Earnhardt Wins, Sits Tall in Driver’s Seat : Auto racing: With victory at Phoenix, he overtakes Martin to lead $1-million points contest.

Mark Martin’s worst fears materialized Sunday in the Checker 500. On a day when Martin’s team’s strategy backfired, Dale Earnhardt drove an intimidating race to not only win but overtake Martin in the battle for the $1-million Winston Cup stock car champion’s bonus.

Once Earnhardt’s Chevy Lumina took the lead from pole-sitter Rusty Wallace during a pit stop after 50 laps, he was never seriously challenged during the rest of the caution flag-ridden race at Phoenix International Raceway. Earnhardt led the remaining 262 laps to win $72,100. Martin struggled home 10th.

Phoenix officials estimated the attendance at 75,000, the largest crowd in the track’s history and well over the 60,000 at last year’s NASCAR race.

Martin’s Ford Thunderbird was running sixth with 15 laps to go when a caution flag came out and crew chief Jack Roush called him in for a new set of tires. When Martin got back on the track he was 12th and two more caution flags prevented him from moving up more than two positions.

“Our strategy didn’t work, that was obvious,” Martin said, “but I was burning my tires trying to hold my position, and we had to get a new set. It just didn’t work out. Now we’ll have to outrun them in Atlanta.

“We ran better than tenth all day. We shouldn’t have won, but we should have had a top-five finish. Things just don’t always work out.”

Martin, who started the day 45 points ahead, is now six behind, 4,260-4,254, with only the Atlanta Journal 500 on Nov. 18 remaining. It is the second closest points race since the series began in 1971. Only in 1979 when Richard Petty overcame a two-point lead by Darrell Waltrip going to the season finale at Ontario Motor Speedway was there a closer finish.

The victory was Earnhardt’s ninth this season against Martin’s three, but until the past three races Martin had been the most consistent driver in NASCAR’s premier series. However, after winning at North Wilkesboro, N.C., four races ago, he has finished 14th at Charlotte, N. C., 11th at Rockingham, N.C, and now 10th at Phoenix.

“We wanted to be dominate. We didn’t want Mark to score any (bonus) points, and things worked out better than we’d hoped for,” Earnhardt said. “What we wanted to do was come in here, knock him down a few points and head for Atlanta. Nothing’s changed. We still have to race him for it down there, but we’re in a better situation, for sure.”

Five bonus points are given for leading a race and another five for leading the most laps.

Earnhardt, who is seeking his fourth Winston Cup championship after winning in 1980, 1986 and 1987, scored a clean sweep.

“It’s been a long time coming, our getting to the front,” Earnhardt added. “If we’re dominant like we’ve been down in Atlanta the last couple of races, it’ll only be fitting that we win the championship.”

Earnhardt won the spring race at Atlanta and also last year’s Atlanta Journal 500.

As a final note to a bitter day, Martin’s car was involved in a crash after the checkered flag when Terry Labonte’s car blew an engine on the last lap and Martin, Geoff Bodine, Ernie Irvan and Chuck Bown collided when smoke from Labonte’s engine obscured their view.

“I could see smoke, but I’m running for the championship, and I can’t back off until I get to the (finish) line,” Martin said. “I got on the brakes and ‘wheel-hopped’ it, got into Geoff (Bodine) and somebody got into me. It was just an unfortunate situation, but nobody got hurt. Only the cars.”

The only driver who seemed capable of challenging Earnhardt was Ken Schrader, who finished second, 0.67 of a second behind, but the margin was close only because of caution flags at the end of the race.

“Our car was real close all day, but we were just a little bit off,” Schrader said. “You don’t win these Winston Cup races when you’re a little bit off. My hat’s off to Dale. His team did a great job, and the way he ran, we’re just happy to have finished second.”

Morgan Shepherd finished third, followed in order by Darrell Waltrip, Bill Elliott, Alan Kulwicki, Rick Mast, Geoff Bodine and Irvan before Martin arrived.

Wallace, last year’s Winston Cup champion, led the first 50 laps after grabbing the pole Friday with a lap of 124.44 m.p.h. He lost his lead to Earnhardt on a slow pit stop, but was still running second when he slowed abruptly on the 77th lap because of a blown engine.

“I had the strongest car on the track, but it was just one of those deals you get in racing,” Wallace said. “No warning, it just blew.”

Earnhardt’s winning speed was a rather slow 96.786 m.p.h. because of nine caution flags which slowed the pace for 53 of the 312 laps. Earnhardt had the fastest lap: 120.080 m.p.h.

The most serious accident occured on lap 49 when six cars tangled in the third turn after Shepherd and Bobby Hillin Jr. touched wheels, spinning Hillin sideways in the middle of the track. Michael Waltrip slid sideways into Hillin and Kyle Petty, with no place to go, slid into both of them.

Hillin and Waltrip were hospitalized, Hillin with multiple bruises and a possible neck injury and Waltrip with bruises and a concussion.

Jeff (Pancho) Walton, a jackman on Ted Musgrave’s crew, suffered a bruised leg when Musgrave spun around in the pits, knocking Walton down.

“Our driver came in a little hot, hit the jackman and tossed him in the air,” explained crew chief D.K. Ulrich. “He came down running, so that leads me to believe he’s OK.”

Bill Schmitt, veteran Winston West driver from Redding, Calif., won his fourth championship by finishing 18th, the highest among the West Coast drivers. Schmitt beat Bill Sedgwick of Van Nuys, 1,342-1,341, in the closest finish in 37 years of Winston West racing.