Racebeat
by Rich Romer

NASCAR Winston Cup: Bill Elliott stalked Sterling Marlin throughout the race, finally passed him with 21 laps remaining and took the crash- and rain-delayed Pennsylvania 500 to set a record with his fifth career victory at Pocono Raceway.

The race turned into a marathon of six hours, 35 minutes, 51 seconds because of a spectacular accident involving Steve Park on the first lap. Park was not injured in the crash, which forced a delay of 1:05 while repairs were made to the infield retaining wall just beyond the first turn. Less than a half-hour later, rain caused another red flag, which halted the $3.7 million event for an additional 2:02 after the 27th of 175 laps. The race was halted 25 laps short of its scheduled distance because of darkness. The crash, which also involved Park's teammate Dale Earnhardt Jr., Rusty Wallace and Rick Craven, forced the track to replace 16 support posts and 110 feet of guardrail. The accident began when Wallace hit the wall after leaving the first turn on the 2 1/2-mile track. Park attempted to avoid contact, but got sideways and was hit hard by Earnhardt.

It was the second win for car owner Ray Evernham, the point man in Dodge's return in 2001 after a 16-year absence from NASCAR's top division. As a crew chief, Evernham guided Jeff Gordon to three of his four series championships and the first 47 of his 58 career victories.

NASCAR Busch Grand National Series: Hank Parker Jr. used fuel economy to win the NetZero 250, easily holding off Busch Series leader Greg Biffle at Pikes Peak International Raceway. Parker, who started 23rd in his Dodge, beat Biffle by 11.452 seconds after making only two pit stops in the 200-mile race. Biffle, who started 20th, and third-place finisher Jason Keller each made three stops in their Fords, with Biffle falling from first to eighth on his last stop on lap 189. Biffle, 77 points ahead of Keller in the season standings, fought overheating problems. Parker averaged 113.350 mph in the race slowed by only two caution periods. The yellow flag came out on the third lap because of debris on the mile oval, and again on the 29th lap when Bruce Bechtel hit the wall in the fourth turn. Ron Hornaday Jr. finished fourth in a Chevrolet, followed by Lepage, Scott Wimmer, Mike McLaughlin, Jamie McMurray, Ashton Lewis Jr. and Stacy Compton. Lepage led a race-high 76 laps, but gave up the lead to Parker on the 232nd lap to pit for fuel. Parker entered the race with just three top-10 finishes in 20 starts, with a season-best sixth in Richmond in early May. He's 14th in the standings, 831 points behind Biffle..

NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series: Robert Pressley edged Jason Leffler by 0.102 seconds in the eighth-closest finish in NASCAR Craftsman Truck series history to win the Michigan 200. Pressley, driving a Dodge Ram pickup, led 74 of 100 laps and won for the second time this season. He averaged a series track-record 142.208 mph in the third-fastest race in series history. Only two brief cautions, both for debris on the track, slowed the race. Pressley, who started eighth in a field set by owner points when time trials were rained out, came to the front for the first time at lap 15, passing Rick Crawford's Ford F-150. He led twice more, taking over for the final time -- again from Crawford -- on lap 170. Leffler, also driving a Dodge, began his charge with 20 laps remaining. He trailed Pressley by half a second at lap 198 and 0.3 seconds at lap 189 but was blocked by the leader as he tried to pass between the two-mile superspeedway's third and fourth turns. Pressley, who won the season opener at Daytona International Speedway, won $48,250. L effler finished second for the fourth time without a victory. Travis Kvapil finished third, followed by Mike Bliss, David Starr, Terry Cook, Coy Gibbs, Lance Norick, Crawford and Jon Wood. Bliss took over the series points lead from Ted Musgrave, whose Dodge suffered engine failure while he was in second place on the 36th lap. Bliss leads Starr by 29 points, with Musgrave another 53 behind with nine races left.

ARCA RE/MAX Series: Casey Atwood, in Ray Evernham's Dodge Dealers Dodge, overhauled Jason Jarrett with nine laps remaining to win the Pepsi ARCA 200 at Pocono Raceway. Atwood, armed with Winston Cup technology, confidence and a few late-race cautions, charged from the back to the front in relatively short order to earn his career-first ARCA RE/MAX Series victory in his first attempt. Jason Jerrett finished second with Mariol Gosselin third. Pennsylvania native Bobby Gerhart was fourth. In all, there were six lead changes among five drivers to include Billy Venturini, points leader Frank Kimmel and Bobby Gerhart while seven cautions slowed the race for 28 laps, all for minor incidents. In the end, 15 cars finished on the lead lap.

Formula One: Ferrari's Michael Schumacher returned home in style, adding a rare and record-equaling German Grand Prix win to his historic fifth Formula One title. The German, an unstoppable success machine with 62 grand prix wins to his credit now, had never before won his home race for the Italian team. But, starting on the pole position for the first time at Hockenheim, he was always in control as he powered to his ninth win in 12 races to the delight of his red army of klaxon-blasting fans. On a hot afternoon, the joy on one side of the family was matched by disappointment on the other as younger brother Ralf lost second place with an unscheduled pit stop three laps from the end. The lost time pushed Ralf back to third, behind his Colombian teammate Juan Pablo Montoya who finished 10.5 seconds behind the triumphant Ferrari. Brazilian Rubens Barrichello, once again attracting all the bad luck in the Ferrari team, was fourth ahead of McLaren's David Coulthard and Sauber's Nick Heidfeld -- the third German in the points.

Indy Racing League: On a day Tomas Scheckter should've been smiling, he wasn't. The rookie won his first Indy Racing League race on Sunday in the inaugural Michigan Indy 400, but was still angry with team owner Eddie Cheever. Cheever, who owns Red Bull Cheever Racing and drives for the team, created waves this week by adding Buddy Rice as a third driver and giving him the crew that was working with Scheckter. Scheckter entered having led 321 laps this year, but he hadn't won a race -- or finished better than fourth -- in part because he crashed in five races. Cheever said he was trying to push the right buttons with Scheckter because of his potential. Scheckter, who had the pole and led for most of the day, overcame a stalled engine in his final pit stop, took the lead on lap 194 and pulled away from a pack late in the race. Rice, who hadn't driven an IRL car before, finished 1.703 seconds behind Scheckter. Felipe Giaffone finished third, followed by rookie Tony Renna, who took Al Unser Jr.'s place on the Kelley Racing team because Unser is seeking treatment for alcohol abuse. Three of the top four were rookies, and Scheckter became the fifth first-time IRL winner this year.

CART/FedEx Championship Series: In a race filled with wrecks, teammates Dario Franchitti and Paul Tracy played it safe and finished 1-2 in the Vancouver Molson-Indy. Two accidents late in the race set up a head-to-head duel between the Team Kool Green drivers, who have a history of hitting each other on the track while battling for the lead. This time, Franchitti drove away from Tracy and the two Honda-powered cars were never close after the green flag waved on the 96th of 100 laps. The race began under caution after Michel Jourdain crashed on the pace lap. Seven of 18 starters were on the 1.781-mile temporary street course when Franchitti won for the second time and earned his first victory since July of 2001 in Cleveland.