Boredom Becomes Racing Bliss for Earnhardt

Dale Earnhardt’s start-to-finish victory Sunday at Charlotte (N.C.) Motor Speedway in The Winston pleased him with its boredom.

“This is the kind of race I wanted to win,” he said after dominating the field in NASCAR’s all-star event. “There was no question who was best out there today. We won it without any controversy. There’s no mad race fans out there because their guy got knocked out.”

He was referring to controversial Winston finishes last year and in 1987, the first time Earnhardt won the event.

With the victory that capped a $325,000 Earnhardt weekend that was NASCAR’S richest ever, he became the first two-time winner of The Winston, which dates to 1985.

He also is the first to win the race from the pole and averaged 163.001 m.p.h. for the 70-lap, 105-mile event that was run in two parts--a 50-lap segment followed by a 10-minute rest and a 20-lap sprint.