MOTOR RACING ROUNDUP : Earnhardt Finally Breaks Through

Dale Earnhardt has been in first place in the NASCAR Winston Cup points race since the second race of the season and finally got a victory Sunday in the First Union 400 at North Wilkesboro, N.C.

A great leg up on his eighth series championship, breaking Richard Petty’s record, right?

“Nah, this is early in the year,” said Earnhardt, who had little trouble with pole-sitter Jeff Gordon, who finished second, 13.48 seconds--more than half a lap--behind. “One race don’t win a championship. One race don’t win a season. Got to do a lot more than this.”

Gordon won three of the first six races in his Chevrolet Monte Carlo, but he struggled Sunday with tire problems, as did others.

Earnhardt, who earned $77,400 and averaged a race-record 102.424 m.p.h., has finished second three times but has not really had the car to win until Sunday.

“Today, our car was good and the driver used his head at the right times and the tires worked to our favor,” he said.

Gordon was followed by the Fords of Mark Martin and Rusty Wallace. Steve Grissom was fifth in a Chevrolet, his best finish.

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Damon Hill was in the right place at the start--on the front row, where he avoided an eight-car pileup--and the finish when he won the Argentine Grand Prix at Buenos Aires.

The return of the race to the Formula I schedule after a 14-year hiatus was marred by a first-turn crash that halted the race for 15 minutes to clear the course.

Hill, 32, averaged 100.923 m.p.h., completing 72 laps on the 2.647-mile Buenos Aires circuit in 1 hour 53 minutes 14 seconds. He put his car in the lead when Jean Alesi pitted on the 26th lap. Alesi finished second in a Ferrari. Michael Schumacher was third in a Benetton-Renault in a race that only nine of the 26 drivers finished.

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Scott Kalitta turned 288.46 m.p.h. at 4.886 seconds to win the Top Fuel division in the Winston Select Invitational at Rockingham, N.C.

Actually, Kalitta didn’t have to work that hard. His competition in the finals, Larry Dixon, fouled in the National Hot Rod Assn. event.

John Force was the Funny Car winner, beating Cruz Pedregon in the finals and turning 283.64 m.p.h. at 5.235 seconds in doing it.

In Pro Stock, Darrell Alderman beat Scott Geoffrion, turning 196.93 m.p.h. at 7.037 seconds.