Ricky Rudd took the lead when Dale...

Ricky Rudd took the lead when Dale Earnhardt blew his engine, and led the final 148 laps in track temperatures that reached 110 degrees to win the Sovran Bank 500 NASCAR race at Martinsville, Va.

Earnhardt was trying to become the first NASCAR driver to win three straight races since Bobby Allison did it in 1983.

Rudd’s Thunderbird finished more than a lap ahead of Joe Ruttman’s Buick LeSabre. The winner, who earned $40,850, averaged 76.882 m.p.h. in his fifth career victory. Terry Labonte’s Oldsmobile Delta 88 was third, four laps back, just ahead of the fourth-place Ford of rookie Alan Kulwicki. Kyle Petty was fifth in another Ford.