish, then a late caution enabled them to make pit stops before a frantic closing five-lap sprint.

"Over these last six weeks, I can honestly say we've had a chance to win each and every race," Hamlin said. "For me, if I go about eight weeks without winning, I'm wondering what the heck's going on."

Kenseth was the only driver with a shot to catch Hamlin in the final moments. Kenseth tried to go both above and below the leader, but was unable to pass Hamlin's No. 11 Toyota. Hamlin won by 0.281 seconds for his second straight victory in the June race at the track.

Kyle Busch was third, giving Joe Gibbs Racing two of the top three spots after the team was told to change oil pans before Friday's practice. NASCAR said oil pans from cars driven by Hamlin, Busch and Joey Logano were not submitted for approval before opening day inspection.

The team could face additional penalties this week, but Hamlin and Busch hardly seemed distracted.

"It speaks volumes to the experience and resilience of this 11 car that you can start the week off with a down note and put that behind you and make sure that it doesn't affect what's getting ready to happen," said Mike Ford, Hamlin's crew chief. "This team usually comes out swinging when its back's against the ropes. Sometimes we connect and sometimes we get dotted in the eye."

Team president J.D. Gibbs said Friday's situation was a good lesson.

"We want to be here with integrity," Gibbs said. "We've made mistakes in the past as a team, and I'm sure we'll make mistakes in the future. If we can't conduct ourselves in the right way, there's no use in us doing this."

Hamlin won eight times last year and contended for the series title but was unable to match Jimmie Johnson. Hamlin was winless this season, although he led early last weekend at Pocono Raceway before running into tire problems.

He entered this race 12th in the points standings but was still confident heading into the summer months. The victory moved him up to ninth.

"Realistically, you know if the whole world collapses and ends, you're still one win away from getting a Chase spot, pretty much," Hamlin said. "We know two wins pretty much puts you in. From here on out, we know we're one win away."

Busch finished the race without incident after he and Kevin Harvick came off probation. They were fined and disciplined for a run-in last month. Harvick finished 14th Sunday.

Busch drove despite chest pain and took the lead about midway through the 400-mile, 200-lap race.

"It was just hard to breathe. I had to take real short breaths," he said. "Felt like I was running a 400-mile marathon, which essentially I was. But I felt like I was running on my feet instead of in a race car."

Carl Edwards moved in front coming out of a caution that ended at lap 163, and it appeared the race would come down to who had enough fuel. The final caution, however, changed all that.

"I think I was going to run out of gas, so I was riding around half-throttle, which isn't much fun," Kenseth said. "Just running slow, hoping for a caution."

Edwards, who won the Nationwide race Saturday, finished fifth. He remains atop the standings, 20 points ahead of Harvick.

Dale Earnhardt Jr. finished 21st, three years after his most recent Cup victory, at Michigan. He has gone 108 races without a victory, and it was his car that hit the wall to cause the fifth and final caution.

Johnson, who entered the race second to Edwards in the standings, dropped three spots to fifth after a 27th-place finish. The defending series champion fell way behind Sunday after an early spin.

NASCAR Sprint Cup

Heluva Good! Sour Cream Dips 400

Sunday

At Michigan International Speedway

Brooklyn, Mich.

Lap length: 2 miles

(Start position in parentheses)

1. (10) Denny Hamlin, Toyota, 200 laps, 107.5 rating, 47 points, $202,200.

2. (3) Matt Kenseth, Ford, 200, 130.1, 43, $170,436.

3. (24) Kyle Busch, Toyota, 200, 124.3, 42, $157,516.

4. (9) Paul Menard, Chevrolet, 200, 107.4, 41, $106,475.

5. (23) Carl Edwards, Ford, 200, 114.9, 40, $138,716.

6. (13) Ryan Newman, Chevrolet, 200, 100.2, 39, $130,450.

7. (6) Tony Stewart, Chevrolet, 200, 93.3, 37, $127,608.

8. (27) Clint Bowyer, Chevrolet, 200, 80.2, 36, $129,408.

9. (19) Mark Martin, Chevrolet, 200, 88.5, 35, $92,900.

10. (4) Brian Vickers, Toyota, 200, 96.5, 34, $111,364.

11. (1) Kurt Busch, Dodge, 200, 110, 34, $130,525.

12. (12) Landon Cassill, Chevrolet, 200, 68.1, 0, $81,450.

13. (26) A J Allmendinger, Ford, 200, 94.1, 31, $120,061.

14. (22) Kevin Harvick, Chevrolet, 200, 87.9, 31, $126,086.

15. (7) Greg Biffle, Ford, 200, 121.5, 31, $102,325.

16. (17) Trevor Bayne, Ford, 200, 62.2, 0, $80,650.

17. (31) Jeff Gordon, Chevrolet, 200, 72.7, 27, $117,186.

18. (30) Joey Logano, Toyota, 200, 65.9, 26, $87,850.

19. (14) Jamie McMurray, Chevrolet, 200, 65.3, 25, $114,164.

20. (20) David Ragan, Ford, 200, 74.6, 24, $88,550.

21. (15) Dale Earnhardt Jr., Chevrolet, 200, 77.3, 23, $86,625.

22. (16) Bobby Labonte, Toyota, 200, 56.8, 23, $104,645.

23. (18) Marcos Ambrose, Ford, 200, 71.5, 21, $108,891.

24. (33) Jeff Burton, Chevrolet, 200, 63.4, 20, $85,650.

25. (41) Brad Keselowski, Dodge, 200, 58.6, 19, $103,483.

