Earnhardt Rallies to Win at Talladega

Using an early burst to blow his way through the field, Dale Earnhardt moved up 22 spots in the opening five laps, then outfoxed the field and held off Dale Jarrett on Sunday to win the Winston 500 at Talladega, Ala.

The 48-year-old drafting master shouldered his way through traffic in a breathtaking 190-mph display that moved him from 27th to fifth by lap five and made him a contender the rest of the way.

Earnhardt led only 18 of the 188 laps, but got in front for the final time on lap 185 and was able to stay ahead of a 20-car lead draft to take the checkered flag.

With the crowd of 170,000 on its feet, Earnhardt weaved up and down the high-banked oval, somehow staying in front of Jarrett. Earnhardt’s No. 3 Chevrolet beat Jarrett’s No. 88 Ford to the flag stand by 0.114 of a second--about two car-lengths.

“I just sort of played chess with them and kept them two-by-two behind me,” said Earnhardt, who swept both Talladega races this season and has earned nine of his 74 victories on the longest, 2.66 miles, and fastest oval in NASCAR.

“They played it just right for me. If they had been more patient, they could have got back in line and got back around me. But, today, I made the right moves and got the right breaks.”

Ricky Rudd finished third, followed by Ward Burton, Kenny Wallace, rookie Tony Stewart and Bobby Labonte.

Earnhardt, who won for the third time this season, came from farther back than any previous winner at Talladega. The previous record was 18th by Mark Martin in 1997.

Jarrett’s second-place finish, combined with Labonte’s seventh-place finish, boosted his series lead to 246 points with four races remaining. Earnhardt, who won $120,290, averaged 166.632 mph in a race slowed by only 17 laps of caution.

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Greg Ray gained his first Indy Racing League title by finishing third in the Mall.com 500 race, the series’ season finale, at Texas Motor Speedway in Fort Worth.

Mark Dismore, who started on the front row alongside pole-sitter Ray, ended up winning his first IRL event with Davey Hamilton second.

Ray was locked in a duel for first on the track and in the points race with defending champion Kenny Brack until tire problems ended the Swede’s chances with 22 laps left. At the time Ray was in the lead, but he pitted for fuel and new tires. It cost him a chance to win the race because shortly after he returned, Robby Unser wiped out, forcing 11 of the last 13 laps to be run under caution.

Scott Harrington’s sixth-place finish earned him the rookie-of-the-year title and a $50,000 bonus.

The points championship was worth a $500,000 bonus for both Ray and team owner John Menard. Ray joined Menard’s team last October in hopes that his deep pockets would take the driver farther than his low-budget team could.

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Five people remained hospitalized, one in serious condition, in the wake of an accident Saturday during the post-qualifying practice for the Mall.com 500.

Twelve people, including nine members of Tyce Carlson’s crew, were injured when rookie Niclas Jonsson lost control of his car on pit road and smacked into Carlson’s parked car, which was being tended to by the crew.

Crew member Tracy Hash was in serious condition with a broken leg, speedway officials said. Fellow crew members Jeff Howerton and Thomas Bose also were recuperating. Howerton was in stable condition with a broken leg, and Bose was in fair condition, with broken ribs, according to hospital officials.

Two other members of Carlson’s crew, Greg Height and William Dyer, were scheduled to be released from the hospital today, speedway officials said.

Carlson was able to race Sunday and finished 13th. Jonsson sustained a slight concussion and was released from the hospital, but his father, Richard Carlson, who has a heart problem, was hospitalized as a precaution and later released.

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A day after winning the pole, Dario Franchitti won the Gold Coast Indy race and overtook Juan Montoya for the CART points lead at Surfers Paradise, Australia.

Franchitti led nearly the entire race in gaining his third victory of the season and sixth of his career. He earned 22 points for the weekend--20 for the victory and a point each for winning the pole and leading the most number of laps--to give him 209 points for the season.

Franchitti will carry his nine-point lead into the final race of the season, the Marlboro 500, at Fontana, Oct. 31.