Earnhardt nabs victory

TALLADEGA, Ala. -- Dale Earnhardt Jr. cruised to his third straight victory at Talladega Superspeedway in Sunday's EA Sports 500, a race that shook up the tight championship battle.

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

Little E'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.

"As the pack sort of thinned down, with only four or five cars in line, that makes it harder to pass the leader," Earnhardt said. "I was having a good time. The car wasn't doing everything I wanted it to do, but it did enough."

By following up his top-five finish at Richmond last month with a victory Sunday, Earnhardt earned $1 million bonuses for himself and a fan chosen from a national drawing.

Stewart, who couldn't get a run on the leader in the waning laps, finished 0.118 seconds behind -- about a car-length.

Asked if he was disappointed the lead pack didn't gang up on Earnhardt and help him push to the front on the last lap, Stewart said, "To be honest, I never saw anything behind me that last lap. I guess I looked in the mirror for a moment in turn 2 and turn 4, just to make sure nobody was making a move on me."

Ricky Rudd finished third, followed by Kurt Busch, Jeff Green, Earnhardt teammate Steve Park, and rookie Ryan Newman.

It was a disastrous day for several of the leaders.

Johnson and Martin didn't even make it to the green flag before running into trouble when Martin's steering locked up on the pace lap and he veered down the 33-degree banking, hitting Johnson. The two slid into the grass on the main straightaway and both were forced to pit for repairs.

Martin wound up two laps down in 30th place, while Johnson -- who came into the race leading Martin by 11 points and Stewart by 36 -- quickly fell a lap behind and finished 37th when his engine failed after 173 laps.

Gordon, Johnson's teammate, had one of the strongest cars in the field, leading 27 laps before his engine succumbed on the 125th lap. The reigning Winston Cup champion finished 42nd.

Stewart came away with a 72-point lead over Martin and an 82-point edge over Johnson. Gordon fell from fourth to seventh and now trails the leader by 201 points with six races remaining.

CART: Cristiano da Matta clinched the CART series championship, winning the Grand Prix of the Americas in Miami in the slowest race in the circuit's history.

Da Matta held off Christian Fittipaldi by 0.734 seconds, winning for the seventh time this season and the 11th time in his career. Da Matta's average speed on the 1.387-mile, 16-turn temporary road course was 68.723 mph, slower than the 69.576 mph average by Al Unser Jr. in Denver in 1991.

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.

-- From wire reports