Victory Belongs in the Pits for Earnhardt

An extremely fast pit stop separated Dale Earnhardt from Terry Labonte, and he rode it to a record-setting victory Sunday in the Purolator 500 at Hampton, Ga.

The seven-time Winston Cup champion trailed race leader Labonte by one second prior to the final green flag stop in the 328-lap event on the 1.522-mile Atlanta Motor Speedway.

Earnhardt drove his Richard Childress Chevrolet onto pit road at the end of lap 291 and took on four tires and two cans of gas in 19.72 seconds. Labonte, also driving a Chevy, came in the next time around and took 21.81 seconds for his stop.

By the time both were back on the track and up to racing speed, Earnhardt was well ahead.

Earnhardt, who set a track record of 163.633 mph in a similar victory with the same car here in November, averaged a race record 161.298 Sunday. That broke the record of 156.849 he set in 1990.

Labonte wound up a half-straightaway behind. Jeff Gordon, the defending series champion who won the previous week at Richmond, Va., was third, followed by Ernie Irvan, Jeremy Mayfield and Ken Schrader.

Skiing

Sebastien Amiez of France wrested the World Cup slalom title from world champion Alberto Tomba in a thrilling end to the season at Hafjell, Norway.

Although Thomas Sykora charged from behind to beat Amiez in the final race, Amiez’s finish was enough to keep him ahead of the fourth-place Tomba in the final slalom standings.

Tomba, a double gold medalist at last month’s World Championships in Sierra Nevada, Spain, and a three-time Olympic champion, was fourth for the second day in a row in a disappointing end to an otherwise fine season.

Tennis

Thomas Muster reclaimed the No. 1 ranking from Pete Sampras by defeating Jiri Novak, 7-6 (7-3), 6-2, to win the Mexican Open at Mexico City for the fourth time.

Muster is the first player since John McEnroe to win an event four consecutive years. McEnroe won in Philadelphia 1982-85.

Goran Ivanisevic of Croatia won the ABN AMRO indoor tournament at Rotterdam, Netherlands, defeating Russian Yevgeny Kafelnikov, 6-4, 3-6, 6-3.

Wayne Ferreira recovered from a weak first set to win his first ATP Tour title of the year, defeating Marcelo Rios, 2-6, 6-3, 6-3, to win the Franklin Templeton Tennis Classic at Scottsdale, Ariz.

Miscellany

Dominique Calloway of Denver, Colo., set two national high school records Sunday while winning the 60-meter hurdles title at the National Scholastic Indoor Track and Field Championships at Boston.

Calloway ran 8.50 in her winning semifinal heat to break the national record of 8.52. Calloway then lowered her hour-old record to 8.34 in winning the final.

Pasadena Muir’s fearsome foursome of Jucorie Tryon, Sultan McCullough, Makio Haywood and Obea Moore ran 3:13.34 in the boys 1,600-meter relay to break their own record of 3:14.84.

Long Beach Wilson set a national record in the girls’ 1,600-meter relay with a time of 3:44.38.

The Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race appeared to be shaping into a four-way race as the leaders reached the Bering Sea coast at Unalakleet, Alaska.

1993 winner Jeff King was the first musher to reach the village on Norton Sound, arriving at 9:38 a.m. local time. Martin Buser arrived at 9:51 and Doug Swingley followed at 10:08 a.m. Dee Dee Jonrowe arrived at 11:15 a.m.

A Pitkin County jury deliberated for an hour before finding race car driver Danny Sullivan innocent of third-degree assault and harassment of his girlfriend at Aspen, Colo.

Alabama running back Brian Steger was suspended for an undisclosed reason and will miss spring football practice, Coach Gene Stallings said.

Mo Ankney, Missouri’s defensive coordinator, was arrested last week for allegedly stealing a $2 pack of cigarettes from a grocery store in Columbia, Mo.