Racebeat
by Rich Romer

RICHMOND, VA--NASCAR Winston Cup Matt Kenseth twice struggled to get back on the lead lap after early problems with flat tires. Once he did that, only another blown tire could have slowed him as he ran away with the Monte Carlo 400 for his Winston Cup-high fourth victory of the year. Kenseth dropped a lap behind twice in the first quarter of the 400-lap race, but his Ford was strongest during two periods of long green-flag runs, and the 120 caution-free laps to end it allowed him to show off his car. After starting 25th, Kenseth also won from deeper in the field than anyone at Richmond International Raceway since the three-quarter-mile track was reconfigured in 1988. Terry Labonte won from the 24th spot in 1995. The race further tightened the points race when series leader Sterling Marlin crashed on his ninth lap, second-place Jeff Gordon had to park because of a valve train problem and Mark Martin rallied to finish sixth. Martin now trails Marlin by just nine points for the lead, with Jimmie Johnson 72 points back, Gordon 82 behind and Tony Stewart 118 back. The victory allowed the Roush racing driver to climb two spots to eighth in the points standings, 248 back with 10 races remaining. Ryan Newman finished second in his Ford after teammate Rusty Wallace got a flat with 11 laps to go. Jeff Green was third in a Chevrolet. Green never contended to win, but surged at the end when several teams bidding for top-10 finishes ran out of gas to end the 120-lap run. Dale Earnhardt Jr. also rallied from a lap down to finish fourth, followed by Todd Bodine, Martin and defending champion Ricky Rudd. Newman was the class of the field early, taking the lead on lap No. 2 and holding it for 142 laps until Stewart became the third leader. The race had an on-again, off-again flavor, with the first 100 laps and the third 100 laps marred by frequent cautions, and the second and fourth segments featuring green-flag runs that showcased the best cars. In all, there were 10 caution periods for 65 laps, and 14 lead changes among 11 drivers. Kenseth led 134 laps, second only to Newman's total. For a time, Stewart seemed capable of winning for the fourth time in eight career starts at Richmond, but then Kenseth and Newman rose to the top, pulling away from the rest of the field and lapping cars with ease.

NASCAR Busch Grand National Series: Dale Earnhardt Jr. returned to the series he once dominated and did it more convincingly than ever, leading 190 laps and easily winning the FUNAI 250 NASCAR Busch Grand National race. So dominant was the 1998 and '99 series champion that he built a lead of more than 13 seconds in a span of 60 green-flag laps, and three times pulled away on restarts in the final 30 laps of the crash-filled event. The victory came in a Chevrolet Earnhardt co-owns with stepmother Teresa Earnhardt, and was the Winston Cup star's second in three Busch starts this year. The race had 11 caution flags that slowed the pace for 83 laps, and 11 of the 43 cars that started weren't around to see the checkered flag. Among them was Jimmy Spencer, who swept the Busch races at Richmond last year and seemed the most likely to challenge Earnhardt. But Spencer's engine blew after 168 laps, leaving Earnhardt virtually unchallenged. Earnhardt had built a lead of more than 13 seconds when Tim Fedewa hit the wall on lap 205, bringing out a caut ion that erased the lead. Earnhardt headed for pit road for tires and fuel, and series points leader Greg Biffle, who had been running second, stayed out. Earnhardt emerged from pit road in second place, on Biffle's bumper, when it went back to green on lap 220. It took Earnhardt a half-lap to pass Biffle, and Earnhardt quickly used clean air to make another clean break from the pack. The scene was repeated three more times, with Earnhardt finally building another big lead over the final six green-flag laps to win by 1.250 seconds. It was his 15th career victory in the Busch series. Jamie McMurray finished second, followed by Jeff Burton, Tony Raines, Jason Keller, Biffle and Hank Parker Jr., and Michael Waltrip. The race included a terrifying crash by Derrike Cope on lap 68, and another that left two cars charred after hitting the Turn 3 wall. Cope was heading into the first turn when the throttle stuck open and his car never turned, slamming incredibly hard into the wall. The impact caused the roof to buckle and the windshield appeared to come out as the flaming car skidded around the wall almost to the exit coming out of the second turn. Cope was pulled from the car and placed on a board before being loaded into an ambulance bound for the infield care center.