Gordon Frets His Way to Winning Finish

Jeff Gordon knows nothing is certain in racing, so he wasn’t enjoying the beating he was giving the rest of the field Sunday at Dover Downs International Speedway at Dover, Del.

He was too busy counting the laps, hoping he wouldn’t have to turn on to pit road for a splash of gas that would enable him merely to finish the MBNA Platinum 400 as something other than the winner.

“I was thinking it would be a real shame to lead that many laps and lose it at the end,” he said after holding off Steve Park for the victory. “I just didn’t want to get caught up in a fuel-mileage deal.”

That has happened twice to Gordon at Dover, most recently in 1999, when he led 375 of 400 laps then was forced to go in for gas and watch helplessly as Bobby Labonte drove to victory.

“It doesn’t matter how great you are all day long,” Gordon said. “The only lap that counts is the last one.”

This time he won after leading 381 laps while reestablishing himself as a threat at Dover. He also ended Tony Stewart’s bid for three consecutive wins on the track.

It was the second victory this season and the 54th overall for Gordon, the three-time Winston Cup champion, tying him with Rusty Wallace and Lee Petty for eighth-best in NASCAR history. It also was the fourth win for him on one of NASCAR’s toughest tracks.

But Gordon said it wasn’t as easy as it seemed.

“I know it might have looked like the car was on a rail, but there’s no easy way around Dover,” he said.

The victory ties him with Bill Elliott and Ricky Rudd for the most by an active driver at The Monster Mile, where Bobby Allison and Richard Petty won seven times each.

Stewart, trying to join Gordon, David Pearson and Wallace with three consecutive Dover victories, finished seventh.

Gordon won here for the first time since sweeping the races in 1996. He began his run of three consecutive Dover victories in September 1995. Stewart won both races last year.

Dale Jarrett, who won the pole based on points when qualifying was rained out Friday and is nursing a cracked rib from a crash in practice May 26 at Lowe’s Motor Speedway, wound up fifth. He leads the series standings by 50 points over Gordon.

“I’m worn out, but Jeff wore us all out,” Jarrett said.

The race was run under mostly sunny skies after two days of bad weather prevented qualifying and cut into practice time.

Gordon’s Chevrolet beat that of Steve Park by 0.828 seconds, giving the 29-year-old driver from Indiana his 11th top-10 finish in 17 career starts on the high-banked concrete oval.

“Jeff was just driving the wheels off the thing, and so was I trying to catch him,” Park said.

Dale Earnhardt Jr. made it a top-three sweep for Chevy.

Pole-sitter Kenny Brack won his second consecutive race, winning the Miller Lite 225 at West Allis, Wis. after surviving a scare on the first turn when he and Indianapolis 500 winner Helio Castroneves made contact.

Brack beat five-time winner Michael Andretti by 1.037 seconds. Scott Dixon was third, 3.001 seconds back. Andretti was runner-up for the fourth time at the event.

Brack, last year’s top CART rookie, won his first race in the cockpit of a Champ car two weeks ago in Japan, when he shook off Castroneves to win the Firestone Firehawk 500.

Sunday, Brack said he didn’t even feel the contact that ended Castroneves’ day early and produced one of five yellow flags that marred the 100th Champ Car race at the Milwaukee Mile.

When the race began, Castroneves tried to pass Brack on the outside but his Reynard/Honda came down on Brack’s Lola/Ford and Castroneves’ left rear tire touched Brack’s right front tire.

Brack maintained control, but Castroneves was done for the day, and his spinning car also took out Cristiano da Matta, who is third in the points standings.

Brack and Castroneves have been battling for the points lead all season, with Brack entering the race holding a two-point margin.

Brack earned 20 points for the victory, opening up a commanding lead on Castroneves.

Tora Takagi was kicked out of the race after striking Jimmy Vasser, who was running third, and ramming him into the wall on the 133rd lap.

“I can’t imagine he didn’t see me, but that’s racing, I guess. You know, he’s a rookie,” Vasser said.

During the yellow flag, the fourth of the race, Takagi was ordered to park his car on the 135th lap. The punishment is believed to be unprecedented in the CART FedEx Series.

Kenny Bernstein registered his third consecutive NHRA Top Fuel victory at the Lucas Oil NHRA Nationals at Joliet, Ill.

Del Worsham (Funny Car), Mike Edwards (Pro Stock), Antron Brown (Pro Stock Motorcycle) and Scott Perin (Pro Stock Truck) won their respective categories at the 10th of 24 races of NHRA Winston Drag Racing Series.

Bernstein’s fourth victory of the season and 57th of his career came when opponent Gary Scelzi lost traction and Bernstein blasted down the track in 4.546 seconds at 322.81 mph.

Scelzi’s dragster couldn’t catch Bernstein.