Jarrett Wins Crash-Shortened Primestar 500

Dale Jarrett finished what he started Sunday, running away with the Primestar 500 on the 1 1/2-mile oval at Atlanta Motor Speedway and moving into the Winston Cup points lead.

Jarrett, who dominated a race last month at Rockingham, N.C., only to lose to Jeff Gordon, this time gave no opening to his closest pursuer, Robert Yates Racing teammate Ernie Irvan.

The race prematurely ended with sundown approaching because a spectacular crash 44 laps from the end of the 328-lap event caused a delay of nearly one hour.

It was the third top-five finish in a row for Jarrett, 40, who earned his ninth career victory and first at the Atlanta track.

“Finally,” Jarrett said after climbing from his Ford Thunderbird. “It was a great effort by all of our guys.”

Jarrett did get a scare on lap 190, when his car began sputtering and he had to switch to a backup ignition system. He lost the lead briefly to Irvan, but quickly got back up to speed and moved right back to the top spot five laps later.

“The coil went out on it but, luckily, I was able to switch over,” he said.

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Al Hofmann was listed in stable condition, hours after his car caught fire as it crossed the finish line victoriously in the Funny Car competition at the NHRA Gatornationals in Florida.

Hofman was about to celebrate the 13th victory of his career when his engine exploded at the end of his quarter-mile run. It immediately caught fire.

Hofmann, 49, suffered some fractures in the accident, a hospital spokesman said.

David Coulthard ended a three-year winless streak for the McLaren-Mercedes team, winning the season-opening Australian Grand Prix by 20 seconds ahead of world champion Michael Schumacher at Melbourne.

Coulthard of Scotland completed 58 laps of the 3.3-mile Albert Park track in 1 hour, 30 minutes, 28.718 seconds. He averaged 127 mph.

Scott Russell became the first four-time winner of the Daytona 200 motorcycle race in Florida, finishing 4.5 seconds ahead of Doug Chandler of Salinas.

Russell averaged 105.870 mph around the 3.56-mile road course at Daytona International Speedway aboard his yellow No. 4 Yamaha 750.

Tennis

Richard Krajicek, playing in his hometown of Rotterdam, Netherlands, won two tiebreakers to beat Daniel Vacek, 7-6 (7-4), 7-6, (7-5), and win the ABN AMRO indoor tournament.

At Scottdale, Ariz., Mark Philippoussis of Australia fired 13 aces to defeat Richey Reneberg, 6-4, 7-6 (7-4), to win the Franklin Templeton Tennis Classic.

Golf

Steve Elkington took the lead with an eagle from 150 yards on the third hole in final round of the Doral-Ryder Open at Miami, then survived the sand-filled back nine to win by two strokes over Nick Price and Larry Nelson.

Elkington shot a 69 for a 13-under-par 275.

Winter Sports

Olympic champion Thomas Stangassinger of Austria tested next winter’s Olympic course at Shigakogen, Japa, and won a World Cup slalom, his first cup victory in three years.

Stangassinger had the fastest second run of the day and edged Finn-Christian Jagge of Norway by .84 seconds for the title. Stangassinger had an aggregate time of 1 minute, 41.10 seconds.

Miscellany

Wilson Kipketer smashed his world record in the 800 meters at the World Indoor Championship at Paris, and Mary Slaney lost to a woman who is six years older than her in the 1,500 meters.

Kipketer ran 1 minute, 42.67 seconds, obliterating the mark of 1:43.96 he set in Friday’s first-round heats.

Yekaterina Podkopayeva of Russia, 44, the oldest winner ever at the championships, was timed in 4:05.19 to win the women’s 1,500.

Clarence Kay, the former Denver Broncos tight end, was arrested again, this time for allegedly violating a restraining order by harassing his former girlfriend and a male companion. . . . Daniel Paul VanEtten, a West Virginia freshman football player, was killed and three others were injured when the sports utility VanEtten was driving went out of control after its tire went flat in West Virginia. . . . Martin Buser held a one-hour lead in the Iditarod Trail sled dog race at Alaska and reached the Bering Sea coast.