MOTOR RACING ROUNDUP : Rudd Cruises to 400 Victory After Martin’s Late Trouble

Ricky Rudd likened his victory in Sunday’s Miller Genuine Draft 400 at Brooklyn, Mich., to the fable of the tortoise and the hare.

“We couldn’t outrun him, so we outlasted him,” Rudd said after inheriting the lead nine laps from the end when Mark Martin, clearly the class of the NASCAR Winston Cup field at Michigan International Speedway, ran out of gas.

Martin led 141 of the 200 laps but knew he was in trouble after making a green-flag pit stop with 55 laps to go. He came out of that pit stop with the lead, but knowing that his Ford Thunderbird, despite being the fastest car on the track, could not finish without one more stop for gas.

Steve Hmiel, Martin’s crew chief, told his driver over the radio to pit on Lap 190, but changed his mind, telling him to take one more lap. It turned out to be a mistake as Martin ran out of gas on the backstretch and had to coast to the pits.

Rookie Jeff Gordon, Rudd’s Hendrick Motorsports teammate, finished second, following Rudd’s Chevrolet Lumina across the finish line by 1.1 seconds. Martin finished sixth.

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Defending champion Peugeot swept the top three places in the 24-hour Le Mans endurance race at Le Mans, France, holding off a fading challenge by Toyota, whose racers were plagued by mishaps and structural problems.

Toyota was fourth with one of its factory-backed TS010 cars.

Australian Geoff Brabham piloted the Peugeot 905 across the finish line. His fellow drivers were Frenchmen Christophe Bouchut and Eric Helary.