Wild Weekend
KYLE BUSCH'sitinerary read like a presidential candidate's: three days, more than 4,000miles by air, five plane rides, eight helicopter trips, four police escorts—allto become the first driver to compete in three NASCAR races on three differenttracks in the same weekend. "Why am I doing this?" the 23-year-oldBusch said last Friday. "Because I just love to race." Here's how hisjet-setting journey went:
1 Friday morning,Pocono, Pa.
After waking uplate and finishing off a big bowl of Lucky Charms, Busch practices andqualifies 10th for Sunday's Pocono 500. (He's the Sprint Cup points leader.) Hetakes a 10-minute helicopter ride to the airport and, with a posse of 11, hopsinto a Marquis G-4 jet.
2 Friday evening,Fort Worth
The G-4 landsoutside Texas Motor Speedway just after 7 p.m. Busch choppers into the trackand hops into his ride for the Craftsman Truck Series Sam's Town 400. Despitestarting at the back of the field (since he didn't qualify the truck himself),Busch finishes second. He munches pizza on the plane back to Pocono and hitsthe bed in his motor home at 4 a.m.
3 Saturdaymorning, Pocono
Rested after fivehours of sleep, Busch wrecks in Cup practice, forcing him to a backup forSunday's race. Crew chief Steve Addington says travel wasn't the cause: "Hegot plenty of rest last night." Off to the airport.
4 Saturdayevening, Lebanon, Tenn.
Busch arrives atNashville Superspeedway at 1:45 for the Nationwide Series Federated Auto Parts300. It doesn't go well; he twice cuts a tire and finishes two laps down in20th. Busch bolts without talking to reporters and makes it back to Pocono by 1a.m.
5 Sunday,Pocono
On Lap 46 of 200,Busch wrecks, taking out Jamie McMurray and relegating himself to a last-placefinish. "I apologize to McMurray for wrecking their day," Busch says."Sucks!" But the bad taste in his mouth doesn't dampen his racingjones. Busch leaves the track and prepares for next weekend, when he'll racejust twice—in Michigan and Kentucky.
Go Figure
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World records set by swimmers wearing Speedo's LZR Racer suit since it wasintroduced in February; the most recent is the 200-meter breaststroke mark setby Japan's Kosuke Kitajima (2:07.51) on Sunday.
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Consecutive games the Padres won by a 2--1 score last week, the longest suchstreak in major league history.
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Players who have had six hits in a game at Yankee Stadium: the Indians' OmarVizquel, on Aug. 31, 2004, and New York's Johnny Damon, last Saturday.
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Games the Indians' Victor Martinez, who hit 25 home runs in 2007 but has nonethis year, had played through Sunday.
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Games the Astros' Morgan Ensberg went without his first home run in 2004, thelongest homerless streak to begin a season ever by a player who hit 25 theprevious year.
The Real Deal Goes Down?
AFTER his most recent fight, a unanimous-decision lossto WBO heavyweight champ Sultan Ibragimov, Evander Holyfield said he would keepfighting and was determined to recapture the heavyweight belt he last held in2001. Maybe Holyfield, 45, is just another boxer who doesn't know when to giveup. Or maybe he just really needs the money. On June 4 the Fayette Daily Newspublished a foreclosure notice for Holyfield's 109-room mansion in Fairburn,Ga., saying that mortgage holder Washington Mutual had scheduled an auction forJuly 1. Last Friday an attorney for the lending company said the home had beenremoved from auction, and Holyfield told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution that"everything is all right with the house now."
But Holyfield, who made nearly $250 million in fightpurses, faces other financial issues. The mother of one of his 11 children hasalleged in court that he is behind on child support (a charge Holyfielddenies), and a Utah consulting company is suing the ex-champ for failing torepay a $550,000 loan. The Real Deal, ever the optimist, downplayed his woes tothe Journal-Constitution. "I'm not broke," he said. "I'm just notliquid."
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FREDERICK BREEDON/AP (BUSCH WAVING)
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STEPHEN A. ARCE/ASP INC./ICON SMI (WRECKED CAR)
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GRANT HALVERSON/GETTY IMAGES (CAR)
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MATT SLOCUM/AP (HELICOPTER)
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MATT SLOCUM/AP (KISS)
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JENNI GIRTMAN/AP (HOLYFIELD'S HOME)
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LAWRENCE JACKSON/AP (HOLYFIELD)
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