Racebeat
by Rich Romer

NASCAR Winston Cup:When two desperate drivers with lengthy winless streaks came to the end, one was bound to be disappointed. Jeff Gordon made sure it wasn't him with a bump-and-run past Rusty Wallace with less than three laps to got in the Sharpie 500 at Bristol Motor Speedway. Gordon, the four-time and defending Winston Cup champion, passed Wallace by driving his Chevrolet up onto Wallace's bumper and sliding past in Turn 4. After a series of burnouts, Gordon drove to Victory Lane and jumped into the arms of car owner Rick Hendrick. Wallace finished second and wasn't pleased with Gordon's bump, claiming Gordon wouldn't have got past his Ford without a tap. It was reminiscent of a similar tangle between the two in 1997, when Gordon bumped Wallace out of his way to win the spring race at Bristol. But there was so much more on the line this time, with both drivers so hungry for a win -- Gordon hadn't won since September, Wallace since April 2001, a streak of 50 races.

Gordon said he had to do it to win his 59th career race, first since Sept. 30, 2001, and fifth at Bristol, but first in the night race. Dale Earnhardt Jr. finished third in a Chevrolet, Kevin Harvick was fourth and Matt Kenseth was fifth. Kurt Busch, who won here in March, finished sixth in a Ford. Winston Cup points leader Sterling Marlin was seventh in a Dodge, and Jimmy Spencer, his teammate at Chip Ganassi Racing, was eighth. Bobby Labonte was ninth in a Pontiac, followed by Mike Wallace. Marlin, who has retained the points lead despite engine failures in two of the previous three races, was hit with bad luck in the pits that nearly doomed his night. Marlin was running in 23rd when he pitted on lap 58 for a tire change. But he pulled away before the jack had been removed from under the car, dragging it with him for a bit down pit road. The jack eventually came loose and rolled down the road, coming to a stop almost under Ricky Craven's car, and NASCAR penalized the Ganassi Racing team for it. Marlin had to come back into the pits for a stop-and-go penalty and had fallen back to 37th place when he got back out onto the track.

But he had worked his way back up to 11th at the halfway point of the race and kept his points lead for the 22nd consecutive race. He now has a 95-point advantage over Mark Martin. Gordon jumped from fifth to third and is 111 points back. Tony Stewart, the defending race champion, had his night ruined when he slightly tapped Jerry Nadeau under caution. Stewart, in ninth before the contact, had to pit for repairs to his oil line and went back onto the track three laps down. He finished 24th and, after coming into the race fourth in the standings and trailing Marlin by just 84 points, left 139 back. As usual, the race was rough and marred by 15 cautions, one short of the race record.

Because of the tight confines on the .533-mile oval, bumping and banging is common over the course of the 500-lap event. Add in the heat and humidity, and tempers are usually flaring before the halfway point. Elliott Sadler, who scored his only career win here in the spring of 2002, blamed Joe Nemechek for ending his night. Before Sadler got into the ambulance for the mandatory trip to the care center, he pointed to his head as Nemechek went by as if to say, "What were you thinking?'' then angrily slapped the side of the ambulance. Hut Stricklin sarcastically applauded as Jeremy Mayfield passed him after Mayfield's contact ended Stricklin's night, and Ward Burton threw his heat shields from his shoes at Earnhardt after their contact. Jimmie Johnson flipped his middle finger at Robby Gordon after Gordon hit him on a restart and sent him into the wall. NASCAR then called Robby Gordon into the pits for a two-lap penalty for rough driving, and the Richard Childress Racing team complained the wreck was Johnson's fault because he missed a shift on the restart and Gordon couldn't help but hit him.

NASCAR Busch Grand National Series: The last time Jimmy Spencer raced at Bristol Motor Speedway, he was bumped back to second place. There was no tapping on his return trip -- no one could get close enough to him to even try -- as Spencer easily won the Food City 250. Instead, Spencer had to slow to avoid the spinning car of Tim Sauter with two laps to go. That gave Scott Wimmer enough space to close the gap on Spencer's lead, but Spencer held off the challenge to win his first Busch race of the season and 12th of his career. It was his second-career win on Bristol's .533-mile concrete oval. Wimmer finished a career-best second. Busch series points leader Greg Biffle was third and was followed by Mike McLaughlin and Jeff Green. Kenny Wallace was sixth and was followed by Michael Waltrip, Tony Raines, Jason Keller and Randy LaJoie. Biffle, who entered the race with a 56-point lead over Keller in the standings, stretched it to 78. Spencer started 10th, but worked his way to the front and led the last 91 laps of the race and an event-high 132 in the No. 1 Chevrolet. Spencer took over the lead on lap 110, but lost it in the pits when Kevin Harvick beat him out on a caution stop on lap 149. He worked his way back up to the front and passed Harvick for the lead on lap 161, then patiently turned his laps while avoiding lapped traffic over the final stretch. It looked as if no one would even challenge him until Sauter went spinning in front of him. That gave Wimmer a slight chance to get him, but he couldn't get past Spencer without spinning him out. Harvick, the two-time defending race champion, left the race on 216, pulling his car off the track and behind the wall for no apparent reason. Afterward, he angrily complained that he had accidentally hit the kill switch on his steering wheel, cutting off all power to his car. He finished 30th. Mike Harmon who escaped serious injury in a Friday practice accident that sliced his car in half, started the race in a backup car but completed only two laps before dropping out with handling problems.