Saturday’s Rolex Sports Car race saw hometown favorite Luis Diaz and co-driver Scott Pruett lead every lap of the Mexico City 250 Daytona Prototype event.

Pruett grabbed the lead at the drop of the green flag and never looked back in building a nearly a 20-second lead before surrendering the car to Diaz during a caution-flag pit stop on Lap 47.

Diaz didn’t miss a beat as he thrilled the his countrymen in cruising to an easy 2.84-second victory over Colin Braun and Jörg Bergmeister. Mike Borkowski and 2003 Champ Car World Series champion Paul Tracy were third while Butch Leitzinger and Andy Wallace finished fourth.

The victory earned Diaz the distinction of being the first Mexican driver in more than 30 years to earn a victory in a major international motor race in Mexico. The last to do it were Hector Rebaque, Memo Rojas and Freddy Van Buren in the 1974 IMSA 1000km of Mexico.

The highlight of the event came on Lap 74 when Chris Bingham and J.C. France crashed. The two drivers exited their cars and engaged in a wild fistfight that ended when France – son of NASCAR executive Jim France and the grandson of Bill France, Jr. – knocked Bingham to the ground and began to pummel the fallen driver.

Track workers then separated the two drivers, both of whom have been suspended from the upcoming Rolex Series event at Homestead-Miami Speedway and have been placed on open-ended probation. Additional sanctions against the two drivers are likely to be announced later this week by the Grand American Rolex Sports Car Series, an International Speedway Corporation property – the same group that owns NASCAR.

Mario Haberfeld and Adrian Fernandez were the highest-finishing EMP Stewart Components team in the event steering their Pontiac Riley to a seventh-place finish.

Meanwhile, defending Daytona Prototype co-champions Wayne Taylor and Max Angelelli finished ninth in the No. 10 SunTrust Pontiac Riley.

Both cars featured a CRD racing engine outfitted with an EMP Stewart Components GM Pro Series Water Pump (pictured left).

The Rolex Sports Car Series will return to action March 23-25 at Homestead Miami Speedway. Round 3 of the 2006 championship series will be televised by The SPEED Channel beginning at 8 p.m. Eastern Time on Sunday, March 25.

On Sunday, the NASCAR Busch Series took center stage at Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez with Denny Hamiln rolling to a convincing victory in the Telcel Motorola 200.

It was the first career Busch win for the driver who beat pole-sitter Boris Said to the finish by 1.53 seconds. Kevin Harvick avoided a late penalty for improper passing with an in-race appeal and finished third while J.J. Yeley and Paul Menard completed the Top-5 finishers.

Said led the initial 26 laps on the 2.518-mile, eight turn Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez road course before Hamiln assumed the point for the first time.

Hamiln would hold the lead for the next 11 laps before pitting. He then recycled through the field to again take the lead for good, this time on Lap 53 and then hold it through the completion of the 80-lap event.

The race featured nine caution flags for 22 laps. The most rousing incident of the day came on Lap 53 when NASCAR Nextel Cup regular Kyle Busch crashed Mexico's Michel Jourdain as they battled for position entering Turn 8.

The partisan Mexican crowd, incensed at Busch’s actions, then jeered and chanted insults directed toward the American driver for his actions. After the incident, Busch radioed his crew saying, "I’m sorry, I should not have done that. I bet I’m hated in Mexico."

In the end, however, it was Hamlin’s day as the former Virginia short-track racer scored the biggest win of his young career.

Carl Edwards (above right) was eighth while Belgian driver Marc Goossens, making his first career NASCAR Busch Series start in the No. 90 Robert Yates Ford (right), finished ninth to lead the EMP Stewart Components effort.

Both cars were outfitted with the EMP Stewart Components/Yates Ford Pro Series Water Pump.

Next up for the NASCAR Busch Series will be the Sam’s Town 300 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway on Saturday, March 12. The event on the 1.5-mile LVMS oval will be televised live on FOX beginning at 6 p.m. Eastern Time. PRN and XM Satellite Radio will also broadcast the event live.

The NASCAR Nextel Cup cars will also head for Las Vegas to compete in the UAW-Daimler Chrysler 400 on Sunday, March 13. The event will take the green flag at 4:35 p.m. Eastern Time and will be telecast live on FOX. The race will also be broadcast worldwide on PRN and XM Satellite Radio.

Make sure you log on to www.stewartcomponents.com every Monday morning throughout the 2006 racing series to read about all the highlights from the previous weekend.