Martin’s Dominance Continues

Winston Cup star Mark Martin, driving in his final Busch Series event at Darlington (S.C.) Raceway, won the 200-mile race for the second year in a row Saturday.

Martin has eight career victories in Busch competition at Darlington.

The victory was the fifth this year and 45th overall for Martin, extending his Busch record. Schedule commitments are forcing the 41-year-old driver to concentrate solely on his Winston Cup program after this season. He plans to drive four more times in Busch races.

Martin, who will race in today’s NASCAR Southern 500 at Darlington, averaged 118.215 in the victory. Jeff Burton was second and Elton Sawyer third.

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Dario Franchitti set a track record to secure the pole for today’s CART FedEx Series race in Vancouver, Canada. Franchitti, who held the provisional pole after Friday’s opening round, needed considerably more speed in the final round after being challenged by teammate Paul Tracy. Franchitti covered the 1.781-mile, 12-turn temporary street circuit in 1 minute 0.404 seconds, an average of 106.144 mph. Tracy’s speed of 105.989 also broke Juan Montoya’s year-old track qualifying record of 105.730.

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Defending champion Cory McClenathan stayed atop Top Fuel qualifying for the 46th U.S. Nationals in Clermont, Ind., drag racing’s most prestigious event. No one bettered the quarter-mile run of 4.655 seconds at a top speed of 317.57 mph that McClenathan, driving the Joe Gibbs-owned MBNA dragster, had posted Friday.

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A car skidded off the road during an auto race outside Sandviken, Sweden, killing two spectators, police said. The race was stopped after the accident and will not be resumed. It was held on asphalt roads--a first in Sweden. Most races are held on gravel roads. Jan-Olof Bohlin, chairman of the Swedish Automobile Sports Federation, said races on asphalt, which increases speeds, will be banned until an investigation is complete.