26. (11) Martin Truex Jr., Toyota, 199, 71.7, 18, $84,975.

27. (21) Jimmie Johnson, Chevrolet, 199, 45.1, 17, $127,511.

28. (8) Kasey Kahne, Toyota, 199, 88, 16, $100,683.

29. (40) David Gilliland, Ford, 199, 46.9, 15, $91,908.

30. (25) Juan Pablo Montoya, Chevrolet, 199, 48.9, 14, $115,683.

31. (28) Travis Kvapil, Ford, 199, 41.3, 0, $87,658.

32. (35) Mike Bliss, Ford, 199, 42.2, 0, $84,947.

33. (5) Regan Smith, Chevrolet, 199, 56.8, 11, $99,170.

34. (42) Dave Blaney, Chevrolet, 198, 36.3, 10, $73,675.

35. (2) David Reutimann, Toyota, 180, 70.4, 9, $101,483.

36. (36) Andy Lally, Ford, accident, 155, 36.6, 8, $82,025.

37. (37) Robby Gordon, Dodge, vibration, 80, 30.5, 7, $72,475.

38. (39) Casey Mears, Toyota, electrical, 51, 39.5, 7, $72,390.

39. (34) J.J. Yeley, Chevrolet, brakes, 47, 34, 5, $72,340.

40. (29) Joe Nemechek, Toyota, vibration, 44, 31.5, 0, $72,300.

41. (32) David Stremme, Chevrolet, clutch, 39, 33.9, 3, $72,260.

42. (43) Scott Riggs, Chevrolet, brakes, 30, 28.3, 0, $72,195.

43. (38) Michael McDowell, Toyota, electrical, 28, 29.4, 1, $71,792.

Top 12 in Points: 1. C.Edwards, 532; 2. K.Harvick, 512; 3. D.Earnhardt Jr., 505; 4. Ky.Busch, 503; 5. J.Johnson, 503; 6. M.Kenseth, 491; 7. Ku.Busch, 491; 8. R.Newman, 456; 9. D.Hamlin, 455; 10. C.Bowyer, 455; 11. T.Stewart, 454; 12. J.Gordon, 438.

• IRL

Dario Franchitti took over the lead when Helio Castroneves had a tire problem, then held on to win the IndyCar Series race at the Milwaukee Mile in West Allis, Wis.

It was the third victory of the season for Franchitti, who stayed out of trouble as two fellow contenders fell by the wayside. Tony Kanaan crashed with 31 laps to go, and Castroneves gave up the lead when he had to make a late extra pit stop to change a tire that was going flat.

Graham Rahal was second, followed by Oriol Servia, Will Power and Danica Patrick.

Castroneves finished ninth.

It was a return to racing for the Milwaukee Mile, a historic track that dates to 1903 but didn’t host major events last year because of previous promoters’ financial problems.

Milwaukee 225

Sunday

At The Milwaukee Mile

West Allis, Wis.

Lap length: 1 miles

(Starting position in parentheses)

1. (1) Dario Franchitti, Dallara-Honda, 225, Running.

2. (12) Graham Rahal, Dallara-Honda, 225, Running.

3. (10) Oriol Servia, Dallara-Honda, 225, Running.

4. (17) Will Power, Dallara-Honda, 225, Running.

5. (15) Danica Patrick, Dallara-Honda, 225, Running.

6. (16) James Hinchcliffe, Dallara-Honda, 225, Running.

7. (3) Scott Dixon, Dallara-Honda, 225, Running.

8. (5) Takuma Sato, Dallara-Honda, 225, Running.

9. (2) Helio Castroneves, Dallara-Honda, 225, Running.

10. (13) Justin Wilson, Dallara-Honda, 225, Running.

11. (8) Ryan Briscoe, Dallara-Honda, 225, Running.

12. (20) Mike Conway, Dallara-Honda, 225, Running.

13. (9) Marco Andretti, Dallara-Honda, 225, Running.

14. (21) Charlie Kimball, Dallara-Honda, 224, Running.

15. (23) James Jakes, Dallara-Honda, 223, Running.

16. (25) Ed Carpenter, Dallara-Honda, 223, Running.

17. (11) Ana Beatriz, Dallara-Honda, 222, Running.

18. (19) Alex Tagliani, Dallara-Honda, 196, Running.

19. (4) Tony Kanaan, Dallara-Honda, 194, Contact.

20. (6) E.J. Viso, Dallara-Honda, 163, Contact.

21. (18) J.R. Hildebrand, Dallara-Honda, 120, Running.

22. (14) Alex Lloyd, Dallara-Honda, 79, Contact.

23. (24) Sebastian Saavedra, Dallara-Honda, 78, Contact.

24. (22) Vitor Meira, Dallara-Honda, 69, Mechanical.

25. (26) Simona de Silvestro, Dallara-Honda, 11, Handling.

26. (7) Ryan Hunter-Reay, Dallara-Honda, 0, Contact.

Points: Power 271, Franchitti 271, Servia 198, Dixon 195, Rahal 176, Kanaan 171, Briscoe 165, Tagliani 147, Sato 142, Patrick 141.

• NHRA

Robert Hight raced to his fourth Funny Car victory of the season Sunday, breaking the national speed record with a 316.45 mph run in the Thunder Valley NHRA Nationals in Bristol, Tenn.

Hight gained momentum with a consistent string of powerful runs throughout the rain-delayed day of racing and finished off final-round opponent Jack Beckman with 4.092-second run at 314.90 mph in his Ford Mustang.

Larry Dixon (Top Fuel) and Mike Edwards (Pro Stock) also won at Bristol Dragway.