NASCAR-CHARLOTTE
Johnson ends drought at Coca-Cola 600
CONCORD, N.C. (AP) β Defending Sprint Cup champion Jimmie Johnson passed Matt Kenseth with nine laps to go and won the Coca-Cola 600 on Sunday night for his first victory of the season.
Johnson was dominant at Charlotte Motor Speedway, winning the pole Thursday night and leading 165 of 400 laps in NASCAR’s longest race. He won for the record seventh time at the track and 67th time overall.
Kevin Harvick was second, followed by Kenseth and Carl Edwards. Jamie McMurray, the All-Star race winner last weekend at the track, was fifth.
Kurt Busch’s attempt at motorsports history ended with 129 laps to go when he blew an engine. Busch finished sixth in the Indianapolis 500, but could not complete the 600.
KURT BUSCH
Blown engine ends Busch’s ‘Double’ run
CONCORD, N.C. (AP) β Kurt Busch’s attempt at completing “The Double” is over after his car blew an engine late in the Coca-Cola 600.
Busch finished sixth in his first Indianapolis 500 and was attempting to become the second driver to complete 1,100 miles in both races on the same day.
Busch ended up completing about 907 miles in his quest to join Tony Stewart as the only other driver to complete The Double.
Busch qualified 28th for the Coca-Cola 600 but had to start the 400-lap race at the rear of the field because he didn’t make it to the track in time for the driver’s meeting. He arrived at the track via helicopter about an hour before the start of the Sprint Cup race.
WEBCOM TOUR
Byron Smith wins Rex Hospital Open
RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) β Byron Smith won the Rex Hospital Open on Sunday for his first Web.com Tour title, closing with a 5-under 66 for a four-stroke victory.
The 33-year-old former Pepperdine player finished at 16-under 268 at TPC Wakefield Plantation and earned $112,500 to increase his season total to $139,061.
Smith bogeyed the par-4 18th after birdieing Nos. 11, 12, 14 and 15 and parring Nos. 16-17. He shot a 63 on Saturday for a share of the third-round lead with Hunter Haas and Harold Varner III.
Varner finished with a 70 to tie for second with Australia’s Scott Gardner at 12 under. Gardner shot 69.
ACC CHAMPIONSHIP
Ga Tech beats Maryland 9-4 in ACC title game
GREENSBORO, N.C. (AP) β A.J. Murray drove in three runs, and Georgia Tech won its second Atlantic Coast Conference baseball title in three years, beating Maryland 9-4 on Sunday.
Freshman Connor Justus capped a three-run eighth inning with a two-run single that helped send the ninth-seeded Yellow Jackets (36-25) to their ninth conference title.
They claimed the ACC’s automatic NCAA tournament berth and became the lowest seed to win the tournament, though this was the first year the field expanded to 10 teams.
Blake Schmit homered and Anthony Papio drove in two runs for sixth-seeded and Big Ten-bound Maryland (36-21).
