Power nabs 6th win of year

• IRL

Will Power wrapped his hand around a big bottle of champagne, shook it up, let the bubbly fly and took a long drink.

What better way to celebrate an absolutely perfect weekend?

Power put on a masterful performance Sunday over a difficult street course to win the inaugural Baltimore Grand Prix. The Australian deftly negotiated hairpin turns and confidently gripped the wheel over bumpy roads to earn his second straight win and career-high sixth of the season.

Power had the best time in Friday's practice session, captured the pole Saturday, then led in 70 of the 75 laps to earn the $35,000 top prize.

"I'm just exhausted," Power said, "but that was a championship run."

Spain's Oriol Servia finished second, 10.2096 seconds back, and Tony Kanaan of Brazil was third. Kanaan lost his brakes during a practice run Sunday morning, soared over Helio Castroneves' car and had to drive a backup.

Power lost the lead early in the race to Graham Rahal, quickly gained it back and trailed only briefly thereafter after making a pit stop.

"It feels like one of my best wins," said Power.

The victory moved him within five points of Izod IndyCar leader Dario Franchitti, who took fourth.

Scott Dixon was fifth and Danica Patrick took sixth. Patrick has three races left after this one before dedicating her entire efforts toward stock car racing.

The first street race in Baltimore featured several tight turns, uneven terrain, bothersome chicane and narrow pit lanes situated in front of Oriole Park at Camden Yards. The word most often used to describe the 2.04-mile course was "challenging," and it was certainly that.

There were no crashes, but the race was not without incident.

During practice sessions and qualifying, the drivers expressed concern about the perilous turns that left little margin for error.

Sure enough, the biggest mishap of the afternoon came on Turn 3 at the midpoint of the race. Seeking to turn on the inside, Ryan Briscoe clipped Ryan Hunter-Reay, whose car spun out upon contact. That created a logjam of 11 cars that forced rookie James Jakes out of the race.

"It was just a big mess," Jakes said. "There's nothing you really could do."

Baltimore Grand Prix

Sunday

At Baltimore Street Circuit

Baltimore

Lap length: 2.04 miles

(Starting position in parentheses)

1. (1) Will Power, Dallara-Honda, 75, Running.

2. (14) Oriol Servia, Dallara-Honda, 75, Running.

3. (27) Tony Kanaan, Dallara-Honda, 75, Running.

4. (4) Dario Franchitti, Dallara-Honda, 75, Running.

5. (9) Scott Dixon, Dallara-Honda, 75, Running.

6. (23) Danica Patrick, Dallara-Honda, 75, Running.

7. (19) Alex Tagliani, Dallara-Honda, 75, Running.

8. (6) Ryan Hunter-Reay, Dallara-Honda, 75, Running.

9. (12) Vitor Meira, Dallara-Honda, 75, Running.

10. (2) Graham Rahal, Dallara-Honda, 75, Running.

11. (18) Martin Plowman, Dallara-Honda, 75, Running.

12. (10) Simona de Silvestro, Dallara-Honda, 75, Running.

13. (24) Sebastian Saavedra, Dallara-Honda, 75, Running.

14. (3) Ryan Briscoe, Dallara-Honda, 75, Running.

15. (8) E.J. Viso, Dallara-Honda, 75, Running.

16. (20) Ana Beatriz, Dallara-Honda, 75, Running.

17. (28) Helio Castroneves, Dallara-Honda, 74, Running.

18. (26) Takuma Sato, Dallara-Honda, 73, Running.

19. (17) J.R. Hildebrand, Dallara-Honda, 73, Contact.

20. (25) Ed Carpenter, Dallara-Honda, 73, Running.

21. (16) Charlie Kimball, Dallara-Honda, 73, Running.

22. (22) Tomas Scheckter, Dallara-Honda, 71, Running.

23. (7) Mike Conway, Dallara-Honda, 64, Mechanical.

24. (15) James Hinchcliffe, Dallara-Honda, 54, Handling.

25. (21) Marco Andretti, Dallara-Honda, 40, Mechanical.

26. (13) Giorgio Pantano, Dallara-Honda, 39, Contact.

27. (11) James Jakes, Dallara-Honda, 37, Contact.

28. (5) Sebastien Bourdais, Dallara-Honda, 9, Electrical.

Points: Franchitti 507, Power 502, Dixon 430, Servia 367, Kanaan 340, Briscoe 328, Hunter-Reay 305, M.Andretti 292, Castroneves 290, Rahal 284.

• NASCAR

NASCAR postponed Sunday's race at Atlanta Motor Speedway in Hampton, Ga., because of heavy rain.

The AdvoCare 500 will be held Tuesday (8 a.m., ESPN). Any hopes of running the race Sunday night ended when another line of showers moved through the area about 9:30 p.m. EDT - two hours after the scheduled start, and just as crews were finishing up their effort to get the track dry for a late-night start.

NASCAR says there's no chance to get the race in today. The forecast calls for 4 to 5 inches of rain and possibly severe weather as remnants of Tropical Storm Lee move through the Atlanta area.

• NHRA

Cruz Pedregon took advantage of cool, cloudy weather to set a Lucas Oil Raceway record of 4.026 seconds and bump Melanie Troxel from the top Funny Car qualifying spot in the U.S. Nationals at Clermont, Ind.

The engine in Troxel's car broke on the day's final run, relegating her to second with her Saturday run of 4.068 seconds. The final eliminations are today.

Antron Brown's car misfired on its final pass, but he remained fastest in Top Fuel with his Saturday night run of 3.818 seconds at 322.96 mph. Del Worsham took the No. 2 spot with a final-round run of 3.836, with Brandon Bernstein third at 3.846, Spencer Massey fourth at 3.848, defending champion Larry Dixon fifth at 3.850 and Tony Schumacher sixth at 3.856.

Jason Line took over first in Pro Stock with his Sunday run of 6.603 at 209.01. Andrew Hines bumped previous leader Matt Smith (6.936) to second in Pro Stock Motorcycle with a final-round pass of 6.909 at 193.90.