AUTO RACING | Sunday’s results

NASCAR XFINITY

NEWTON, IOWA

Sam Hornish Jr. led 183 of 250 laps in his first race of 2016 and cruised to victory in Sunday’s NASCAR Xfinity race at the Iowa Speedway. Hornish, driving the No. 18 car for Joe Gibbs Racing, picked up his first win in two years — which also came at Iowa’s 0.875-mile oval. Hornish was briefly pushed by Ty Dillon and Brad Keselowski on a restart with 27 laps to go. But Hornish held on to the outside groove for his fourth career Xfinity series win. Dillon was second, followed by Keselowski, Daniel Suarez and Alex Bowman. Pole sitter Erik Jones had issues with the No. 20 car all afternoon. He finished 27th.

FORMULA ONE

BAKU, AZERBAIJAN

Eight races into the Formula One season and Ferrari remains winless, but the Italian team is not yet ready to surrender the 2016 title to runaway leader Mercedes. Nico Rosberg’s victory at Sunday’s European Grand Prix, and Sebastian Vettel’s second place for Ferrari, widened the gap between the two drivers to 45 points with 13 races remaining. In the constructors’ championship the margin is now 81 points. Sceptics have been urging Ferrari to abandon hopes of challenging for this year’s title and instead get a head start on developing a car to meet 2017’s significantly altered design regulations. Second place was a creditable result for the team, given the degree of Mercedes’ dominance through practice, qualifying and then the race. Kimi Raikkonen was overtaken by Force India’s Sergio Perez for third place on the penultimate lap, but had incurred a five-second penalty for crossing the white line at the pit entry at his pitstop. He would have been relegated behind the Mexican anyway regardless of the passing move.

NHRA

BRISTOL, TENN.

Tommy Johnson Jr. raced to his first Funny Car victory of the season and the 13th of his career Sunday in the NHRA Thunder Valley Nationals at Bristol Dragway. Johnson had a 4.038-second pass at 313.22 mph in a Dodge Charger R/T to beat teammate and two-time 2016 winner Matt Hagan in the final. Hagan had a 4.030 at 317.57.

Johnson, a two-time Bristol winner, is seventh in the season standings. Shawn Langdon won in Top Fuel, and points leader Jason Line topped the Pro Stock field. Langdon won for the first time this season, racing to a 3.838 at 322.19 to edge teammate and eight-time season champion Tony Schumacher. Langdon, also the 2014 Bristol winner, has 12 career victories. Line powered his Chevrolet Camaro to his sixth victory of the season and 43rd of his career, outlasting teammate Greg Anderson in the final round. Line sprinted to a 6.668 at 207.59 to better Anderson’s 6.694 at 207.62. Line also won at the track in 2006.

ARCA

OREGON, WIS.

Josh Williams raced to his second ARCA Racing Series victory of the year Sunday, holding off hard-charging Kyle Weatherman at Madison International Speedway. Williams, also the winner in Nashville in April for his first career victory, became the first two-time winner this season. He drove his own No. 6 Southwest Florida Cable Construction Chevrolet. “This was a complete group effort today,” Williams said. “We weren’t even supposed to be here. We’re down on funds, and we came off the chassis dyno 45 horsepower down, not sure why. Other than that, the car was really on it today. It was so hot that being down on horsepower probably didn’t hurt as much.” Weatherman was second in 200-lap race on the half-mile oval. Nicole Behar was third, followed by Ty Majeski, Tom Hessert, Chase Briscoe, Matt Kurzejewski, A.J. Fike, Thomas Praytor and Will Kimmel.

Associated Press