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MIAMI — The media and fans couldn’t get enough of Juan Pablo Montoya on Thursday night as he and his wife made their way up the red carpet for their annual fundraiser gala. It was the same way earlier in the day at a news conference in nearby Coral Gables. The circus around him was just as big Friday at Homestead-Miami Speedway, the scene of Sunday’s Sprint Cup finale. The weekend might belong to Jimmie Johnson, who’s on the verge of an unprecedented fourth straight championship. The city belongs to Montoya. “Well, it’s actually a nightmare,” the driver of the No. 42 for Earnhardt Ganassi Racing said with a smile. “It is. It’s so many people. Everybody wants tickets. Everybody needs this. Everybody is your best friend. “But in the same token, it’s good to have that support and people paying attention.” NASCAR’s first Colombian star has an iconic following here like nowhere outside of his native country. That he makes this his home, living on three floors of a luxurious high-rise near the Viceroy Icon at Brickell Miami where he held the gala, is a factor.

By JENNA FRYER (AP) RICHMOND, Va. — Denny Hamlin finally grabbed a coveted win at his home track in a bittersweet night for Joe Gibbs Racing. As he celebrated in Victory Lane, teammate Kyle Busch was shut out of the Chase for the championship. It was a compelling night of Saturday night racing at Richmond International Raceway, where 11 drivers vied for the final eight available spots in NASCAR’s title-deciding Chase. On the bubble was Daytona 500 winner Matt Kenseth, who started the race in the 12th and final qualifying spot, with hard-charging Brian Vickers and Busch, owner of four wins this season, right on his bumper. Kenseth struggled from the drop of the green flag and quickly fell out of contention. But Busch and Vickers swapped the final spot multiple times over the 400 laps, setting up a final 14-lap sprint to the finish. Busch used a flawless final pit stop to beat Vickers off of pit road, but he restarted the race sixth and could only gain one spot on the track. He finished fifth. Vickers, meanwhile, finished a career-high seventh at Richmond to grab the final Chase spot by eight points — the tightest margin since the format began in 2004. “We’ll live to see another day, we’ll go on and race the rest of the year,” Busch said. “It’s not just one night. It’s a slew of bad races.” Busch and Vickers, one-time teammates who feuded last month, showed no ill-will toward each other after the frantic finish. Busch extended a handshake and said, “Good job,” as Vickers …

LUKE MEREDITH (AP) NEWTON, Iowa — The inaugural Nationwide Series race at Iowa Speedway came down to a two-man battle between points leader Kyle Busch and top series regular Brad Keselowski. In a twist that’s becoming all too common for Busch, he was forced settle for yet another second-place finish. This time, it was Keselowski who pulled off the victory with a gutsy move down the stretch. Keselowski passed Busch with eight laps left and held on to win Saturday for his fourth career NNS win. Keselowski stayed on the track during a caution flag late in the race, a risk that paid off with his second victory of the year. Keselowski also won at Dover on May 30, in addition to a Sprint Cup Series victory at Talladega in April. “I couldn’t have asked for a better finish,” Keselowski said. “It’s lot more fun to say I beat Kyle heads-up. That means a lot to me.” Busch, who started at the back after spending the morning in Pennsylvania practicing for the Sprint Cup race Sunday at Pocono, lead for 84 laps. He has nine consecutive top-two finishes, tying the series record set by Jack Ingram in 1983. Busch wasn’t all that thrilled about such a distinction. It was the fourth time in five Nationwide races that Busch finished second, though he still has a 207-point edge over Carl Edwards in the season points race. “Apparently, I don’t know what I need in my race cars in order to win these races at the end of them,” Busch said. “It’s a frustrating day.” Jason Leffler was third, followed …

CONCORD, NC (AP) — Tony Stewart won his first race as a team owner Saturday night, breaking through for a million payday with a victory in the annual All-Star race. Stewart passed Matt Kenseth with two laps to go of a thrilling final 10-lap shootout to win his first All-Star event in 11 previous starts. It was the first victory since he left Joe Gibbs Racing at the end of last year, after two championships and 10 successful seasons, to become co-owner of Stewart-Haas Racing. In just six months, Smoke has turned his new toy into a championship contender. It was the first win for the organization, which was known as Haas CNC Racing for its first seven seasons. The win at Lowe’s Motor Speedway was in front of co-owner Gene Haas, who was at the track for the first time since the completion of a 16-month federal prison term for tax fraud. “Man, he’s not going to miss a week now,” Stewart said. “He gets here and we win a race.” Stewart became the second driver/owner to win the All-Star race, joining Geoff Bodine, who won in 1994. His crew urged him to the climb the fence in celebration — a tradition he started several years ago — but the driver who turns 38 next week declined. His crew climbed for him. Kenseth finished second and was followed by Kurt Busch, Denny Hamlin and Carl Edwards. The format of the Sprint-sponsored event was once again changed, this time to cut the 100-lap race into four segments that culminated with a 10-lap sprint to the finish. It was a nod to …

