Racebeat
by Rich Romer

NASCAR Winston Cup: It pays to have a friend at Talladega Superspeedway. Tony Stewart gave Dale Earnhardt Jr. assistance on the way to his third straight Talladega victory in Sunday's EA Sports 500. Being a good Samaritan also paid off for the runner-up as Stewart jumped from third into the Winston Cup points lead. Stewart, who chose to protect his position and not to take a run at 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.'' NASCAR's experiment, cutting the gas tanks from 22 gallons to 12.5 in an effort to force more pit stops and spread out the field to avoid a big accident, looked like a failure through most of the caution-free race. But it paid off at the end. The usual packs of 30 or more cars racing two- and three-wide at speeds close to 200 mph formed up within a few laps after each of the early pit stop sequences. However, with fuel mileage a big variable and cars making their final pit stops at different times, the leaders were able to break away in the waning laps. At the end, there were only 10 cars in the lead group that crossed the finish line in single file. Earnhardt -- whose late father won a record 10 races at Talladega -- joined Buddy Baker as the only driver to win three in a row on the fast 2.66-mile oval. Baker did it in the 1970s, Little E's No. 8 Chevrolet was at or near the front of the pack throughout the 188-lap event.

Earnhardt took the lead for good on lap 150 and was never challenged, winding up with a race-high 56 laps led. Ricky Rudd finished third, followed by Kurt Busch, Jeff Green, Earnhardt teammate Steve Park, and rookie Ryan Newman. It was a disastrous day for rookie Jimmie Johnson and Mark Martin, who were ahead of Stewart in points, and Jeff Gordon, who came into the race close behind. Johnson and Martin didn't even make it to the green flag before running into trouble. 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. 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.