Motor Racing Roundup : Earnhardt Stretches His NASCAR Win Streak to Four

Dale Earnhardt took advantage of a big break with only 17 laps left Sunday, moving past a spinning Geoff Bodine en route to winning the Sovran Bank 500 at Martinsville, Va., Speedway for his fourth straight victory.

Bodine appeared to have the race well in hand, leading Earnhardt by about five seconds as he tried to end a 26-race victory drought. But on lap 484 of 500 on the half-mile oval, Bodine got tangled up with Kyle Petty in the second turn.

Bodine’s Chevrolet spun sideways and slid harmlessly into the infield grass as Earnhardt and Rusty Wallace both zoomed past.

Earnhardt, the defending Winston Cup champion, gained an unprecedented sixth victory in eight starts this season. No NASCAR stock car driver ever has won more than five of the first 10.

Earnhardt averaged 72.808 m.p.h. and won $50,850, crossing the finish line for his 26th career victory 2.82 seconds ahead of Wallace, while Bodine recovered to take third. Phil Parsons, the last driver on the lead lap, was fourth, followed a lap behind by Terry Labonte and Bill Elliott.

John Buffum of Colchester, Vt., and Bob Martin of Sterling Heights, Mich., took the top spots Sunday in the One Lap of America rally at Troy, Mich.

Buffum, a 10-time U.S. pro rally champ and the 1985 One Lap of America winner, was tops in the performance touring class, completing the nine-day, cross-country event, which began and ended at Troy, Mich., with 62.42 penalty points.

Buffum, who never trailed after taking the lead at the rally cross section at Lime Rock Park in Lime Rock, Conn., was driving a 1987 Audi 5000 Quattro.

Martin won the touring class in a 1987 Dodge Lancer, leading for the entire 8,000 miles.

Roman Calczynski drove his Chevrolet Camaro to a one-second victory in the NASCAR Southwest Tour 7-Up 100 at Sears Point International Raceway at Sonoma, Calif.

Calczynski, of Sepulveda, took the lead on the 24th of 37 laps and was pulling away from the Grand American stock car field when the third caution of the afternoon created a final lap sprint to the finish.

Calczynski outbraked rookie Jon Paques of Albuquerque, N.M., into the final turn of the 1.7-mile road course to preserve the victory. He averaged 74.757 m.p.h, winning $3,000 from a total purse of $23,000.