Motor Racing Roundup : Wallace Comes Back to Win at Charlotte

Rusty Wallace overcame a 2-lap deficit Sunday to win the Oakwood Homes 500 NASCAR stock car race in a bumper-to-bumper duel with Darrell Waltrip.

Waltrip’s Chevrolet was practically nudging the back of Wallace’s Pontiac as the two crossed the finish line after 334 laps around the 1.5-mile Charlotte Motor Speedway oval at Concord, N.C.

“I was on 7 1/2 cylinders the whole time and that’s why Darrell was outrunning me,” Wallace said. “But this Pontiac was really handling.

“He was faster than me, but I was able to outrun him in (turns) 3 and 4 because of the handling.”

Wallace’s third victory of the season kept him close in the Winston Cup overall title championship. He trails leader Bill Elliott by 109 points with 4 races remaining on the 28-race schedule.

Brett Bodine, who led Sunday’s race until both Wallace and Waltrip charged past on lap 322, finished third, followed by Elliott and Sterling Marlin.

Bobby Hillin Jr., Ken Schrader, Ricky Rudd, Mark Martin and Terry Labonte were the only other drivers on the lead lap at the end of the 500-mile race.

Wallace fell 2 laps off the pace just before the halfway point in the race as he made a series of pit stops while his crew worked to correct a mysterious mechanical problem.

After changing the carburetor, Wallace began challenging the leaders.

Using caution flags and his new-found speed, Wallace regained the lead for good on lap 243, then went after the leaders.

He was sixth by lap 293, third by 298 and second by 299.

Waltrip, a three-time Winston Cup champion, however caught Wallace. Waltrip tried several times without success to pass Wallace over the final 10 laps.

Wallace, who has seven career victories and his first triumph at Charlotte, averaged 130.677 m.p.h.

The seventh of 10 caution periods led to misfortune for several drivers, including two-time defending Winston Cup champion Dale Earnhardt and Davey Allison.

Earnhardt, Allison--who had been leading the race--Labonte, Benny Parsons, Schrader and Martin all were sent to the back of the lead lap by NASCAR officials after pitting before going under the caution flag when Greg Sacks hit the fourth-turn wall on lap 193.

Alan Kulwicki, the record-setting pole-winner, extended the caution period when he blew a tire and hit the second-turn wall on lap 194.

Then, it took officials several minutes to sort out the placement of the penalized cars.

Buddy Lazier survived a challenge by Robby Unser to take the checkered flag in the seventh round of the American Indycar Series at the 2.5-mile Willow Springs International Raceway at Rosamond, Calif.

The victory gave him 132 points and assured him the championship. Kevin Whitesides, who pulled off the course with two laps remaining, kept his second place in the eight-race series with 100 points.

Eddie Cheever of Phoenix won the best driver title as he, Martin Brundle of Britain and John Nielsen of Sweden drove their Jaguar XJR9 to victory in the World Sports-Prototype Championship at Gotemba, Japan.

They finished the 224-lap race around the 2.77-mile Fuji Speedway in 5 hours 28 minutes 6 seconds, averaging 113.5 m.p.h.