Earnhardt Jr. prevails in emotional setting

DOVER, Del. -- Awash in red, white and blue, NASCAR raced for the first time since the terrorist attacks. And America's favorite driver -- Dale Earnhardt Jr. -- won the Cal Ripken Jr. 400.

Adding another special touch to the dramatic day, Earnhardt's car is No. 8, the same number Ripken has worn throughout his record-setting career with the Baltimore Orioles. The $3.3 million race was renamed in honor of Ripken, who waved the green flag to start the event.

A crowd of 140,000, the largest in the nation Sunday, cheered ecstatically as Earnhardt, the son of NASCAR's greatest driver, won for the second time this season. He has become an icon in the sport since the death of his father in the season-opening Daytona 500.

His victory was saluted by yet another waving of American flags by a crowd fired-up just before the race by Lee Greenwood's stirring rendition of "God Bless the USA." Tanya Tucker followed with a patriotic medley as the crowd continued chanting "USA! ... USA! ... USA!" before standing silently as she sang the national anthem.

"It was so exciting to see the emotion of the fans," Earnhardt said. "It's amazing how everybody has come together after what has happened the last two weeks.

"I'm just proud to be an American."

Earnhardt's car, carrying a large flag deal on its rear decklid, dominated much of the race usually known as the MBNA 400. He led 193 of 400 laps, and by donating $100 per lap gave $40,000 to aid a relief fund for victims of the attacks in New York, Washington and Pennsylvania.

The 26-year-old Earnhardt dominated the first half of the race, but lost seven positions with a very slow pit stop on lap 269. But he got a break when leader Ricky Rudd was hit by Rusty Wallace and spun on lap 345.

Earnhardt came out of the pits third on lap 347, passed Jerry Nadeau and took the lead when he blew by Dale Jarrett on the high-banked third turn on lap 362.

Earnhardt pulled away and won for the fourth time in his career when his Chevrolet beat that of Nadeau by 1.576 seconds. Earnhardt was given a huge flag and drove around the track as the crowd roared.

The winner averaged 101.559 mph in a race slowed 11 times by 71 laps of caution. There were 13 lead changes among seven drivers

Rudd was third in a Ford, followed by the Chevy of points leader and June Dover winner Jeff Gordon. Defending race champion Tony Stewart was fifth in a Pontiac.