Wire-to-Wire Win for Burton

Jeff Burton became the first driver in 22 years to lead every lap of a NASCAR race when he won the Dura Lube 300 Sunday at New Hampshire International Speedway in Loudon.

But it was not a rout, as Bobby Labonte made things close.

“Had we ever gotten behind him it would have been hard to pass him,” Burton said.

The wire-to-wire performance by Burton was only the third in series history. Cale Yarborough did it at Bristol, Tenn., in 1973, and five years later at Nashville.

The cars in Sunday’s race were slowed by speed-robbing carburetor restricter plates, which were ordered by NASCAR in response to the deaths of Kenny Irwin and Adam Petty.

Labonte, the pole sitter and series leader driving a Pontiac, nearly led three times, the last when he went in front for a moment with six laps remaining.

Labonte almost got in front when the cars pitted under caution two-thirds of the way through. But Burton’s Ford, pitting right behind Labonte’s Pontiac, barely beat him off pit road, and he became the first four-time winner on the Magic Mile. “We needed to come out of pits first every time,” said crew chief Frank Stoddard.

The plates slowed the cars by about 10 mph, and there were few meaningful passes. Burton, who started second, won when the race ended under caution after Sterling Marlin blew a tire with three laps left.

Finishing third on this 1.058-mile oval was the Ford of Ricky Rudd, followed by that of his teammate, series champion Dale Jarrett.

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The closest championship chase in CART’s 22-year history got even tighter as Juan Montoya elbowed his way into the title picture by winning the Motorola 300 at Madison, Ill., when a dominating performance by Michael Andretti ended in a burst of flame from a broken engine after he had lapped everyone in the 25-car field except Montoya.

Montoya, the defending series champion, jumped from 11th to eighth in the standings. He trails leader Gil de Ferran by only 31 points with three races left.

Montoya, who picked up his third CART victory of the season and the 10th of his career, broke the race record of 125.725 set by Alex Zanardi in 1998, finishing with a speed of 155.519 mph.

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Five-time NHRA Winston champion Joe Amato, from nearby Exeter, Pa., won the top fuel division of the Keystone Nationals at Maple Grove Raceway in Mohnton, Pa.

It was the 52nd top fuel title for Amato and his second this year. Besides being the hometown favorite, Amato also was the defending champion. In the final he had a time of 4.626 seconds with a top speed of 310.27 mph to hold off Gary Scelzi, who ran a 4.639 and 312.78.

Bruce Sarver of Bakersfield won the funny car division with a run of 4.993 seconds with speed of 303.03.

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Todd Burns of Riverside pulled away from Palm Desert’s Rick Miller in the final 15 laps to win the King Taco 50 NASCAR Late Model race in front of 5,298 at Irwindale Speedway on Saturday night.

Burns grabbed the lead from Miller on the 11th lap, lost it to Tony Green of Oak Hills on lap 17 but regained it from Green on the next lap. Burns’ biggest challenge came from Guy Goldstein of Cathedral City, who pulled off the track on lap 35 with a loose part.

Miller finished second and Green ended up in third.

Late model division and NASCAR Pacific Coast region champion James Weston of Goleta blew an engine before the race and didn’t compete.

Mike Wright of Joshua Tree won the 35-lap MSRA Pro-4 Modifieds race. Troy Decuir of Moreno Valley won the 25-lap NASCAR Mini Stockars race. Deyon Young of Las Vegas led from start to finish to win the 40-lap American Race Trucks race.