Racebeat (05/18/03)
by Rich Romer

NASCAR Winston Cup: Jimmie Johnson became a $1 million man by racing away to win The Winston and a record cash prize. Johnson took the lead away from teammate Jeff Gordon three laps into the final 20-lap segment, then pulled away to an easy victory over Kurt Busch in NASCAR's annual all-star race. Johnson almost won this race as a rookie last year, taking the first two segments and $100,000 in bonus money. But in a unique twist to the all-star race at Lowe's Motor Speedway, the fans vote on how they want the field inverted for the final segment.

They always choose to invert the maximum 10 cars, and Johnson was shuffled to the back of the pack last year and ended up fifth at the end of the night. So his Hendrick Motorsports team wasted no time this year trying to win the first two segments, instead settling in for a run over the final 20-lap sprint. He finished the second segment in seventh place, and moved up to fourth on the inversion. It put him right behind Gordon on the grid, and he followed his teammate past leader Sterling Marlin on the restart. Then he set his sights on Gordon, and passed him two laps later. No one was catching Johnson from there.

NASCAR Busch Series: Ron Hornaday beat Brian Vickers by less than half a second in the Busch Series race at Nazareth Speedway to end a 63-event winless drought. Hornaday led 148 of the 200 laps in the Goulds Pumps ITT Industries 200, taking the lead for good by passing rookie David Stremme on No. 146. He finished the 200 miles in 1 hour, 57 minutes, 7 seconds. Mike Bliss was third, David Green fourth. Green still leads the Busch Series standings, with Todd Bodine second and Hornaday jumped from sixth place to third. Hornaday, driving a Chevrolet, started the race in the third position, behind pole-sitter Randy LaJoie and Stacy Compton. LaJoie held the lead until Hornaday passed him on the 14th lap. There were six lead changes over the first 150 laps, with Hornaday leading for 98. Stremme led for 32 laps, LaJoie for 14 and Kasey Kahne for six going into the final 50 laps. Hornaday took control down the stretch. Defending champion Jason Keller finished 11th.