It’s Official: Da Matta Takes Title

The prospect of losing a race and winning a championship didn’t sit well with Cristiano da Matta.

Even before Sunday’s CART Grand Prix of the Americas in Miami, Da Matta already was considered the series champion. Mathematically, three other drivers had chances that could generously be described as slim.

One by one, the chances of those drivers faded, and in the end, Da Matta held the huge silver chalice called the Vanderbilt Cup that’s given annually to the CART champion.

Da Matta clinched the points title after holding off Newman/Haas teammate Christian Fittipaldi by of a 0.734 second. The win was Da Matta’s seventh of the season and 11th in his career.

“I think there isn’t a better way to clinch the championship than with a victory,” said Da Matta, who collected a $1-million title bonus. “If you clinch in fifth place, everybody forgets pretty quickly that you’ve won many other races before. When you clinch it with a win, it’s pretty obvious that you were there the whole year.”

In a race slowed by six yellow flags, Da Matta’s average speed on the 1.387-mile, 16-turn temporary road course was 68.723 mph, believed to be the second-slowest winning speed in CART history. Juan Montoya won in Vancouver in 1999 with an average speed of 65.279 mph.

Da Matta extended his lead to an insurmountable 69 points over Bruno Junqueira, who finished fifth. No driver can win more than 68 points in the three remaining races.

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Dale Earnhardt Jr. cruised to his third consecutive victory at Talladega Superspeedway in the NASCAR Winston Cup Series EA Sports 500, a race that affected the tight championship battle.

Tony Stewart followed Earnhardt across the finish line and jumped from third to the lead in the Winston Cup point standings. Rookie Jimmie Johnson and Mark Martin, who were ahead of Stewart in points, ran into trouble.

Earnhardt’s No. 8 Chevrolet was at or near the front of the pack throughout the 188-lap event, which didn’t have a caution flag.

Earnhardt took the lead for good on Lap 150 and was never challenged, winding up with a race-high 56 laps led.