Gordon’s Victory Matches a Record

Jeff Gordon, in a backup car because his primary car was damaged during a wreck at the start of the race, came from the rear of the field early this morning to win the Winston at Concord, N.C.

It was Gordon’s third victory in NASCAR’s all-star race, tying him with the late Dale Earnhardt for most victories in the event.

“It takes an unbelievable team to pull off what we just did,” Gordon told his crew as he crossed the finish line.

The race was delayed 2 hours 10 minutes because of rain, but not before NASCAR tried to start the event on time despite a light drizzle falling on the track.

The track was wet and slippery by the time the green flag dropped, and as the cars came out of Turn 1, many of them lost control and began to slide.

Kevin Harvick lost control of his car and hit the wall heading into Turn 2. The cars behind him tried to slow, but Gordon couldn’t avoid running into the back of Jeff Burton’s car.

The tap sent both cars spinning, and as Gordon shot down the track, Michael Waltrip slammed into the side of his car.

NASCAR quickly put the yellow flag out and pulled the cars off the track as the rain continued. Officials then ruled that because a full lap had not been completed, the race did not officially begin.

That meant Gordon, and the three others, could turn to backup cars for the event.

Gordon did, although it meant he had to drop to the back of the field when the race restarted.

No matter.

He had moved up to fourth by the end of the first 30-lap segment.

Kenny Brack has been almost unbeatable this season--on qualifying day. This time, he was finally unbeatable when it really counted.

The 1999 Indianapolis 500 winner took his first checkered flag in the cockpit of a Champ car, shaking off Helio Castroneves to win the Firestone Firehawk 500 at Motegi, Japan.

The victory was especially satisfying because the Swedish driver had put his Lola-Ford on the front row in one qualifying session after another at CART events this season, only to watch another car drive away to victory on race day.

This time he started sixth--but grabbed the lead on the 150th of 201 laps and fought off a late assault by the faster-qualifying Honda Reynards of Castroneves and Tony Kanaan.

Brack’s 20-point performance gave him the lead in the FedEx Championship series with 49. Castroneves is now second with 47 points.

“It’s better for me to start sixth than on the pole,” Brack joked. “We haven’t had much luck from the front row.”

Jim Yates won the Pro Stock Dominator Duel in the Matco Tools SuperNationals, and Kenny Bernstein led top-fuel qualifying in the NHRA event at Englishtown, N.J.

Yates beat Mark Pawuk in the bonus event for qualified pro stock entries. Yates, who earned $50,000 for his second victory in the event, had a quarter-mile run of 6.899 seconds at a top speed of 200.41 mph. Pawuk finished in 6.911 at 199.88.

Bernstein grabbed his fourth consecutive No. 1 qualifying position of the season in top fuel with a run of 4.561 at 323.27.

Tony Pedregon scored his third No. 1 effort at Old Bridge Township Raceway Park and the 10th of his career in funny car with a 4.801 at 317.49, after NHRA officials disallowed Whit Bazemore’s leading run (4.787) from Friday. It was determined that debris on the racing surface falsely triggered the 60-foot marker on the electronic timing system, which resulted in off-set times throughout Bazemore’s run.

Tony Raines won his first Busch Series pole, turning a lap at 131.334 mph in qualifying for today’s Nazareth 200 at Nazareth, Pa.

Series leader Harvick qualified second at 131.028, giving Chevrolet both front-row positions. He was one of three drivers who were allowed to qualify first so that they could travel to North Carolina for the Winston.