Bobby Wins the Battle of the Labontes

First came the requisite multicar wreck. Then there was the usual late-race shootout for the win, this time won by Bobby Labonte, who turned the tables on brother Terry with a thoughtful strategy and a very fast Pontiac.

The DieHard 500 on Sunday was exactly the type of race fans have come to expect at Talladega Superspeedway, the fastest and arguably most dangerous track on the Winston Cup circuit.

The big crash, involving 20 cars, occurred as drivers were crossing the start-finish line for the 142nd lap. Bill Elliott came away with a bruised sternum, and Dale Earnhardt had second-degree burns to his face and neck. No other injuries were reported.

The red flag stopped racing for 27 minutes. When the race resumed, only 15 cars were left on the lead lap, two running with significant damage.

Terry Labonte was leading a tight four-car pack as the 187th of 188 laps began on the 2.66-mile oval. But Bobby Labonte, who put himself in position for a shot at the win by passing Jeff Gordon for second place on lap 180, led a three-car train past his older brother’s Chevrolet.

The younger Labonte then held off a determined effort from Fords driven by Jimmy Spencer and Dale Jarrett to become the first Pontiac driver to win at Talladega since Richard Petty in 1983, and only the second in the track’s history.

“I’m usually not very good at this guessing game,” Bobby Labonte said of his decision to take a run at his brother two laps from the end. “It worked this time. Maybe it won’t next time.”

It was Labonte’s second win of the season and the seventh of his career. He averaged 163.439 mph and won $141,870. He crossed the finish line .167-seconds--about five car-lengths--ahead of Spencer.

The races at Talladega and Daytona, the two biggest and fastest tracks in the stock car sport, have been slowed since the late ‘80s by carburetor restrictor plates, which also tend to keep the field bunched dangerously close together most of the day.

So drivers were fired up about restrictor plates after Sunday’s fiery crash.

“You can talk about it all you want, it’s not good racing,” said Earnhardt, his mustache partly singed after spinning into flames shooting from Elliott’s demolished car. “Our car was good today, but we can’t keep racing like this, running over each other like this.”

The crash was triggered by Ward Burton bumping Earnhardt.

*

David Coulthard, getting a confidence boost from his pole position and from the early withdrawal of his teammate and rival Mika Hakkinen, led from start to finish to win the San Marino Grand Prix at Imola, Italy.

The 27-year-old Scotsman, driving his silver-and-black McLaren, beat the two Ferraris of Michael Schumacher and Eddie Irvine at the home track of the Italian team, winless at Imola since 1983.

Coulthard’s first season victory--the third for the British team in four championship races--lifted him to second place in the world drivers standings, three points behind Hakkinen who did not finish in Imola but still topped the standings with 26 points.

Hakkinen was stopped by a gear-box failure during the 17th lap, while chasing Coulthard in second place.

The Finn had won in Australia and Brazil and placed second in Argentina, where the dominant McLaren-Mercedes team had its only season lapse so far.

Schumacher, winner of the previous race in Buenos Aires, trailed Coulthard by 4.5 seconds and has 20 points in the drivers championship. Irvine finished third, 51.7 seconds behind the leader.

Coulthard got off to a perfect start from the pole and opened up his lead with a streak of fastest laps during the first half of the race at the Enzo and Dino Ferrari circuit.

*

The CART Bosch Grand Prix at Nazareth, Pa., was rained out and rescheduled for today. It will be televised by ESPN on a delayed basis at 10 a.m.

*

Cory McClenathan of Anaheim won Top Fuel honors at the Pennzoil Nationals at Dinwiddie, Pa., with a quarter-mile run of 4.723 seconds at 302.01 mph in his McDonald’s dragster. It was McClenathan’s third straight Top Fuel victory.

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)

California 500 Schedule

* Thursday: IROC practice, 8 a.m., noon and 4 p.m.; Winston Cup practice, 10 a.m. and 1 p.m., qualifying, 3 p.m. for positions 1-25.

* Friday: Winston West practice, 8:30 a.m., qualifying, noon, for positions 26-38; Winston Cup practice, 9:30 a.m., qualifying, 1 p.m., for positions 1-25.

* Saturday: Winston Cup practice, 9 a.m. and 4 p.m., qualifying, 11 a.m., for positions 26-36; Auto Club 200 Winston West race (100 laps), noon; Pontiac True Value IROC race (50 laps), 2:30 p.m.

* Sunday: California 500 (250 laps), 12:30 p.m.