Gordon Continues on Right Course

Jeff Gordon became NASCAR’s King of the Road, setting a record for road-course victories by winning Sunday in a thrill-packed and attrition-filled race at Watkins Glen, N.Y.

The three-time Winston Cup champion won for the seventh time on a road course, breaking a tie with Rusty Wallace, Richard Petty and Bobby Allison for the most in NASCAR history.

Gordon’s victory in the Global Crossing also extended his lead in the points race to 194 over fourth-place finisher Ricky Rudd.

But it wasn’t easy. Jeff Burton, with whom Gordon waged a magnificent battle over the final laps, hit him coming to the final turn.

“If he wanted to, he could have taken me out,” Gordon said. “I like racing with him because he’s hard, aggressive and clean.”

Burton thought Gordon had the better car and credited Gordon’s talent for helping him win the race.

“I gave him a good shot coming off the last corner, but he didn’t even budge,” Burton said.

Gordon had the lead for one lap before passing Burton in the first of 11 turns on the 78th of 90 laps.

It was a record-setting fourth victory for Gordon on the 2.45-mile course. He has won three times on NASCAR’s only other serpentine layout, in Sonoma, Calif.

It was the second consecutive victory for Gordon, 30, who won the Brickyard 400 at Indianapolis the previous week. He has 57 victories, the most among active drivers.

Gordon’s Chevrolet started 13th in a field of 43 and officially beat the Ford of Burton by 0.172 seconds.

The victory was his fifth this year, breaking a tie with pole-sitter Dale Jarrett, who spun out on the 18th lap on Sunday.

Gordon led 14 laps. He averaged 89.801 mph in a race slowed six times by 14 laps under caution.

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Helio Castroneves and Gil de Ferran produced their second consecutive one-two finish at Lexington, Ohio, in the CART Miller Lite 200.

Castroneves averaged 106.627 mph in his Reynard Honda and defeated de Ferran by 1.568 seconds.

The margin separating the Marlboro Team Penske drivers was slightly closer than it was last year, when Castroneves won by 4.425 seconds.

Afterward, Castroneves continued his victory tradition of getting out of his car and climbing a fence.

This time, the driver nicknamed “Spider-Man” did it twice, first near the front straightaway and again by the victory platform.

As he did last year, de Ferran led the first 28 laps, made a pit stop and gave up the lead to Castroneves, who pitted one lap later.

Castroneves gave up the lead to Oriol Servia for 11 laps during the second round of pit stops, which came after Adrian Fernandez slid off the track and into a tire barrier on the 51st lap.

Everyone else pitted during the caution period that followed, but Servia stayed out as long as he could. The strategy allowed him to finish ninth after starting last among the 26 drivers.

Castroneves took the lead for the final time on the 66th lap when Servia entered the pits, and neither de Ferran nor third-place Patrick Carpentier could get close to him after that.

He became the sixth driver in 20 years of CART racing at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course to win consecutive events, joining Bobby Rahal, Michael Andretti, Emerson Fittipaldi, Al Unser Jr. and Alex Zanardi.

The victory moved Castroneves into second place in the points standings, one point behind leader Kenny Brack, who finished 20th.

It was the third CART victory of the year for the Brazilian, who also won the Indianapolis 500 and Michigan 500.

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Buddy Lazier took his first lead on lap 112 and held off Robbie Buhl to win the Indy Racing League Northern Light Series Belterra Casino Indy 300 at Sparta, Ky.

Lazier, who won last year’s Kentucky event en route to the series championship, became the first IRL driver to win four races in a season.

Lazier, who started 11th in the 22-car field, has was won four of the last five races.

Pole-sitter Scott Sharp led the first 105 laps of the 200-lap race before giving way to Sam Hornish Jr. and then Lazier.

Lazier passed Hornish on lap 112 as the leaders got more aggressive, with cars going three and even four wide on many occasions.

With Lazier leading on lap 128, he and Hornish battled side-by-side for more than a lap around the 1.5-mile oval before Lazier pulled ahead.

The final 20 laps proved to be a shootout between Lazier and Buhl.

Buhl passed Lazier to take the lead with 12 laps remaining, but Lazier regained the lead on the inside with eight laps to go.

The two battled wheel-to-wheel until Buhl ran out of fuel on the backstretch with a lap remaining, giving Lazier his eighth career IRL victory.

“We were racing hard lap after lap,” Lazier said. “A lot of wheel-to-wheel racing between great drivers. It really is an honor to win a race like this.”

Sharp finished second, 1.5 seconds behind Lazier, while Hornish placed third, four seconds behind. Al Unser Jr. and Donnie Beechler, who started last, rounded out the top five.

“We had an unbelievable car the first half of the race,” Sharp said. “After that, we struggled a little bit. I’m not sure what happened.”

Buhl, who started in fourth position, finished ninth.