Kasey Kahne held off points leader Tony Stewart on several late-race restarts, including one for a green-white-checkered finish, to win Sunday’s Toyota/Save Mart 350 at Infineon Raceway. Kahne grabbed the lead for the final time with 34 laps to go and then beat Stewart to the finish line by 0.748 seconds for his first victory of the season and the 10th of his Sprint Cup Series career. He gave Richard Petty Motorsports its first win since “The King” merged his team with Gillett Evernham Motorsports before the start of the 2009 season. Prior to his win at Sonoma, Kahne had never finished in the top-10 in a NASCAR road-course race. His best finish was 14th, which came twice at Watkins Glen, NY. Kahne also ended a 37-race drought, with his last win coming in June 2008 at Pocono, while driving for Gillett. “It feels great, I can’t believe it,” Kahne said. Petty came to victory lane and congratulated Kahne, who gave the NASCAR legend his first team owner victory since John Andretti’s win in April 1999 at Martinsville. “I feel just as good as (Kahne) does,” Petty said. Boris Said turned Scott Speed around in the closing laps, which set up the two-lap overtime finish, the first since NASCAR amended its new double-file restart rule. Kahne moved in front of Stewart and quickly pulled away from there. “Stewart is just as good as they get out here,” Kahne said. “He was giving me tons of room so I didn’t get any rubber on my tires.” Stewart knew he had his hands full after Kahne took …

DOVER, Del. (AP) — Jimmie Johnson nosed past Tony Stewart with two laps left in a thrilling battle to the finish and won the Sprint Cup Series race at Dover International Speedway. Johnson pushed Stewart over the final few laps Sunday on the concrete and finally caught him with an outside pass. Johnson won his second race of the season and got his fourth career Cup victory at Dover. “We just couldn’t hold off Jimmie,” Stewart said. “He was like a freight train coming.” Johnson dominated most of the race and led 298 total laps after leading only 12 laps combined in the last six races. The three-time defending Cup champion had a slow pit stop with 36 laps left that dropped him from the lead. With crew chief Chad Knaus telling Johnson he would catch Stewart, Johnson pulled out his 42nd career win. “I just had to go,” Johnson said. “I had one heck of a race with Tony. That’s how racing’s supposed to be done.” He was followed by Stewart, Greg Biffle, Matt Kenseth and Kurt Busch. Dale Earnhardt Jr. finished 12th in his first race with crew chief Lance mcgrew. Stewart passed Jeff Gordon for the Cup points lead and became the first owner/driver to sit atop the standings since Alan Kulwicki won the Cup title in 1992. Gordon ran two laps down in his backup car most of the race and finished 26th to fall 46 points behind Stewart.

JOLIET, Ill. — Body-slamming and bump-drafting were the order of the day — at 1.5-mile Chicagoland Speedway, no less — and 50-year-old Martin was the last man standing in a wild LifeLock.com 400. Pulling away after a double-file restart with two laps left in Saturday night’s NASCAR Sprint Cup race, Martin won his series-best fourth race of the season and the 39th of his career. Martin gained two positions to 11th in the standings and will have at least 40 bonus points for the Chase for …

LOUDON, NH (AP) — Teenager Joey Logano became the youngest winner in the history of the NASCAR Sprint Cup series Sunday, winning the rain-shortened race at New Hampshire Motor Speedway. The precocious 19-year-old rookie came back from a crash that put him a lap down earlier in the Lenox Industrial Tools 301 and won his first Cup race in his 20th start. Logano was among a group of drivers who moved to the front of the field after getting out of sequence on fuel stops. The youngster took the …

By JENNA FRYER (AP) INDIANAPOLIS — Jimmie Johnson grabbed an improbable third victory at Indianapolis Motor Speedway when a speeding penalty to Juan Pablo Montoya blew Sunday’s race wide open. Montoya led 116 laps and had a 5-second lead when he headed to pit road for a routine stop with 35 laps remaining. NASCAR flagged him for speeding on his way in, and the penalty knocked him out of contention. “I swear on my children and my wife that I was not speeding!” he shouted over his radio …

BROOKLYN, Mich. (AP) — The most surprised person to find Mark Martin in Victory Lane at Michigan International Speedway was the driver himself. The 50-year-old NASCAR star has run well but has had to deal with considerable bad luck this season. It looked like more of the same Sunday when the battery in his No. 5 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet began to fail before the halfway mark in the LifeLock 400 Sprint Cup race. Martin turned off everything in the car that he could, nursing it as best he …