Defending Winston Cup champion Jeff Gordon moved into the lead in the series standings and put his name in the record book with a victory in the crash-filled MBNA 500 on Sunday.
Gordon moved 76 points ahead of Hendrick Motorsports teammate Terry Labonte, occupying the top spot in the chase for a $1.5 million payoff for only the second time this year. By successfully defending his title in the race, Gordon joined David Pearson and Rusty Wallace as the only drivers to win three straight races at Dover Downs International Speedway.His series-leading eighth victory of the season was worth $153,630 to Gordon, who got $83,630 from a purse of $1.4 million and a bonus of $70,000 for taking the points lead. The victory gave him one more than his leading figure of last season, and was the 17th in his four years on the circuit.
Gordon's earnings for this year stand at $2,112,608, bringing his career bankroll to $8,010,927.
The 25-year-old achieved a milestone for the second time in three weeks on one of the most difficult tracks on the NASCAR tour. On Sept. 1, Gordon joined seven-time Winston Cup champion Dale Earnhardt as a winner of three straight races at treacherous Darlington.
After starting third in a Chevrolet, Gordon took the lead for the first time on the 42nd of 500 laps at the Monster Mile. He moved to the front for the final time with 52 laps remaining, and held off Wallace to win by .441 seconds.
Despite leading seven times for 203 laps, Gordon was forced to overcome a bad set of tires and the changing characteristics of the track. Once crew chief Ray Evernham and his team got the car dialed in, Gordon had only to hold off the Fords of Wallace and third-place finisher Dale Jarrett over the final laps.
Labonte, who started outside his teammate, had problems for most of the race, and wound up 22nd. He trails Gordon 3,723-3,647 with six of 31 events still to be contested. Labonte's younger brother, Bobby, who put his Chevy on the pole with a track-record speed of 155.086, finished fourth.
Although he had led the points only after winning July 28 at Talladega, Gordon continued a run of dominance in which he has six straight top-five finishes. He has 13 top-10 finishes in his last 15 races.
The winner's average speed was held to 105.646 mph because of a season-high 14 cautions that slowed the race for 91 laps. There were 28 lead changes among 12 drivers before a crowd of more than 100,000.
The rash of accidents resulted in several arguments among drivers. Foremost among the combatants were Jimmy Spencer and Wally Dallenbach. They had to be separated after crashing on lap 456. Michael Waltrip and Kyle Petty nearly came to blows immediately after the race.
IRL LAS VEGAS 500K
LAS VEGAS (AP) - Richie Hearn bid goodbye to the Indy Racing League with a victory Sunday in the crash-filled inaugural Las Vegas 500K.
The race that christened the new Las Vegas Motor Speedway was slowed by nine caution flags that included eight crashes on the wind-blown 11/2-mile oval, sending four drivers to the hospital for X-rays and further examination for relatively minor injuries.
Meanwhile, the 25-year-old Hearn, who started eighth in the 28-car lineup, stayed at or near the front throughout the 200-lap race, leading the last 32 laps on the way to his first Indy-car victory.
Hearn, whose car-owner, John Della Penna, says he plans to take the team and driver to the rival PPG Indy Car World Series next season, said, "It seems right from the get-go we had a good car in traffic. It wasn't the fastest car all day, but it was real solid."
He took the lead for the final time on lap 169, chasing down and passing leader Robby Gordon, who was later forced out of the race with an engine problem while running second.
"When I passed Robby, I was flat out all the way around the track," Hearn said. "I don't think too many people were able to do that today."
The previous best for Hearn, who also raced in several PPG Cup events this season, was third in May at the IRL's Indianapolis 500.
The top two finishers, both in Reynards, were the only drivers on the lead lap at the end, with third-place Mike Groff a lap back, followed by Roberto Guerrero another lap behind and Michele Alboreto of Italy and Buzz Calkins, both three laps down.
Despite laps by the leaders close to 220 mph, Hearn averaged only 115.171 mph in the caution-marred event that also included a 20-minute red flag delay after Johnny O'Connell had a heart-stopping crash on lap 185.
O'Connell's car slammed into the fourth turn wall and turned onto its left side, skidding along in full view of most of the announced crowd of 67,132, which fell silent as the wreck stopped in the middle of the front straightaway.
A roar erupted as O'Connell's arms suddenly appeared out of the overturned car, followed by the rest of the rookie driver, who was not injured. As the cheers continued, O'Connell turned to the crowd and bowed, then waved as safety workers put him into an ambulance for the mandatory ride to the infield medical center.
Less fortunate were rookies Brad Murphy, Stan Wattles, Mark Dismore and Tony Stewart, all of whom were involved in separate accidents and were transported to University Medical Center about 10 miles away.
Murphy appeared to be the most seriously hurt, apparently fracturing his upper right thigh bone. No other injures were confirmed.
The race was slowed for the first time on lap nine when the engine blew in the car driven by Johnny Parsons and the veteran racer slid through his own oil and hit the wall.
Eddie Cheever and Murphy banged together while racing into the second turn and rocketed together into the outside wall. As the two battered cars slid slowly down the 12-degree banking after the initial hit, the car driven by Stephan Gregoire of France drove right between them at high speed, ricocheting off both cars before spinning to a stop.
"I got hit from the back," Cheever said. "It was a stupid mistake. There's a lot of room out there and there's no need for anything like that to happen. It's the third time it's happened to me this season. ... I'm mad, very mad."
In between those crashes, pole-winner Arie Luyendyk and Gordon stayed at the front of the field, with Gordon taking the lead on lap 26. Luyendyk got the top spot back on the next lap, but Gordon, whose regular ride next season will be in a NASCAR Winston Cup stock car, stayed with Luyendyk and was able to get back into the lead on lap 28 with a nice pass in heavy traffic.
There were two more crashes in quick succession, with rookies Tyce Carlson and Stewart both hitting the wall in the treacherous turn two. Carlson was clipped from behind by the car of yet another rookie, Juan Carlos Carbonell of Chile, on lap 55, while Stewart, considered one of the future stars of the new series, appeared to simply lose control on lap 78.
Luyendyk's race also ended while he was running second. Something apparently broke in the rear of his car on lap 107, sending the 1990 Indy 500 winner slamming into the turn two wall. He quickly jumped from the car and waved at the crowd to let them know he was OK.